Ethics in Early Childhood Research:

I decided to go with Option 2: Researching my own topics:

 There are so many issues that need to be researched. I would research the benefits of play, how solitary play and group play differ and its affects, and how child care verse in-home (nanny or family) care affects a child.  I know that the benefits of play are limitless and great. Children develop their imagination, cognitive, social, and language growth during play. There are so many different aspects of play. The fact that there is less play in educational settings is upsetting and detrimental to children. 

If all of the above topics were researched the benefits for children would be numerous. We would have a deeper understanding of how play affects the brain and growth, what types of play help what development domains and what should be implemented in education environments. In regards to solitary and group play we will see how interacting with others affects development verse playing alone. I have always wondered if a child spends more time playing alone if that adversely affects development and how does one exactly develop their child to be able to entertain themselves? I think it is beneficial for children to be able to entertain themselves. Solitary play and group play are connected to child care verse in-home care because in a child care setting there are several children to play with whereas in an in-home setting there is a range of children, none to a few. In an in-home setting a child might gain more solitary play or adult play verse group play. If these ideas were researched then we would know which setting is better for a child or how to improve the different settings. 

I was born 3 months early, had 100% oxygen for almost the first week and was in an incubator for 2 months. I just found out that I participated in a research study as an infant. The project was to implement more talking and touching (then normal) to premature babies to see if this type of stimulation increased their survival rate. I had almost constant attention throughout the day and night. Other then the NICU nurses my parents took shifts everyday to visit with me. Generally my dad would come in the early morning 3am-5am, my mom would come 8am-9am and on her lunch break, then my parents would come after work for like an hour, go eat dinner then come back for a few hours. My parents did not find out what the results of the research findings were, they were just concerned about me surviving and were all in for implementing the attention. For my case, the stimulation increased my survival rate, had i been a boy my survival rate would have been even lower (irrelevant to the research project).

My Personal Research Journey Wk 2

The act of research is a tedious and in-depth process. I do not know a lot about research and in some aspects look forward to learning more in-depth about it from this class because I know in our field research is key. At the beginning of this course I picked the topic of the 'affects of play on learning and the benefits/affects of play learning verse academic learning, which is more beneficial for children's overall development. Within the boundaries of play I am going to look more in-depth to the benefits of solitary play; group play; and how play in a child care setting verse being at home with a caregiver (guardian, nanny, grandparent, parent type setting) affects a child's learning and ability to independently entertain (solitary play).  I know researching these topics is going to be tedious and difficult. I have found several different articles on play.

1) Play at Home, Play in the Classroom: Parent/Professional Partnerships in Supporting Child Play by Michelle Buchanan and Margaret Cooney

2) Solitary play and convergent and divergent thinking skills in preschool children by Bronwen Lloyd, Nina Howe

3) The Relation between the Ratio of Children Per Activity Area and Off-Task Behavior and Type of Play in Day Care Centers by Elyse J. Kantrowitz and Gary W. Evans

4) The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds by Kenneth R. Ginsburg

I picked this topic because in the field of education 'play' is a topic and a learning tool that has been at the forefront and on the back burner of education over the years. I feel what children learn from play and how is somewhat of a controversy topic and I know parents do not know a lot about the benefits and think their children need more academic learning. I taught in a Preschool for 4 years and have been a nanny for 5 years and wonder the affects of having the group play verse the one-on-one play and the different settings and if it makes a child more dependent upon others for entertainment.

From the research chart I learned more in-depth about the different types of research like deductive or inductive researching that shows that people can be positivist or interpretivist in how they research and implement the process. I believe in general, a combination of the two would be needed when researching the early childhood field. 

I am unsure of the best way to find articles that relate to the affects of having the group play verse the one-on-one play and the different settings (school setting/home setting) and if it makes a child more dependent upon others for entertainment.There are so many parts of play that have been and need to be researched I dont know where to begin...