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...