I first want to start by thanking everyone for all of your support during this course. It is because of your great feedback that I was able to come up with a research question in the first place and then your continued support through the course that helped me complete the final research simulation. I really appreciate all of the encouragement and ideas.
I have gained so many new insights through this course. When I looked over the course titles, this course was always the one that made me nervous and I really thought I would struggle with, but having a great professor and great classmates got me through it. I have learned so much about the research process and I have come to understand it is not hard if you break it down into small sections and build on your research over time. Move from the small to the big picture and it makes it that much easier.
Some of my ideas about research have changed too. I have come to understand how to read research papers quicker and yet still get a great deal of information from them. I loved the week when we focused on the breakdown of a research paper and I really wish we would have had that information from the beginning of our program. I now understand what is important to read, what you can leave out and what needs to be viewed more in depth.
Again, I have learned that in order to plan and develop research, you have to start small and then build on your ideas over time. When the class first began, I was intimitated and I did not understand how I would come up with a research simulation. But breaking it down into manageble parts made it easy to understand and I feel like gave me a better overall research simulation.
My biggest challenge came in the beginning of the course when I was trying to narrow down my ideas of what to do a a research study about. I knew I wanted to focus on autism, but there are so many ways that a person could go with that. Through trial and error, I was able to narrow my topic to one that I really liked and enjoyed creating a research study about. I have also learned that you should be passionate about the topic you choose because you will spend a lot of time with it and it should be something you enjoy, want to learn more about, and want to share with others.
My idea of early childhood professionals has changed because I have realized that anyone, at any level can do a research study. Now I realize that if we were really doing a study, it would be a lot more time consuming and potentially costly, but everyone has the ability to do it. It just takes hard work, organization and support from others.
Thanks again for all of your support and enjoy the next few weeks of no school work!!!
Amber, It is good to know that I was not the only one that was nervous about the class. Like you I have learned a lot from our instructor but I have also learned a lot from you thanks for everything.
ReplyDeleteIt was great going through this research journey with you, this class was such a unexpected journey but I am glad I that I have taken this journey. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteHi Amber, Thanks for all your great posts in discussion. I really enjoyed reading them. Back a long time ago, when I was teaching in the late '80's all teachers were expected to design curriculum. Sure the school might suggest using the provided textbooks, but basically every teacher had to come up with new ideas in regard to designing curriculum that worked for all children within the classroom. Back then every teacher was a quasi-researcher. I would have benefitted from a class like this one in undergraduate school! I also am going to enjoy the next couple of weeks off. Hooray!!
ReplyDeleteHello Amber I just wanted to say you made some great posts and I really enjoyed reading them and I look forward to reading week 2's blog post. Design and research in the classroom is very important.
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