When I Think of Research....

....I think--whew, I made it!

To be completely honest, the thought of doing a research based course scared the bejeebies out of me. My interest in early childhood education is based off of my passion for working with young children and their families. I have been a Director at various Early Education Centers for almost 10 years, and I have had no greater joy than seeing children that I knew as infants graduate from Pre-K. In my mind, this had nothing to do with research, and dealt more with a natural, and emotional way of studying children.

However, through this course I've come to realize that maybe all along I did believe in research, I just didn't know enough about it. Research doesn't have to be children pressing buttons behind a glass mirror while researchers in lab coats take notes. It can be so much more, and can help every aspect of early childhood subsequently. The biggest insight I gained from this course is that research takes many forms, and is conducted by many different people. Every study has a different hypothesis, research question, and method of acquiring data.

I learned that planning, designing, and conducting research is a long task, but in the end is very purposeful. Creating my research simulation over the last 8 weeks has challenged how I think about certain aspects of my professional life, and also helped to keep me organized. The direct way that the simulation was set up really made me think, and taught me how helpful research actually is to my chosen profession.

Some people in early childhood education have a very research oriented mind, and I applaud those people. The biggest challenge I met was trying to turn my mind in a research direction. Writing a research simulation requires a very formal way of writing, and if you can't tell, I'm more of a free thought kind of writer. Over the last 4 weeks especially I have done a lot of editing, re-writing, and over thinking before turning in my papers. In the end, I think that I was able to really commit to producing quality work that met the requirements.

Overall, this research course has opened my eyes a little to how research can really benefit early childhood programs. I even found myself looking for scholarly articles to articulate different points with the children and families I work with! My perceptions about research have been changed thanks to this course, and I'm grateful for that.

Now, on to the next course! We are all doing so well, and I'm glad to have the support of my colleagues who are treading through with me. We've got about a year left! Let's go!