This website had to be bookmarked for future reference!  I was very impressed by the success it has enjoyed wholly on it's own, with no outside financial support. Being a self-sustaining non-profit organization, they avoid the risk of influence by special interest groups on the information it compiles and distributes.
    When exploring current research, I found it helpful that Journal submissions are categorized by most read, current, latest, and most cited. Browsing most read, many of the articles listed were about incorporating children into the research process, as we studied in this course. Articles such as:

•      Research with children: three challenges for participatory research in early childhood by Tim Waller & Angeliki Bitou
•      Introducing children's perspectives and participation in research by Deborah Harcourt & Johana Einarsdottir
•     Listening to young citizens: the struggle to make real a participatory paradigm in research with young children by Christine Pascal & Tony Bertram

spanning from 2009 to 2011. Latest articles held a mixed listing of topics dating as recently as November 17, 2014. Current articles and most cited articles gave me an idea of what is the current trend in the early childhood field. Reading these article titles and observing the dates written, it is obvious and exciting that around the world as well as in the U.S., the importance of a strong supportive experience in the earliest years  of humans is becoming accepted fact. Our professional field is gaining respect for the expertise that it requires and the major influence it can have on a child's trajectory.  Children, with the help of the UNCRC, are becoming visible and are more involved in their own development through pedagogy of guidance rather than authoritarianism. I feel like I am getting in on the ground floor of a maturing professional field!

Reference:

European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA)  Retrieved from: http://www.eecera.org/

Exciting concept of mixed age child care settings

     By comparing the work I do now in center-based care, where classes are grouped rigidly by age, with the home day care I operated for 12 years, I feel strongly that mixed age group care is more beneficial,  not only for the children, but for caregivers as well.

     In reading scholarly articles to determine if any experts had conducted research on this idea, information was limited. A study whose purpose was directed more toward teacher's ability to rate children based on postdevelopmental perspectives as opposed to developmental approaches gave many examples of benefits to the mixed age group setting. Scaffolded learning resulted in older children taking the lead, the younger children rising to challenges, empathy for the babies, and less stress for the caregivers. These are some quotes from the article:

   With regard to ELL's:

"This form of learning was perceived as particularly important to Gina, who worked in a centre with a large number of families whose first language was not English. She believed the multiage classroom contained a variety of skill levels in respect of language development which provided a framework for supporting

the children’s acquisition of English. A chronological classroom containing second-language learners would not necessarily have provided the younger children with the same level of exposure to the older children (Edwards, Blaise & Hammer, 2009)."

 

   With regard to teacher stress and social development:    

"The teachers discussed how, in multiage settings, older children were more likely to intervene when they saw a child upset, providing comfort and reassurance and creating a sense of community and caring within the group. They argued that this level of engagement was not normally possible in situations where all the children are of a similar age, and that having older children to spread the ‘developmental load’ reduced teacher stress associated with toddler tantrums, sharing, turn-taking, and the need to provide scaffolded support for appropriate peer interactions (Edwards, Blaise & Hammer, 2009)."
 

     With regard to cognitive development:

"Although these examples were expressed developmentally, they provided examples of children, particularly babies, working beyond their supposed ‘ages and stages’ of developmental progress. Thus two-year-olds confidently handling hammers and older children competently nurturing babies were reported as examples of how multiage grouping works to support children’s learning in ways not seen in traditional chronologically–based classrooms (Edwards, Blaise, & Hammer)."

  

     I loved all the observations made by the teachers in this article and wish I could post 75% of them to this blog. They overcame parent's worries about older children harming babies, shocked staff who were not teachers with the calmness and happiness of the classrooms, and provided positive social development to all the participants. I wish I could find more about this subject; if any of my colleagues has heard of research done on this I would appreciate the tip.

 

Reference:

 

Edwards, S., Blaise, M., & Hammer, M. (2009). Beyond developmentalism? Early childhood teachers' understandings of multiage grouping in early childhood education and care. Australasian Journal Of Early Childhood, 34(4), 55-63. Retrieved Nov. 15, 2014 from http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=157c4832-337c-4316-9030-cf0e876695be%40sessionmgr4001&vid=11&hid=4109 

 

My Personal Research Journey

     My assignment is to attempt a simulated research on a subject that interests me. Throughout my life I have been fascinated by what drives a person to hurt defenseless children or animals. I have always been a gentle, caring person who loves to love and be loved, and I am so at a loss to understand what is going through people's minds who act in a hostile manner toward anyone. My child rearing did not involve any spanking, yelling, or manipulation. The three children I raised and the many children I cared for in my home day care are happy, successful people at different stages of their lives. My goal in working with children and families is to teach people how to raise their children with my methods, and proving that corporal punishment is not necessary will work toward that goal.
     My research subject will be "Is inappropriate student behavior displayed more or less by children who experience corporal punishment at home?"
     My first general search on the web led me to a blog called "Kidjacked", which although was not a quality source for data, did provide links to every state for the most updated laws regarding corporal punishment. The copyright for Kidjacked was 2014, but the notation on updates stated the last one was November 19, 2012. Many of the links led to current information, such as National Child Abuse Defense and Resource Center, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and InnocentDads.org.(http://kidjacked.com/, N.A., 2012)
     I plan on reading whatever updated information I can find on the Pearls, a couple who wrote a book about the proper use of corporal punishment. Their philosophy came to my attention when reading a news article about the arrest of parents who caused the death of their child from following the Pearl's methods (Eckhold, 2011).

References:

Eckhold, E. (2011). Preaching Virtue of Spanking, Even as Deaths Fuel Debate. NY Times, Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/07/us/deaths-put-focus-on-pastors-advocacy-of-spanking.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Kidjacked, Retreived from: http://kidjacked.com/

THE RESEARCH CHART
     I am having difficulty with the terms in the chapter for this week, and ultimately with the chart. I want to hear from my classmates--is anyone else finding this hard to understand? I am reading it over and over, but I think I need examples to understand it.
     What are some paradigms? Are there a specific set of "beliefs?" or are they infinite? Because ontology and epistemology's definitions rely on sets of beliefs, I don't really understand them fully either. Methodology is clearer to me because it is more concrete.
     Any laymans terms out there would be greatly appreciated.

Not a Villain in the Bunch

   

 This Friday at my Child Development Center we celebrated "Fall Festival". The children were encouraged to dress as superheroes, princesses, or a person from a storybook. No pirates, no skeletons, no Captain Hooks, and we were not allowed to mention Halloween. Like as if the kids didn't know it was Halloween.
     How can we have all good guys and no bad guys? Can children fully understand what not to be like? All children's folktales have bad guys, usually a wolf, and sometimes it's stepparents. I put this question out for opinions of my classmates--is it wrong to let children dress up as the big, bad wolf, or the wicked witch?