Getting to Know your International Contacts

I listened to Podcast radio with Irma Allen – Chairperson of the Swaziland Environment Authority (the equivalent to the EPA in the United States) and a member of World Forum Nature Action Collaborative for Children.  The podcast describes her work in African where she lives with her husband.  She has been challenged to teach community people to teach early childhood education.  Much of their work is done in the environment opposed to classrooms which they do not have.  The environment or nature is very strong part of the experience since they are teaching a respect for nature and Environment.  Ms. Allen describes a story of a young man who was an orphan that was one of the first participants of the early childhood experiences and how he stated that he remembers a woman smiling at him with open arms.  He states that learned to appreciate his country, home and environment, which gave him strength and encouragement.  He stated as he moved through life and experienced struggles and failures he would always draw on his early childhood experiences for encouragement.  Listening to this podcast reminded me of a school here in Decatur, Georgia called the Waldrof school.  Their curriculum is founded in nature and spend a great deal of time exploring the environment and nature.

I visited the site (http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/), Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre’s page and read about poverty in India.  India has 260.2 million people living in poverty as of 1999-2000.  Through systematic efforts to alleviate poverty they have increased economic growth, including liberalization of the economy, targeted programs, land and tenancy reforms and participatory empowerment based approaches and the provision of basic services.  I learned that governmental policy and programs are helping alleviate poverty in India.  Due to these approaches the poverty line declined from 54.9 percent to an estimated 26 percent.    In India there is a high rate of communicable diseases, malnutrition and maternal and perinatal illness.  So poverty has a negative effect on the health of people living in poverty.  India has a high percentage of working children.  Due to poverty large numbers  There  is inequalities in child wellbeing based on gender.  Girls life chances are less than boys, this is due to the fact of poverty as well as the Indian’s views that boys are permanent members of a family while girls are only temporary members.

Harlem Children's Zone

Harlem Children’s Zone at http://www.hcz.org/

This organization began in 1970 as a truancy-prevention program.  Through the 1980’s and 1990’s the crack epidemic was a problem in Harlem HCZ’s staff developed new approaches to help these families.  In 1991 HCZ turned a public school into a community center offering a range of services and activities on nights, weekends and summers.   In the early 1990’s HCZ ran a pilot project that brought a range of support services to a single block.  They addressed all the problems that poor families were facing:  from crumbling apartments to failing schools, from violent crime to chronic health problems.    In 1997 the agency began a network of programs for a 24 block area the Harlem Children’s Zone Project.  In 2007 the zone project grew to almost 100 blocks.  Today the Children’s Zone serves more than 8,000 children and 6,000 adults.  Overall, the organization serves more than 10,000 children and more than 7,400 adults .  Over the years the agency introduced several ground-breaking efforts in 2000 the Baby College parenting workshops in 2001 the Harlem Gems pre-school program and the HCZ Asthma initiative, which teaches families to better manage the disease.  In 2004, the Promise Academy a high quality public charter school and in 2006, an obesity program to help children stay healthy.   HCZ aims at doing nothing less than breaking the cycle of generational poverty for the thousands of children and families it serves.

I listened to an interview CNN had with the CEO, Geoffrey Canada of Harlem Children’s Zone entitled Education and the American Dream.  One of the things he said in this interview is that children today are not getting the education that their parents received.  He feels that education is failing today due to lack of innovation.  What he is saying is that the education experience to day is the same as it was years ago, nothing has changed.  He feels that what is required of this generation is much more than previous generations and change is necessary for Education to work.  I think that with the changing demographics this is also an issue.  Education needs to go through some change because the clientele is different  now than in years ago and we as Educators need to address the new issues in educating our children.

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

I emailed a couple of professionals using the email addresses that were provided on the NAEYC website, but my emails were returned to me.  So I tried locating email address that looked familiar like yahoo accounts.  I emailed Blesilda Rios in the Phillippines and Mrs. Bimbo Are in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.  I have not received an email back, but I am hopful.  If I don't receive a response by Tuesday I will have to proceed with the alternate.

The second part of our assignment expanding resources I chose the Harlem Children's Zone website.  I chose this site because I am from New York and am interested in the fight to end poverty for minorities.  When I clicked on the website the first thing you see is statistics on how there early childhood programs are impacting the lives of the people in Harlem.  I will enjoy following this website.

When I Think of Research

What insights have you gained about research from taking this course?

I have learned that there is a lot of details that need to be addressed when undertaking any research project.  I understand that there are ethical issues that need to be addressed when soliciting participants.  Obtaining the necessary permissions and assents from parents and children is key.  Also understanding the risk factors of a research project is important to be able to receive the necessary approval to proceed with a project.

In what way have your ideas about the nature of doing research changed?

Prior to taking this course I had assignments that involved my reading research papers and I was challenged with understanding the material presented, particularly the results section of a research paper.  I now understand how to read and interpret a research paper, because of the material covered in this course.  I think one of the key components to research is conducting a valid research project and I now understand that triangulation is an important factor in producing a valid research project.

What lessons about planning, designing and conducting research in early childhood did you learn?

I learned that your question in a research project cannot be a general question, but incisive and that creating sub topics helps to identify what your research will address.  I also learned that equity is important to any research project.  Researchers need to address the issues of justice and fairness when designing a project.  Researchers need to be sensitive to their perception of authority or power when undertaking a researcher project, because their outcomes may be tainted or contaminated.  Over all I have learned there is much detail that goes into the design of a research project.

What were some of the challenges you encountered and in what ways did you meet them?

The work I did on my own research project was challenging to me.  The process of identifying a effective research questions was challenging to me.  I think that my initial question was too general so I came up with several subtopics, but could not decide which one closest addressed the issue that I was trying to research.

What are some of the ways your perception of an early childhood professional has been modified as a result of this course?

I have a greater respect for research and how it helps improve and guide the early childhood field.  I have learned that research is a science that has many details that need to be addressed before research can be valid and can improve the lives of young children. 

Research Around the World

Early Childhood Australia about us states that they will advocate to ensure quality, social justice and equity in all issues relating to the education and care of children from birth to eight years old.  Their values are the rights of children, leadership, excellence and respect, courage, honesty, and openness, collaboration and diversity, justice, and social inclusion of children(ECA, 2011).  This site announces upcoming conferences and offers books and journal subscriptions.  One of the journals I found was Australasian Journal of Early Childhood is Australasia’s foremost scholarly journal and the world’s longest running major journal within the early childhood field.  This journal is published quarterly and offers evidence-based articles that promote an exchange of ideas among early childhood practitioners, students and academics.  I found a list of various topics related to the early childhood filed such as Aggression and young children, dealing with bullying together:  Preventions and resolutions and Learning and teaching through play.

What I found interesting was an article Young Children as active learners this article states that the way children were once viewed or the Western perspective about young children assumed that they were vulnerable so they are viewed in terms of what they cannot do, requiring adult care during this time.   Adults must always determine what is best for children.  The article states that the traditional ideas  about childhood is changing such as time of dependency on adults and a time of innocence due to children’s access to computer games, mobile telephones and obtaining information from the internet.  “It is argued that this greater access to popular culture has subverted contemporary children’s consciousness of themselves as incompetent and dependent entities”.    Children are now considered as active agents in and of their own learning.

Early Childhood Australia has taken a position regarding children of refugees and children in detention the paper is called ECA Position Statement :  Children of Asylum Seekers.  Asylum seekers are people who have entered Australia claiming refugee status under the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and seeking protection of the Australian Government.  The children of these people are experiencing their childhood in detention centers or in the communities of Australia.   The ECA developed principles  that should be applied to all policies and practices as they relate to the children of asylum seekers and children of refugees.  The main goal of these principles is to ensure the protection and healthy development of all children and to achieve durable solutions which are appropriate to the immediate and long-term developmental needs of children.

Reference:

ECA. (2011). Early Childhood Australia: A Voice for Young Children. Retrieved from http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/resource_themes/resource_themes.html

Safe Research

I read a research paper called The Family Origins of Empathic Concern, which was a 26-year Longitudinal study.   Subjects of this study were 5 year olds.  Their mothers were interviewed about their parenting behavior and those of their spouses.  These interviews were transcribed and then rated for a variety of specific maternal and paternal behaviors.  The analysis of maternal styles yielded 6 dimensions, warmth, strictness, restricts sexuality, inhibits aggression, tolerates dependency and role satisfaction.  There was also an analysis of mother’s management techniques, use of physical punishment and use of praise.  The analysis of paternal ratings yielded  3 dimensions, involvement in child care, firmness in discipline and warmth (Koestner, Weinberger & Franz, 1990).  There were 379 subjects followed. 

This paper’s hypothesis was that the development of empathy is most likely to occur in a family environment that satisfies the child’s own emotional needs and discourages excessive self-concern, encourages the child to experience and express a broad range of emotions and provides opportunities for the child to observe and interact with others who encourage emotional sensitivity and responsiveness.  The 379 subjects were followed through surveys,  interviews and personality tests.

The results indicated that there is a relatively strong association between early parenting experiences and adult empathic concern.  It was found that children whose fathers were very involved in their care and whose mothers were tolerant of dependency were most likely to report high levels of empathic concern at age 31 (Koestner, Weinberger & Franz, 1990).  Parental affection was excluded as a predictor of a child’s development of empathy.  The results suggest that parenting behaviors in early childhood can have a lasting impact on the course of personality development.  This study is important because it shows the importance of family on child development.  The results of this study can be impacting on parenting techniques and what parents can learn about being a source to their child’s development.   This type of research seems not to propose greater than minimal risk to the participants as their parents were the ones interviewed and they were interviewed and or tested during a 26 year long period and the benefits of this research is extremely impacting the early childhood field.

Reference:

Koestner, R., Weinberger & Franz, C. (1990).  The Family Origins of Empathic Concern:  A 26 year Longitudinal Study The American Psychological Association Vol. 58, No 4 709-717

Reasons for my Topic

My topic for my simulation is empathy.  The questions I would like to answer is when does empathy present itself in young children and Is prosocial behavior inherent or is it learned from older children and adults.  This topic is important to me because prosocial behavior in children is the foundation to their learning.  If children are unable to cooperate and trust the people they are around learning is impossible. 

I would like to know when children are capable of empathy and or prosocial behavior  and if it is inherent or something that must be cultivated in a child.  As an early head start teacher I work with very young children and behavior is a major issue in the classroom.   I would like to have realistic expectations of the children in my class and this information would be helpful to me.  It is my position if prosocial behavior has to be cultivated, I would like to know this so that I can work on helping children to learn prosocial behavior.  Knowing the age sets my expectations.  I have read in a previous course that children begin to exhibit empathy at the age of  4 years old, but read a research paper that found that 18 month olds exhibit empathy.  The research document also examined monkeys and they too are capable to altruistic behavior.  I personally have witnessed very young children exhibit behavior that I would consider empathetic.   I would like clarity as to when I could have expectations of a child being capable to prosocial behavior/empathy.

I think obtaining knowledge in this area would be beneficial to Early Childhood field because it would  shed light on how children learn and develop, which is key to knowing how to teach them.