By the end of week one, I had chosen to research high-quality, effective teaching teams in early childhood classrooms. My interest in this topic was sparked in my last course, Issues and Trends in Early Childhood. Qualifications for early childhood educators are being raised and many questions have been raised as to whether or not having a degree in early childhood provides a better learning experience for young children.
The three subtopics I came up with at the end of week one are:
- Characteristics of high-quality, effective early childhood educators
- Communication and collaboration are key ingredients in high-quality, effective early childhood teaching teams
- Raising the qualifications of preschool teachers increases the quality of the early childhood program
As I worked through the research chart this week, I admit that I still am not sure of what my workable research question is going to be. The fact that this is the end of week two and there are just six weeks left to this course is not very comforting. I am interested in hearing any ideas or suggestions from my colleagues that will help me narrow my focus and formulate a workable research question!
Hi Jennifer - I totally get your dilemma - choosing a topic for me was overwhelming too. I really enjoyed the Issues and Trends class and took to the subject of raising qualification for preschool teachers. I have an in-home child care center working with children up to the age of 4 and I am not really required to have more than 15 hours of training per year. I really feel that this should be changed as we are with the children at their most impressionable age. I was thinking of this being my research topic, but chose autism instead as I know very little about it.
ReplyDeleteGood luck in your research!
Hi Jennifer,
ReplyDeleteI am also having the issue of choosing a research question. I totally understand. Yes, that part of the Issues and Trends course was very interesting. The qualifications are different in each state. I am totally interested and we are sure to have some input and support for anything you may need through the course of your research.
Hi Jennifer,
ReplyDeleteIt looks like we will be researching similar topics. I am looking at researching why caregivers leave the field or what we can do to keep from losing all the good ones. I am still struggling with the wording of my research question. I am hoping that the more I write about it, I will be able to focus on what I want to answer.
Hi Jennifer,
ReplyDeleteI can honestly and truly understand your stress! This course in general makes me very nervous because I am not great at doing research let alone coming up with finding a workable research question. I also found myself conflicted with narrowing down my subtopic and picking the one I want to focus on. I think that your topic is a great one and your subtopics are great a well. in my opinion, I would go with subtopic 1 or 3, i think those are really good subtopics! Good luck with everything !