Research that Benefits Children and Families – Uplifting Stories

OPTION 2:

If I were able to conduct research with young children without limitations, I would choose to do a long-range study involving brain research to determine the impacts of today’s educational focus: rote memorization of skills to take a test or get “school ready”, rather than a holistic approach to development including promotion of social emotional development.  If you have read my earlier blog or discussion posts, you are probably aware that social emotional development is something I hold in a high regard.  It seems to have fallen by the wayside, in favor of memorizing letters, sounds, numerals, shapes, etc., especially in early childhood when much of the former is not developmentally appropriate.  Yes, it is important for children to learn their letters and numbers, but it should not be the sole focus of their experiences in the classroom.  Children in early childhood settings are going through rapid developmental periods, during which they need substantial social emotional models, and opportunities to learn and practice related skills which will impact them for the rest of their lives.  I fear what will happen to today’s children growing up in these classrooms, and although such a study would take a long time to complete (I would like to see the long-term effects of lacking attention to social emotional development), I would hope the information obtained would be used in a way to inform policy makers, administrators, and others in key program/decision making positions that life (and educational experience) is not, and should not, be based on test taking and memorization; children need to grow and develop in well-rounded environments that support ALL domains of learning and development.

My Personal Research Journey

In initially thinking about a topic for the research simulation to be completed in this course, my mind went to social emotional development in young children.  My class of students this year has required a considerable focus on developing these skills and it has prompted a lot of interest and curiosity within myself.  I see such a focus on “academic school readiness” with a neglect to recognize and address social emotional development as well.  It is very unfortunate, and I foresee significant long-term consequences regarding this lack of attention regarding social emotional skills and development.  Throughout this school year I have learned a lot about development among this domain, most prompted by my own need for additional resources and support, however I still am eager to learn more.  I realized the overall topic of social emotional development is huge, and would require some narrowing down, so I refined the topic to include negative and positive consequences of adults roles/interventions among young children’s social emotional development.  In attempting to complete a literature review on my narrowed down topic, I was not able to find the abundance of resources and articles I had anticipated.  So once again, I realized I would have to rethink my topic.  I decided to now focus on specific research-based interventions, strategies, and practices for early childhood professionals AND families to implement to support healthy social emotional development.  I feel this is a positive spin on the issue, as I am focusing on what is desired: well rounded children engaging in healthy social emotional development, as opposed the negative: what happens when adults do not support this development.  I have learned a lot about formal research and the processes it entails in the past two weeks, and anticipate on learning much more as this course,and the research simulation, continue.