MY ULTIMATE RESEARCH DREAM

Farrington (2002) cited “when people are asked what they think are the main causes of crime, they often nominate poor parental child-rearing methods and especially poor discipline or control of children.”

Early Childhood is such a wide field that I really found it difficult in choosing a topic to research. But for the many years my little country Jamaica has been riddled with much crime and violence and I wonder if it has to do with our early childhood system.  Sometimes I wonder does it have to do with poor parenting skills, the economy and other social issues.  I ask myself questions such as why is the ghetto system alive and well.  Why do young children continue to have children at a very tender age when there is so much information on birth control in schools and there supposed to be laws to protect our most vulnerable? And why do we choose to give our children guns instead of giving them a good education? Why the government sees it so hard to invest in early childhood when they know it can provide us with solutions to the many issues that we are faced. Do we really lack vision for our country and if so, are we really going to perish?

My research in early childhood would focus on the social and emotional development of children. My primary focus; however, would be to examine the impact of teenage pregnancy on the life of the child in in the formative years. For the past four years as an early childhood inspector I have discovered that many of the parents who send their children to community owned basic schools give birth to the children between the ages of 13  to 18 years. Another startling discovery I made is that the fathers for these children are also very young or the fathers are much older than the mothers. I also found out from some practitioners that if the mother who has given birth was below the age of consent many of the fathers’ information is not presented on the birth certificate. We know that children from the time of birth go through social and emotional changes and they also experience cognitive changes. I believe this research will help to identify how poor parenting skills will affect the social and emotional development of our children.

References

Farrington, D. (2002) Family Influences on Delinquency. Retrieved from http://samples.jbpub.com/9780763760564/60564_CH10_Springer.pdf

 

PERSONAL RESEARCH JOURNEY

The topic I hope to focus on for the next of couple of weeks for the simulation exercise is cognitive development in middle age children. The period between the ages of 6 to 11 is a very important time in a child’s life. Piaget called the cognition of middle childhood concrete operational thought, characterized by concepts that enable children to use logic (Berger, 2012). Children during this stage naturally learn quickly. It’s the age where the children are required to think. However, are the children’ thinking are being affected by modern technology such as computers, electronic toys and the long hours being spent watching television. Berger (p. 368), states “U.S. fourth graders score far below those in East Asia. Some critics blame the teachers, some the students, others the schools, and still others the culture.” This could be caused by various things such as the pressure to do well on assessments so that children can matriculate to higher grade, the lack of play, the excessive use of technological devices such as sitting and watching television for long periods of time, the use of other toys. Are children taught how to rote learn and not to think and apply information? My intention is to find out how all these aspects affect children cognitively in their middle childhood. Every aspect of child development is very important but middle childhood marks a period of increase independence and confidence in the middle childhood and therefore children who are not able to perform in school because of low cognitive development may end up becoming school drop outs are just passing through the system If we can identify from this early stage of child development what affects the child cognitive development we can save ourselves millions of dollars that are spent on remediation programs.

So far I am in the preliminary stages of the research chart. The first week was very challenging but I hope I am getting a true understanding of how to manipulate the chart.  Learning about the research process is challenging but learning about the different aspects of research such the various terminologies and the validity of the credibility of resources will prove to be both useful and as guide in ensuring that we understand and apply the research process.

I would greatly appreciate the views of my colleagues on cognitive development in middle childhood. Are children given stimulation exercises to help them cognitive development? Are the children bombarded by too much assessment exercises, therefore, less time is spent on allowing children to discover their world? How does play affect the child’s cognitive development in middle childhood? There are so many questions about cognitive development in middle childhood and I know many of you have much information to contribute to this area.

Judy,

Reference

Berger, K. (2012). The Developing Person Through Childhood(6th ed.) New York: Worth Publishers.