Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

I interviewed three people this week and asked them about their definition of culture and diversity. I chose to interview my husband because he is a different gender from me, my mom because of our age difference, and my co-worker because she is African American which is a different race from me.

Culture:
My husband's definition is different customs and backgrounds for a group of people.
My mom's definition is the surroundings that you are raised in.
My co-workers definition is the way a group of people live within their society.

Diversity:
My husband's definition is the differences in people which could include race, religion, ethnicity, etc.
My mom's definition is the different cultures that we encounter in society.
My co-worker's definition is the differences and uniqueness in everyone and what sets them apart from everyone else.

There are some aspects of culture and diversity that I have studied in this course that can be seen through these interview answers. The aspects of diversity being unique to everyone and diversity includes many things such as race, ethnicity, religion, and many more factors. The aspects of culture including customs, backgrounds, and belonging to groups of people. Culture is also about a person's surroundings and society that they have become accustomed to.

While I think these definitions gave me an insight into each person's individual answer and how they see culture and diversity, I have also seen things that I have learned through this course that were omitted in their answers. While culture can be about the different customs and beliefs that we can see on the surface, it also includes deep culture and the aspects that we cannot see. Diversity also includes aspects of social identities.

In learning more about people's definition of culture and diversity it has broadened me own definition as well as given me a new perspective on culture and diversity. Learning from others I can see that their definitions have been influenced by their own culture and diversity. This interview has shown me how important people's values and opinions are important to them and how each person can be influenced.

My Family Culture

   For this week's blog we are to imagine our family going through a major catastrophe and having to relocate to a different country with a completely different culture. With this trip we are only allowed to bring three small items.

   The three items that I would bring would be a one book from my bookshelf, a picture of my family, and my cell phone. I chose these items because I consider them important to me and significant in my life. When choosing a book from my bookshelf I would have to just choose a random one because there are so many that I would want to bring. I chose to bring a book because I love to read and I think it would help me to deal with the situation of moving to a completely different country. Reading  book and getting away can help to ease stress, which is what I would imagine to be a stressful situation. I would also choose to bring a picture of my family. This item can help me to feel more "at home". Having pictures of those that I love is something that I like to display in my house. Those that I come in contact with would be able to see just who I consider most important to me. The last item that I chose was my cell phone. While i know this item may seem a bit obvious, I chose it because I feel that it could connect me with the new country more. I could look up and discover different aspects about the culture as well as connect socially with the people that I come in contact with. I think this could help me become more at ease with being in a different country and culture entirely.

   If I was told that I could only keep one item upon arrival it would be difficult to give up the other two. While it was hard to think of three items, suddenly telling me I had to give up two of them would make me upset and extremely hard to think of which to keep. From my three items I'm not sure which item I would choose to keep. From this exercise I was able to gain insight into what would be important during a stressful situation. I reflected on my own culture and what certain items mean to me. I was able to reflect on how I might deal with being in a completely different culture from my own. It helped me to understand how people around me may feel if they were coming from a different country.

When I Think of Research...

   Through this course of Building Research Competency I have gained so much more knowledge than I had originally learned through other courses. I have gained many insights such as bias in research, risks, and even the types of research that can be conducted and what might fit best depending on what knowledge a researcher wants to gain. My ideas about the nature of doing research haven't necessarily changed but I feel they have expanded. Since I did not have as much knowledge prior to this course I feel that I gained more rather than having change my ideas. I now understand more about what has to happen and how much has to go into a research study.

   As far as planning, designing, and conducting research I have gained more knowledge and understand more about this. I know that planning takes time and that research questions have to be very specific. I have learned that designing a research study takes time because there are many factor that have to be considered. Risks, participants, limits, and research type all have to be considered when designing a research study. I have learned more about conducting a research study by seeing the types of methods that can be used. I have learned more about observations and interviews with participants and that the research sometimes needs to remain as uninvolved as possible.

   When constructing my research simulation I did encounter some challenges. One challenge that I encountered was trying to find a research question. I found it hard at first to be specific and very narrow in my question. I did find that once I was able to be specific I could see that it was necessary when designing the rest of the research. It made it much easier to design the other specific factors that went along with the research. From taking this course I have learned more about early childhood professionals that have to conduct research. I have not previously learned from the perspective of a researcher and now that I have taken this course I understand that in a way any professional in the field can be a researcher. This course has definitely expended my knowledge about the field and early childhood professionals.

Research Around the World

   I chose to look into the website of Early Childhood Australia. Upon entering the site I looked into their own work to see what projects are going on. One project I saw was the Australian Early Development Census resources (AEDC) Project. This project is to promote and demonstrate the data found to inform programming, planning and development to Kindergartens and day cares. Another resource that I stumbled upon was the Research in Practice series. This provides an index for practical and effective approaches to the early childhood field. It has valuable resources that have been made possible by research to assist in the care and education of young children.

   Some insightful information that I found was their Code of Ethics. It was interesting to see another country's code of ethics for early childhood. I was able to read some of it and can see many connections with our own Code of Ethics in early childhood. I was also very interested to see that in their code of ethics, there is a specific part for allowing children to play as a process and context for learning. They also have a special section for research in the early childhood field.

   There were plenty of noteworthy information that was on the website. One section I found very informative was their publications section. In this section I feel that there are plenty of ways to find valuable resources and research in the early childhood field. From magazines, newsletter, journals, and books there are plenty of options to find out more about early childhood in Australia and from around the world. I enjoyed searching through the Early Childhood Australia website and found it a valuable source for international information on early childhood.

http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/

Research that Benefits Children and Families- Uplifting Stories

   During this week we have learned about ethics in research and it's importance. There are examples of research that was done in unethical ways, but fortunately there are also plenty of examples of research done with positive outcomes. From my personal experiences I have seen that research for children and families can have positive outcomes when ethical standards are met. I have some family friends that discovered that their daughter is Autistic. They were able to find this diagnosis when she was about 3 years old and they have relied on research ever since. With the diagnosis they found that she was on the moderate side of the Autism spectrum. They have tried many different therapies for her and it has been a lot of trial and error when finding certain therapies that work. Through research of which therapies can help children in her situation, it has had positive outcomes for those children. As a family they have discovered that horse therapy along with various other speech therapy sessions have really helped their daughter. Through them I can see that research for therapies for children can be done in ethical ways to provide positive outcomes. When research is done under ethical standards then the benefits can truly be something great.                                                             

My Personal Research Journey

 For my current Research course at Walden we are being asked to think of a topic that we would further like to research. For my topic I have chosen to look into the cognitive development of children in the toddler years. I have personally chosen this topic because I currently work with toddlers. While I do know information dealing with children in the toddler years, I am interested in finding out more about their cognitive development and how as an educator I can help facilitate their learning and developmental growth. I will see how play, our interactions and the environment can affect a child during these years and their learning. I am already beginning to learn more and more about this topic and I am excited to see where this research will take me. I have done research topics before but never this big. I am excited to learn more about research in the early childhood years as well as gain more knowledge on my topic of cognitive development in the toddlers years. 

Final Blog Assignment

   Throughout this course I unfortunately was unable to establish contact with international professionals. From my latest blogs I was able to look and analyze many different websites and organizations that deal with early childhood on an international level. I have learned a few from discovering and analyzing these websites as well as the consequences from learning about international contacts in the early childhood field:

• Learning about the international organizations and foundations is a way to connect on a world wide scale. These programs can help us connect the issues and trends that are going on in the world.
• I found the website and podcasts to be great resources to understand what is going on the in world of early childhood. This could also help with early childhood on a personal level by helping out in the classroom on a local range.
• For my own professional development I now know that keeping aware of of kind of programs are out there. There is still a strive, even internationally, to obtain high-quality programs for early childhood care and education.

   One goal for the field of early childhood related to international awareness of issues and trends is to be more resourceful and knowledgeable about it. Researching and voicing the knowledge found can help others become aware of what is going on in the field of early childhood internationally. Having collegial relations with other professionals in the field can help expand this knowledge as well. It is my goal to keep abreast of not only the issues and trends in my community but now on an international level as well.