I am the director of a child development
center serving young children ages 6 weeks to 6 years old. I have been saddened to see many early
childhood care and education facilities lessen the value of social-emotional
learning to accommodate greater amounts of academic-based curriculum. Earlier in my Walden coursework, I was
contemplating how to advocate the importance of social-emotional learning to our
parents, and promote an overall culture of prosocial behavior throughout my
center. I came across an article that
deeply resonated with me because I realized that prosocial development wasn’t
something that only belonged as part of the preschool curriculum, but should be
implemented as early as infancy. Quann
& Wien (2006), along with other contemporary researchers, now prove that
infants and toddlers seem fine-tuned to one another’s feelings and able to put
themselves in the position of others long before researchers in moral reasoning
expect to observe empathy and prosocial behaviors. Therefore, I want to research specific ways
early childhood professionals can help infants and toddlers develop prosocial
skills (kindness, sharing, cooperation, empathy) to build a strong foundation
for continued healthy social-emotional learning.
I have gained several insights thus far
in this course:
1. How to read research
papers following the “Practical Guide to Reading Research Articles”. This empowered me and helped me to feel less
overwhelmed at the thought of reading and trying to make sense of all the
statistical information that is usually found in these studies!
2.
The “Understanding Research Chart” helped me to make better sense of the text
definitions because I had to put in my own words what they meant. I chose the literary review as my topic to
summarize, because I needed more guidance in understanding how to write our
application literature review. The key
take-aways I got from synthesizing this information was to not get overwhelmed
by the massive amounts of research and information that is available on my
research topic. Applying what I learned
about literature reviews, I have started specifying my reading to identify the
key issues, themes and arguments made in each of these papers. One great suggestion that I have implemented
early on in my coursework has helped me tremendously while reading various
resources. It is to use different colored
highlighters to mark each area of study.
For example, I want to know specific curriculum strategies teachers are
using to promote prosocial behavior, so anything to do with this I will
highlight yellow. I also want to find
out how each author defines prosocial behavior, so this might be pink. Any challenges or conflicting viewpoints
might be green, etc.… This has helped me keep organized in doing past research,
so hopefully it is a suggestion that can help my fellow classmates!
3.
I have appreciated the links that everyone posted in the Discussion this
week. I actually used several of the
sites suggested as quality sites to find sources for my research so…thank you! I am open to any additional advice/sources you have to offer that might help me in my research, and hopefully I can be a good resource for you
too! Happy researching!
Quann, V., & Wien, C. A. (2006). The
visible empathy of infants and
toddlers. YC Young Children, 61(4), 22-26,28-29.
Collett,
ReplyDeleteThe topic you have chosen seems like one that affects you professionally and personally. I think it is amazing that as early as infants and toddlers, we are able to influence their stages of development. I am very interested to learn more about the prosocial skills that caregivers can instill in children so young. Since you have a lot of experience working with children of all ages (and having your own) do you have any insight to offer on how deployment affects the psychosocial development of children? Thanks!
Caitlin
Caitlin,
DeleteI am actually married to an Air Force man so I do have some insights in this. I will also be happy to share any information I come across related to the military. FYI - the military early child development programs are some of the very best quality centers in America. They provide excellent services to their families so that may be one path you can explore!
Collett,
ReplyDeleteI think the idea you have of using different color highlighters. Great idea!
I have chosen Social-Emotional Development as my simulation as well. I am very interested in the topic and helping to educate others on the importance. I may very well be hitting you up for more great ideas. Any time management ideas?
Haha... no ideas for time management. Lots of late nights and long days. I work full-time and go to school, so I am open to suggestions of time management too! I try to set aside at least 2 hours for homework every weeknight, and then hit the homework hard on the weekend. It is a lot to manage and can be very overwhelming (chocolate helps! I suggest Milk Duds) ;)
DeleteCollett,
ReplyDeleteI think you have chosen a great topic for your research. I fully agree with you that children’s social and emotional development is being overlooked in favor of academics. The article you were referring to sounds very interesting. I will look it up since it seems to be related to my area of interest, supporting the development of empathy in preschool children. I am not very familiar with social and emotional development in infants so what this article has to say on this topic will be of great interest to me. I will be more than happy to share any articles I come across with you.
Thank you also for sharing tips on staying organized. I like the idea of using color codes to organize key ideas in resources. Do you usually print out all the resources you are interested in? I generally prefer organizing everything on my computer and e-reader. Also agree that chocolate is a great help!!!
I guess I get overloaded with the computer (with 8 hours at work and homework). I am more tactile and like to have the article in-hand to highlight and make notes in it. I'm sure this can be done with computer too, but I really don't have the energy to learn how to do it! Haha! I also like to keep the articles as a resource to other teachers in my center. I file them according to topic, so they can pull out topics that they are interested in.
DeleteCheck out the article:
Hyson, M, & Taylor, J. (2011) Caring about Caring: What Adults can do to promote young children's prosocial skills. July 2011 Young Children magazine. Great article, but also a list of many other resources in the back that are helpful!
Hello Collett,
ReplyDeleteI believe this is a great topic to research as well. Children do need to have healthy prosocial skills that are developed appropriately. These are much needed skills that will be important in their life the rest of their life. I hope that by continuing to advocate the importance of social-emotional learning to the parents, and promote an overall culture of prosocial behavior throughout your center too. Children only know what they see, learn, and hear. They imitate others that are in their life and this is how their foundation develops. We have to protect their pro social skills development. Nice post!
Pam
Hello Collett!
ReplyDeleteI am very interested in reading more about your findings and your research journey. My topic concerns social/emotional development as well, but with a focus on the effects of educational screen time on SE development. My choice of topic comes from my concern over the amount of screen technology my children (would like to) use combined with the requirement set in place by their school to possess an iPad for use both at school and at home. Best of luck with your research; we will see how our paths and topic cross!