My “perfect” research topic…

Given that we are studying early childhood education and programs, including the trends, demographics and issues related to the field (such as poverty, differential quality of programs, financial resources, etc), my perfect research topic would involve studying demographics and trends in the African-American community as it relates to single parent households, coupled with the ever-increasing abence of fathers in African-American households. Additionally, I would choose a subtopic that addressed all of the trends and question the financial stability and financial education that the African-American community sorely lacks.

This research study would seek to include answers to the demanding questions of how, why, where, what and whom? I would seek information on African-American history including child-bearing and parenting patterns during slavery. I would hope that my research would reap positive results, with financial education and services available to minority communities. Many lower-income communities are ignorant to how credit works, what their credit score is, and how to seek and demand quality. This includes education. Learning how to break out of your comfort zone and something as simple as learning that your child qualifies to apply to a neighborhood charter school, as opposed to attending their zone school because that’s all they know, are the type of things I hope would come out of a study such as this. Additionally, I would hope to find answers to the high incarceration rates of Black men and the trends that are pushing this number forward, as well as how this dilemma affects the African-American family. All of this information has ties to slavery and post-slavery days and I would seek to understand how it all relates. Through bloodlines, certain negative and positive traits have transcended over generations and I want to learn how that came to be and what we can do to pass onto future generations.

 

What’s important to a field trip?

It’s a funny question to ask, really. What’s important to a field trip as opposed to what makes a field trip important…however, as I had to decide on the subtopic of my research, I had a hard time determining what’s more important to a field trip, from my 3 initial subtopics (diversity, the importance of play as a standard of curriculum, and examining current curriculums).

Knowing that I may encounter a level of difficulty with regards to examining current curriculums, I have decided to scratch that off the list, so I am left with exploring diversity with regards to field trips or determining the importance of play as a standard of curriculum when it comes to the relevance to field trips. My passion lies with diversity, building a tolerant and equitable environment for all and therefore, I chose the subtopic of diversity when it comes to what is important to a field trip. I will go into more detail once we begin the research projects, but diversity is a key element to the importance of field trips and it encompasses much more than simply ethnicities and cultures. When we speak of diversity, it includes different types of activities, explorations and learning adventures (ex-going to different museums as opposed to field trips simply for play). All of these can stimulate the mind and lead to a better understanding of what is already being learned and established in the classroom.

As I mentioned in one of our discussion posts, I have been a teacher in a pre-school sclassroom where our only field trips consisted of visiting a different park every week. There was no educational benefits to these field trips and therefore, in my opinion, lacked the diversity and many important elements. There needs to be an exploration of different options that contributes to the diversity of the classroom and the learning curriculum. A website that I use often for research with regards to the cultural competence trainings I present and how to approach diversity in the classroom is www.tolerance.org. This website gives a plethora of information on how to engage children in diverse exercises and also gives suggestions for different field trips and activities outside of the classroom.