Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

I talked to three individuals about various questions as it relates to diversity and culture. The individuals were:

·         My aunt who is a 48 year old, African American female, who lives in Memphis.

·         A co-worker who is 20 years old and of Spanish decent.

·         My husband who is a manager who has a number of individuals under his supervision.

 

Their definition of culture

·         Aunt: The background of someone.

·         Co-worker: The background and foundation of a person.

·         Husband: The way a person was raised and the beliefs they abide by.

 

Their definition of diversity

·         Aunt: The mixture of people of different races in a close environment.

·         Co-worker: The combination of various cultures that comes together to form a finished product.

·         Husband: Individuals from African American, Hispanic, Caucasian, and etc. that gain information from each other.

There are some aspects of culture and diversity that was studied in this course that was included in the answers from the various individuals. All of the individuals I spoke to have similar definitions of culture and diversity. All of them were simple and not expanded much on. The word culture refers to how particular groups of people live (Sparks and Edwards, 2010) during this course I have come to understand that this topic includes much more than just race and gender but also includes language, social status, religion, and even the individual sexual orientation.

 

No aspects have been omitted, because the course has offered so much information on culture and diversity.

 Other individual’s definition of culture and diversity influenced my own thinking about these topics in one main way. When individuals think about culture and diversity, what comes to mind is people’s background. It is so much more that applies to this topic, but many of us define it by what society say.  It includes the language we speak, the religion we practice, and the clothing, housing, food, and rituals/holidays with which we feel most comfortable (Sparks and Edwards, 2010).

 

Reference:

Sparks L. &Edwards J. (2010).Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourself. Washington, DC.

My Family Culture

Imagine the following:

A major catastrophe has almost completely devastated the infrastructure of your country. The emergency government has decided that the surviving citizens will be best served if they are evacuated to other countries willing to take refugees. You and your immediate family are among the survivors of this catastrophic event. However, you have absolutely no input into the final destination or in any other evacuation details. You are told that your host country’s culture is completely different from your own, and that you might have to stay there permanently. You are further told that, in addition to one change of clothes, you can only take 3 small items with you. You decide to take three items that you hold dear and that represent your family culture.

       A description of the three items you would choose:

·         Photo Album with pictures of my children growing up and family in general.

·         The Bible so that I can read and study the word.

·         A laptop so important documents could be saved.

       How you would explain to others what each of these items means to you:

·         A photo album compiled with numerous pictures of my family. I would want to remember my children as they are were growing up.

·          I would take the Bible as the second item because I am a strong believer in my faith. The religion might be different, but that don’t mean I have to change mine.

• A laptop would be third items that I took because all my important documents could be saved in the word document. I do understand that it is a possibility that we would never be able to return, but information like marriage license, birth certificates, social security information, and etc. should be kept.
 
 

If I could only keep one item I would keep the Bible and give up the photo album and computer. The Bible can’t be replaced because that is our study guide for our existent. The photo book would be missed but the children would be present with me so I have to keep the memories just that. The laptop is also important but hopefully the information wouldn’t be needed or the new country would provide us with new documentation.

        

It took time for me to consider the three items that I would take with me because I take everything for granted now that I am older. As a child I grew up in Trinidad and nothing was taken for granted because the culture was different. I got spoiled as I got older. My family is Christians and that would never change whether or not I leave an environment.

When I Think of Research...

       Research was always an area that I was unclear and unsure about. I always conducted and wrote research papers but didn’t know how in debt it was. In the field of early childhood research can aid so much to understanding different topics as it relates to children. There are a few areas on the topic of research that I have gained insight on. The first is ethics as it pertains to research. Research contains many risk and researchers have to keep it at a minimum. The different research approaches is another area I gained insight on. The mixed method, qualitative, and quantitative are all different approaches that a researcher can use when a study is being conducted.

Research is always changing, because of those ideas about the nature of doing research also changed. Research can be conducted in the past or present, so with that in mind researchers have to think about how the data is collected. Some forms of data collection can be observation, interviews, various sources, books. For example, if the data source is interviewing then the researcher needs to make sure that they interview the children appropriately.

When planning, designing, and conducting research there are certain things that have to be kept in mind. First the researcher has to decide what approach they are going to follow. For example are they utilizing the qualitative and quantitative design? Also, having an understanding about the different variables plays a big part when it comes to conducting research. I used to always mix up variables before entering this class.

Challenges were encounter throughout this class. As I stated before, I am not an expert as it pertains to research. I had to keep a dictionary near at all times, meaning I had to look up many of the terms to have a clear understanding. Luckily, the charts that we had to do weekly helped me with terms that were giving me the most trouble. Another challenge was eliminating any bias views that could arise, but through the reading I found different ways that it could be eliminated, like having more than one researcher reviewing the data.

An early childhood professional doesn’t just take care of children, but they bring new views and ideas to the field. Research plays a very important role when it comes to informing parents, children, and teachers to new information.  I am very glad that I had the chance to take this class, because it doesn't matter what position that you have in the early childhood field, research will help you in.

Research Around the World

I found three  current research topics that caught my attention on the website http://www.eecera.org/

        

1. Understanding children from 0 to 3 years of age and its implications for education. What's new on the babies' side?

It pertained to the changes that occurred in the past years with babies to toddlers. Society is changing and so is the knowledge about the new generation.

2. What young children give to their learning, making education work to sustain a community and its culture?

It related to the field of early childhood and how it is  always changing and the policies need to be changed accordingly.

3. Promoting language in under 3s. Assessing language development and the quality of adult intervention

This topic goes into detail about toddler’s language development and the adult’s role in promoting it.

     This website was new to me, and at times rather difficult to navigate. I did gain a few insights and ideas from exploring the site European Early Childhood Education Research Association. The first thing that was gained was how inspirational and known this journal is. I never thought a European journal would have such a large impact in the United States. Another thing that was surprising was that the website provided a link for the “The Korea Institute of Child Care and Education”; I was definitely not expecting that.  

Research that Benefits Children and Families—Uplifting Stories

There are so many uplifting stories about research that benefits children and families. I have not had the pleasure of experiencing a real-life example of research benefits to children and families. I have found many interesting stories online about how it can benefit children. One story about homelessness caught my attention. The reason for that is that it always touches my heart to hear stories about a child of parent who beat the odds and succeed in life, despise not having a place to call home.

On Walden library database I found an interesting article called “Lessons learned from children who have experienced homelessness.” Key themes that emerged from the research include: the need for services to engage with children as individuals in their own right, to listen to and acknowledge their stories, to have services that meet their individual needs, to act and respond when children feel unsafe and for workers who can provide support to children to talk to parents about what is going on (Moore, McArthur, and Noble-Carr, 2011). When we hear the tem “homelessness” we know that for children it can affect their health and wellbeing. The research question was: what do service systems need to know about how children perceive and experience homelessness in order to achieve better outcomes for homeless families (Moore, McArthur, and Noble-Carr, 2011)? The reference group included six children ages 8–12 who had experienced homeless with their parents were recruited through homelessness services (Moore, McArthur, and Noble-Carr, 2011). Some good points was included in this article like Children need a continuity of care, Children need to know that they and their families are safe, Children need adults to respond, Children want services to recognize their family’s strengths and help build upon them,  and Kids may need adults to help them communicate. A key theme to emerge from this project was the need for services to engage with children as individuals in their own right, and listen to and acknowledge their experiences (Moore, McArthur, and Noble-Carr, 2011). The research went on to conclude that children have feelings and want people to recognize that they need services available to them. The children in this study focused on what their parents could do rather than what they couldn’t and wished that services would do this too (Moore, McArthur, and Noble-Carr, 2011).

 I am learning a lot about the research process.

 References

Moore, T., McArthur, M., & Noble-Carr, D. (2011). Lessons learned from children who have experienced homelessness: what services need to know. Children & Society, 25(2), 115-126

Your Personal Research Journey

Evidence based practice is the topics that I decided to look further into, when it comes to the field of early childhood. As a current teacher in the field I like to explore different practices that are put into effect to aid children. One reason I like this topic is because it a topic that has two sides. Evidence based practice can have an impact on children health, the community, and on the field as a whole. I have never heard of this practice until the last course that I took last semester that had a reading assignment on the topic. I learned from the article, but I want to look further into the topic, and I couldn’t think of a better topic to focus on.

My personal experience with the simulation process has been a learning experience. I was clueless about what to look for when it comes to locating good and reliable research articles. Conducting the research chart provided me the information that I needed to know. For example, I now have clues on what to keep an eye out for when conducting research, like author’s info and writing style. One of my biggest issues was making sure the research wasn’t bias.

The internet is my best friend. I used Google when conducting research, but I just look for research articles that meet the criteria’s. Since I started at Walden I have been utilizing their research database to locate the articles. It has a ton of information and breaks them up into different criteria’s so that I could narrow my search. If anyone has any resources that can aid when it comes to this topic, please feel free to let me know.

Final Blog: Consequences and Goals

The past eight weeks has definitely been a learning experience. I have learned about so many things, and my contacts in South America and Trinidad shed light on so many topics for me. I didn’t just learn from my international contacts, but also from my peer’s contacts. There were some consequences of learning about the international early childhood field; some was intended, unintended, good, and bad.

Consequences:

·         Obtaining information about the various processes that is used in different countries.

·         Understanding how the issue of diversity was handled.

·         That poverty is a problem that occurs not just in the United States, but in all countries. Some countries more than others.

·         Forming relationships and a bond with the international contact for future connections and friendship.

It was so much to gain from the women that I kept asking questions just to learn more about their education system. All countries are different but we have small issues here in the United States, compared to other places. We don’t have to worry about air condition, like in South America.
One goal for is to increase awareness of various issues that surrounds the early childhood field in all countries. We could learn from professionals in different countries, or the other way around.