Taking this course has been
both exciting and challenging at times.
I have always been a hands on kind of person and loved the experiment part
of science, a good detective novel or working out problems with a pencil and a piece
of paper. I enjoy the process of solving
for X and finding the solution. As a child I loved word problems and learned
how to pay close attention to all the factors within a problem. I learned how to use deductive reasoning and
problem solving to come up with a possible solution.
However, the paperwork part of
research, the part that deals with sorting through everyone else’s research, is
not strength. While I truly appreciate having
learned how to recognize a reliable source and got a lot of really great research
pointers from everyone, the hours of sorting through the write ups of other
peoples experiments is hard for me. I
guess it is my impatient side coming out.
If I can’t perform the experiment myself I want to be able to find the
answers I need quickly. I get easily
frustrated with the overabundance of information on the internet that comes up
when I Google a particular area of interest.
99% of what comes up is not applicable to what I am looking for so I
often find myself going back to old text books or lecture notes that I know
have the information that I am looking for in them. The problem with that is that often these
sources are on the edge of being outdated.
In this electronically driven world I need to be able to find current
information on subjects of interest and to do that I have to be patient and
sort through the overabundance. No
matter how much I dislike it.
Overall the opportunity to look closer at research has given me a reminder of how important research really is for our profession to continue to grow and how the little research projects and experiments we do daily within our classrooms are so important. Thanks everyone for all your help and support in learning the best way to play on both my strengths and weaknesses when it comes to research.
Best of luck in all your endeavors!
Utilizing my previous research helped me a lot in this course. When designing a research study the introduction of the journal article is typically references other studies to offer information as to why your study is valid and necessary. My first research class was extrememly challenging, but I am glad that it was because this one built upon it and made complete sense. You will be a tremendous researcher!! Merry Christmas!!
ReplyDeleteThis class has helped me be able to think about thinking and early childhood. Like the other course I will be able to use what I learned in this course and use it in our next one and for that I'm excited and grateful to all of you for your responses and time taken on our coursework. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! See you in another class.
ReplyDeleteDenise,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your post. I agree that this course has been a learning experience. I have loved exploring this vitally important topic in our field. Thank you for your comments and Merry Christmas.
Assuredly, not everything published online can be seen as credible sources. One of the biggest challenges I anticipate about research is trouble organizing research materials. In fact, often times I want to incorporate all the resources I considered to be relevant to the thesis. Indeed, this course has been a learning experience for me as well. It was great working with you and I wish you all the best for the future.
ReplyDelete