Research That Benefits Children

If I could conduct a study on any topic I wanted, I would chose one on the benefits of play.  Schools are eliminating play or recess in hopes of increasing the standardized, required for graduation, test score.  The research, I would conduct, may take a bit of time, but would definitely be beneficial to the children.  I would look at two classrooms.  One classroom would be an environment where the children learned everything through play and hands on experiences.  The other class would teach strictly to the test.  This would include worksheets and practice drills.  At the end of the school year, one of the standardized tests would be given to all of the children in both classrooms.  I think the children that had more hands on experiences would have higher scores.

The benefits of this study would be:  the acceptance of each child's individual learning style, the development of social/emotional, cognitive, and physical skills, and meeting the goals developed from the schools development frameworks or benchmarks.

The positive results would help me advocate for keeping play and recess in the daily routines of all schools!

My Personal Research Journey!

      I considered many different topics before deciding on the one I chose.  I had been at a center director's meeting a week ago and we were discussing how the behavior of children has changed over the years and how some families are very particular about what their children eat.  The two year old class in my center has 10 children, 8 of them are extremely active boys.  This is the reason I chose to look at how artificial chemicals and preservatives in the children's food affect their behavior.

This is my first experience with a simulation process, but I am feeling more and more confident with everything I learn.  The readings from the text and the construction of my research chart are definitely helping with the simulation process.  Conducting research is new to me and any help that any one could offer would be greatly appreciated.

Christina