EER414 Using Research in Early Childhood Education (8)

This subject will assist students to make the links between research, teaching and learning. Students will have the opportunities to develop the knowledge, understanding and skills to undertake research in educational settings. In order to do this, they will build on their knowledge of a range of approaches to conducting educational research. They will develop an understanding of the relationship between research and practice so that they can locate, critically analyse and use published research to investigate their own practice and to provide evidence of successful teaching and successful student learning.

No offerings have been identified for this subject in 2020.

Where differences exist between the Handbook and the SAL, the SAL should be taken as containing the correct subject offering details.

Subject Information

Grading System

HD/FL

Duration

One session

School

School of Teacher Education

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this subject, students should:
  • be aware of a range of different research approaches relating to children from birth to five years;
  • recognise how the beliefs, values, and theoretical perspective of the researcher influence what is researched and the methods used;
  • understand research literature and use this to evaluate research methods and results;
  • be aware of ethical issues in research design and implementation, particularly in studies involving children and parents;
  • use skills in communication, advocacy and organisation to publicise and present research to a wide audience of professional and parents;
  • use interactive communications technologies and other information technology effectively in pursuit of research knowledge in diverse educational contexts for children;
  • understand that research requires an awareness of learner diversity in settings catering to the educational needs of children; and
  • distinguish between practices based on research and those based on culture, values and family choice.

Syllabus

This subject will cover the following topics:

- The nature, characteristics and purposes of research in education, childcare, parenting, child development and learning, and families and communities.
- Ethics in research.
- Methods of data collection, including questionnaires, interviews, observations, child assessments, and data analysis, including the use of software for recording and summarising quantitative data.
- Research paradigms commonly used to inform educational research with children.
- Processes of inquiry, including formulation of a research question, study design, data collection, analysis, reporting results, drawing conclusions.
- Reading and appraising research.
- Current research on families, children, schools and early childhood settings in Australia and internationally.
- Identifying and using online and electronic resources in research.
- Presentation of research to a professional and parent audience.

The information contained in the CSU Handbook was accurate at the date of publication: October 2020. The University reserves the right to vary the information at any time without notice.

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