Some of the research topics that I came across in Africa was

The Development of an Integrated Early Childhood Development Urban Model

Training Program for Informal Minders and Community Volunteers

in Ghana

Building Community Leadership for Quality Sustainability in Madrasa Preschools:

The Case of Madrasa Preschools Post Graduation Support ( This one is about community resource teams supporting the community preschools)

Pilot Study of the Adaptation of an Established Measure to Assess the Quality of Child Services in Selected Orphanage in Zambia: The Inclusive Quality Assessment (IQA) Tool ( IQA stands for Inside Quality Insurance. What this tool does is focus on the perception of the people that live at the orphanage. They used this tool to see if the best interest of the child was being met.)

Utilizing Indigenous Stories in the Promotion of Early Childhood Development Programs ( This happens to be one of my favorite sites. This started off as a pilot program and grew much larger. It focuses on collecting stories from children and examining the themes and the moral beliefs. They see this work as important because it calls attention to policy makers about the importance of early childhood education.)

In Australia I explored the website www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org. Looking through the Voice archive I found some interesting topics. The Australia's vision for Reconciliation focused on the heritage of the Aborginal and Torres Strait Islander. It seems to me after reading this that this is were their diversity problems start. They are looking to build holistic relationships with these people by becoming more engaged and creating more of a culturally rich dialogue. Side noteworthy; “Beginning in 1910, non-Indigenous Australians began to take Aboriginal children from their homes and families. These children, known as the Stolen Generation, were either given to white families -- to be raised as white children -- or to institutions and orphanages where they were forced to assimilate to white society. Between 1910 and 1970, when the practice stopped, over 100,000 children had been separated from their families and culture. In 1967, following the example of the Civil Rights Movement in America, the Aborigines began to fight for equal rights. The white Australians -- the only ones with the power to vote -- passed a referendum to the Australian constitution that gave Aborigines the right to vote. The passing of the referendum also meant that Aborigines could be included in future censuses, officially recognizing them as citizens of Australia.

Aborigines are still fighting for equality in Australia today, and racism is still prevalent throughout the continent. The life expectancy of a typical Aborigine lags almost 20 years behind that of a typical white Australian [source: The Independent]. Aborigines still don't own most of the land that was taken from them during the colonial period.”
Johnson, R. (n.d)

I also read about the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) that was started in 2009. The projected outcome for this program is for the child to gain social competence, and ethical behavior. This program sees play as an opportunity for learning and through this program believes that the learning outcomes would be reflected as long as the classroom is diversified and there is flexibility in the planning.

I also explored http://journalauthors.tandf.co.uk/pdfs/howtogetresearchread.pdf on the topic of How to get my rsearch read. ( A guide to publishing your journal work). I thought because we are exploring the contents of how to conduct a research study it would be interesting to actually understand how to get one published when the time arrives. I was also hoping to read the “What's New” section under the European Early Childhood Education Research Association but it was still under construction.

Resource

(n.d) Early Childhood Australia retrieved from www.earlychildhooaustralia.org.au

(n.d) European Early Childhood Education Research Association retrieved from http://www.eecera.org/conferences/

 Johnson, R. (n.d) How Aborigines Work retrieved from http://people.howstuffworks.com/aborigine3.htm

The topic that I would choose is a nature/nurture study of children being brought from an environment that is not conducive to their upbringing and then put in environment that would give the child a chance to grow and succeed. I would have a few different control groups measuring the outcomes by observing by following the children if material possessions or outside social activities have more of a positive or negative effect on where the child finds themselves when they are 40. I would also have a control group where the child was taken out of the negative environment and put in a positive but had very little possessions and had to work for what they were trying to achieve. I am fascinated with the nature/nurture aspects and the biological elements that make up young children. I believe that the positive contribution would be that we would learn where drive comes from and do we have to pay a large price for it. 

Cultural Paper

The paper that I am working on for the simulation is cultural responsiveness with children and educators. The first paper that I researched explored how teachers can be more culturally responsive even before they set foot in the classroom. This article was interesting because the teachers were in the first semester in their senior year of college, they were all dual majors and all European American. When the project was designed it was to expose teachers to others cultures because there was to much superficiality in the classrooms when it came to this matter. It was really nice because it was centered were the teachers would most likely become employed. This project also focused around literature included were a folktale, a historical fiction novel and one realistic novel.

The next paper that I read focused on cultural responsiveness and using a Early Childhood Ecology Scale (ECES). Ecology is “the study of the interaction with people and their environment”(retrieved from dictionary.com) The teachers used this observation form to observe the classrooms. The teachers were then able to reflect and engage more with the students after evaluating them. The self assessments of the teachers were later compared to the classroom observations.

The article that I read was about enhancing the environment of a child of changing demographics. Because of the diversity of the backgrounds there is often a lack of communication in cultural awareness. This being said, in order to be more socially competent as a teacher it is crucial that we are aware of the child's surroundings through out the day. We need to utilize the child's strength by being aware how we are interacting with the child on a daily basis. This involves cognitive as well as social and emotional.

I am not sure if I am on the right path with this or picked to broad of a topic. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know.