Study-Unit Description

Study-Unit Description


CODE EDS1328

 
TITLE Early Years Education Research: Introduction to Analytic Reading and Critical Review of the Literature

 
UM LEVEL 01 - Year 1 in Modular Undergraduate Course

 
MQF LEVEL 5

 
ECTS CREDITS 4

 
DEPARTMENT Education Studies

 
DESCRIPTION This unit introduces students to the analytic and critical reading skills of academic literature in the field of Early Childhood Education and that in Childhood Studies. It introduces them to various types of texts in the field, to the research methodologies that have been developed to work in the fields of Early Childhood Education and Care and Childhood Studies and their cognate disciplines. It starts with a review of basic elements of academic reading, how to develop reading skills and active reading, note -taking, questioning and others.

It introduces students to different research methodologies and to the genres developed to report these methodologies, to how data are presented and discussed, with a view to developing analytic and critical research reading skills. Students will engage with different texts such as Reports, peer-reviewed articles, books, and chapters in books and to the different elements in each text, with a view to identifying key elements of these ( for example, of an Abstract, a Discussion). Students will discuss and critically review exemplars from the range of studies based on diverse research methodologies in the field (quantitative research, qualitative and mixed methods research) to learn how to distinguish between, for example, a narrative study from a case-study, or a mixed methods study form a quantitative study. They will be introduced to the key ways in which Early Years researchers employ specific methodologies and strategies, behave ethically, collect, represent and discuss data and how this is translated into published texts.

The unit will prepare students to read Early Years and Childhood Studies research analytically and critically with the aim of enabling them to write their own literature reviews as well as to evaluate the trustworthiness and validity of this specific literature.

Study-unit Aims:

The unit aims to introduce students to different genres of academic research writing in the field of Early Childhood Education and Care. By focusing on the different research methodologies discussed in the texts, the unit encourages students to discern what affordance each methodology and its diverse strategies offer to the research field of Early Years education. Furthermore, it supports students' understanding of which research questions require which type of research methodology, how specific methodologies are applied, what ethical questions each generates, what type of data are collected, how these are analyzed and written up. There will be special attention to how data are presented and discussed. The unit also aims to increase students' knowledge of the research methodologies employed by Early Childhood Education and Care researchers and how the resulting data are translated into academic studies, with a view to developing students' analytical and critical reading and writing skills. The aim of the unit is to introduce students to the stylistics of academic reading and writing of empirically based research in Early Childhood Education and Care and Childhood Studies.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Knowledge & Understanding:
By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

1. Identify different genres of scientific writing in the field of Early Years Education and Childhood Studies and cognate disciplines;
2. Identify key stylistic elements of research work in these genres;
3. Identify and distinguish between different research methodologies in the field of Early Years Education, and the particular features of each of these methodologies, including their diverse strategies;
4. Recognise the appropriate style for presenting and discussing data generated within these different methodologies;
5. Understand that different research methodologies have different theoretical foundations, different ethical questions, different data collection methods, different ways of presenting and analyzing data, different ways of discussing data and of reaching conclusions and these in turn, should be reflected in different genres of academic writing and presentation of data.

2. Skills:
By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

1. Approach academic reading in different ways and at different levels;
2. Skim, scan and sample research texts;
3. Develop active reading;
4. Approach texts with questions about research methodologies, ethics and analytic methods;
5. Take good notes and write critical summaries;
6. Evaluate and critically review a variety of research texts in the field;
7. On the basis of the textual evidence evaluate and critically review the diverse research methodologies presented in the texts reviewed;
8. Evaluate the affordance of diverse research methodologies in the field of Early Years Education.

Main Text/s and any supplementary readings:

Main texts:
S. Groundwater-Smith, S. Dockett, and D. Bottrell (2015) Participatory Research with Children and Young People, Sage, Los Angeles.
Hatch, A. J. (eds) (1995). Qualitative Research in Early Childhood Settings.
M. J. Kehily (2013, 2nd edition) (Ed) . Understanding Childhood: a Cross Disciplinary Approach, Policy Press/ Open University Press, Bristol.
Mac Naughton, G., Rolfe, S.A and Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2001). Doing Early Childhood Research: International Perspectives on Theory and Practice. Open University Press.
Mujis, D. (2010). Doing Quantitative Research in Education with SPSS. Sage.
Mukherji, P. and Albon, D. (2009). Research Methods in Early Childhood: An Introductory Guide. Sage.
Scott, D. and Usher, R. (1999). Researching Education: Data, Methods and Theory in Educational Inquiry. London: Institute of Education.
Spodek, P. and Saracho, O. N. (2014) (2nd ed). Handbook of Research on the Education of Young Children. Routledge.

Supplementary readings:
Research Reports, articles and chapters from books in the field of Early Years Education and Childhood Studies (this list will be updated and changed from time to time). Available through HyDi and/or through the VLE.
Corsaro, W. A. and E. Nelson (2003) Activities and peer culture in early literacy in American and Italian pre-schools, Sociology of Education , 76:3, 209-227.
Einarsdottir, J. (2005) Playschool in pictures: Children's photographs as a research method, Early Childhood Development and Care, 175:6, 523-541.
Einarsdottir, J. S. Dockett and B.Perry (2009) Making meaning: Children's perspectives expressed through drawings, Early Childhood Development and Care, 179:2, 217-232.
Fumoto, H. (2011) Teacher-child relationships and early childhood practice, Early Years: An International Research Journal, 31:1, 19-30.
Hancock, R. and M. Mansfield (2002) The literacy hour: A case for listening to children, The Curriculum Journal, 13:2, 183-200.
Seele, C. (2012) An ethnographic approach to children's ethnifying practices in peer interaction at preschool, International Journal of ethnicity and Early childhood, 44, 307:325.
Winter, K. (2012) Ascertaining the perspectives of young children in care: Case studies in the use of Reality Boxes, Children and Society, 26, 368-380.

 
STUDY-UNIT TYPE Lecture

 
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment Component/s Assessment Due Sept. Asst Session Weighting
Assignment SEM2 Yes 50%
Assignment SEM2 Yes 50%

 
LECTURER/S Louis John Camilleri
Mary Darmanin (Co-ord.)
Victor Martinelli

 

 
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