Wow! I can't believe we've made it through. At the beginning of this course, I was overwhelmed at the thought of creating a research simulation. Just the word "research" made me want to yawn and skip it because it's overally complicated terminology, statistics, and so much more. But now that I'm in the final week of our course and reflecting on all that I've learned about research, I feel proud and confident in my abilities to craft a research simulation as well as to read research. I understand the basics of research and learned some time saving techniques when it comes to reading others research so I can get to the good stuff that will be useful to me as an early childhood teacher. I've learned quite a few new vocabulary words to add to my bank of knowledge as I know understand the difference between qualitative and quantitative and even how to mix them up. But even with this growing bank of knowledge, I sometimes struggled to understand our text chapters. Sometimes they were wordy and difficult to understand but through our discussion posts and responses, all of you helped me to understand the content. So I want to say THANK YOU for being so helpful. There are times when it takes just simple ordinary conversation for understanding to occur that a text book can't explain or explore.
As a side note, I also wanted to share that I have successfully completed my very fist trimester of pregnancy during this course. My husband and I are very excited as we begin our journey as new parents. Also, I wanted to say Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you! It has been truly a blessing to work with all of you during this course and hope to see some of you in future courses to come. THANK YOU!!
Congratulations to you and your husband on making it through your first trimester. I can relate to your post about the text. I too struggled with comprehending the text. Seems it was wordy and often times there were sentences that could have been read more than one way. Also I felt like you, overwhelmed. But putting it all behind me, I can say that I have learned a lot. Now I know the difference between qualitative and quantitative designs as well as data collecting methods for validity,the importance of empowering the participants and more. Seems like it was at the very end that it all began to make sense. I wish you well. Enjoy the holidays, the break, and have a wonderful prosperous New Year.
ReplyDeleteMaggie,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, congratulations on your pregnancy. It will be the greatest gift you and your husband will ever receive. Secondly, Happy Holidays to you as well. Finally, I'm happy that you brought up learning about easier ways to read research in order to get the information we need out of it without having to read it word for word. I had almost forgotten about that. You helped me out with that important reminder. Thank you that and all of the other support you have provided to me and the others in our class this semester. You are appreciated. Good luck in the future.
-Amanda