A qualitative study of early childhood educators beliefs about key preschool classroom experiences - Essay Example

Answers to Questions about the Article The study seeks to establish an early childhood educators’ beliefs about how to work with children gettingready for kindergarten in an effective manner. 2 Previous researchers established a direct relationship between classroom quality and children’s cognitive and social development. The researchers also reported that the beliefs of early childhood teachers influence children’s development. Specifically, previous researchers found that early childhood educators hold beliefs and practices that relate with developmentally appropriate practices more than teachers in kindergarten through third grade do.

3 The purpose of this study is to address the literature gaps in previous studies by conducting focus group interviews on public, private, and family care-based programs. 4 The research questions include investigating the fundamental early learning experiences of early childhood educators. The research also investigates how such experiences differ within and across early childhood learning settings. 5 The grounded theory was the research design. 6 The site for the study included Focus groups.

The researchers chose this site because they allowed respondents to discuss their beliefs openly and freely, enabled the interviewers to understand complex issues, and allow respondents to control the content and direction of the research. The research had 75 participants who came from public, private, and family care-based programs. They included female (93%), teachers (39%), family-based owners (38%), teacher aides (16%), teacher-directors (1%), and program administrators (3%). 65 % of the participants had no degrees.

They also included 19% non-Hispanic whites, 53% Hispanics, 12% non-Hispanic blacks, and 5% Asian/Pacific Islander (Lara-Cinisomo et al., 2009). The researchers invited individuals to participate voluntary and conducted focus groups to sample the participants. 7 The study used 60 to 90 minutes focus groups interviews to collect data. The interviewers tape-recorded the focus group interviews. They also conducted one-on-one that featured open-ended questions to foster the discussion of participants’ beliefs.

It also used probing techniques to allow the respondents to decide the content and direction of the study. 8 The research establishes that early educators in public, private, and family care-based programs recognized teacher-child interaction, children’s learning environment, and learning opportunities as fundamental preschool classroom experiences in working with children preparing for kindergarten. 9 The researcher established validity for the study by giving an orientation about the study to the participants and encouraging voluntary participation.

Moreover, only the authorized and trained researchers were responsible for conducting the focus groups. Additionally, there was coding of specific transcripts. 10 This question does not apply since the article has not listed future research recommendations. The article does not state the information on future research recommendations. It just discusses the results and derives a conclusion on early childhood educators’ beliefs about fundamental preschool classroom experiences. 11 The research establishes the early childhood educators’ beliefs for kindergarten children (Lara-Cinisomo et al., 2009). Previous researchers established a direct relationship between classroom quality and early childhood educators’ beliefs and children’s cognitive and social development.

The study conducts focus group interviews on public, private, and family care-based programs in low-income children in Los Angeles County. The research uses the grounded theory and includes 75 participants that represent gender, education levels, and racial orientations. Focus group is the selected data collection method that relies on one-on-one interview open-ended questions and probing techniques. The study finds that teacher-child interaction, children’s learning environment, and learning opportunities are fundamental preschool classroom experiences that influence children preparing for kindergarten.

The study is valid but does not provide future research recommendations. Reference Lara-Cinisomo, S., Fuligni, A.S., Daugherty, L., Howes, C., & Karoly, L.A. (2009). A qualitative study of early childhood educators’ beliefs about key preschool classroom experiences. Retrieved from: http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v11n1/lara.html