Why do we need this?
The IRB is needed in order to publicly share student and classroom information with permission from the school and the individuals involved in the research. How can this be helpful in defining my driving question? The IRB application helps to define the subject of inquiry, its participants, purpose, method of research, and how the findings will be shared. How will I use my blog to fill it in? Once I have committed to a driving question and how I plan to proceed in researching its topic, my information can be cut and paste from my blog into the application. What do I need to know to address my driving question?
0 Comments
I am beginning to refine my topic of research and driving question. I think. By that I mean that it has changed several times since the beginning of this program and imagine it will continue to do so.
After much thought and reading I realized that my interest in research is focused on the brain and particularly the brains of those students that are challenged to learn. My experience in working with students of poverty has left me wondering how best to teach them. We are aware of the deficits that they may come to us with, but is it enough to try to keep filling them with more knowledge, language, and experiences? My efforts to fill the gaps has not always been fruitful. In considering their complicated lives, I am learning more about the stresses that they have to endure. It is not merely the distraction of their home situations, but the short and long term effects of chronic stress on the developing brain that is impinging their learning. The article, Neurodevelopment in the first three years: implications for child development, professional practice and policy, begins by discussing the mind versus the brain. When we think of the mind we think of cognitive and emotional development, but when considering the brain we are looking at cell structure, neurotransmitters, hormones and brain activity. The hurtful effects of cortisol, the stress hormone, are well known. Those being the inability to focus, stay on task, process information, recall information, problem solve, and curb impulsive behaviors, to name a few. My question then becomes, given what we know about the effects of stress related chemicals on the brain over time, are there practices, lessons, routines that I can implement in my classroom that will increase the positive chemicals/hormones, such as dopamine, to counteract the effects of chronic stress among my students? While my interest in this topic is great, I am still learning how to create a driving question and what makes a good one. I am eager to learn more through this course and through my Cohort to either generate a better question, or to improve this one. 3 Articles: Childhood Trauma and its Affects on Health and Learning, Kristi Garrett Neurodevelopment in the first three years: implications for child development, professional practice and policy The Constructivist Classroom: Venue for Social Change My next questions in this task become:
|
AuthorJennifer Wade ArchivesCategories |