Week 5

I visited Harvard University's "Global Children's Initiative" website. I viewed a video called "In Brief: Executive Function; skills for life and learning". The video was very interesting and focused on executive function and self regulation for children. I learned that executive function is when children develop the skills that helps them learn to avoid distractions, develops their working memory to name a few.  Executive function is important to life later. Most of these skills are developed as children and continuously improve. Children also learn self regulation. By learning to self regulate children develop skills to take turns, problem solve, make and keep friends.
Both of these skills occur naturally through development  but can also be taught.

The 3 main points of Executive Function are:
1. Working Memory
2. Inhibitory Control
3. Mental Flexibility






References


Harvard University’s “Global Children’s Initiative” website (http://developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/global_initiative/),

Sharing Web Resources

The site that I selected is the US Department of Educaiton, http://www.ed.gov/early-learning. This site focus's on early childhood learning and has up to date infomation affecting our country and children today. The one issue that was being addressed is how Pres. Obama is "commited to providing the support that our youngest children need to succeed later in school"(US Dept of Ed). The website list different way in which the President plans to help our children. They are prioritzing improving health, social, emotional and educational outcomes for young children from birth thru third grade.

Sharing Web Resources

The one site that I visit most is NAEYC. This site has more than 80,000 members and has a network of more than 300 state and local affiliates. They focus their research and information on children from birth thru age 8. What makes this site a good resource is they address issues that are relevant to the early childhood field. The NAEYC center for applied research has data that applys to everything form cognitive,  socio-economic issues, teacher training, and creating a high quality program. They also have hundreds of links to other websites with valuable information.

Their article titled "Debunking the Play vs. Learning Dichotomy" referred to an area that many early educators, politicians, economists and neuroscientists have studied. NAEYC's positions on play is that is a valuable tool to be used in the classroom. To create a high quality program "both direct instruction and play have roles to play in high-quality early childhood education"(NAEYC). Play is an important part of early childhood and NAEYC has vast resources that confirm this finding.

This sight also gives me information on issues that affect our children today. Issues such as obesity, nutrition, developmentally appropriate practice, helping family's, integrating different culture's into the classroom and just about anything you can think of. I find this organization to be a good reference when looking for information.

References

NAEYC. Retrieved from www.naeyc.org

Poverty in India

I visited the website for the Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre. I chose to read about India and their issue with poverty. I was overwhelmed with the amount of poverty this country faces. India has 1.03 billion people, this is the 2nd largest population in the world, second to only China. There are an estimated 260.2 million people that live in poverty. "Rural poverty is strongly associated with lack of access to assets, skills, and low levels of health and education"(Childhood Poverty Research).
*Some main problems that affect poverty are:
   1. Growing population
   2. Industrialization
   3. Globalizing economy
*There is also a growing rate of non-communicable diseases and a rise of HIV/aids.
*An estimated 400 million living in poverty are between the ages of 0-18.
*Almost 1/2 of children under 5 are malnourished
*34% of newborns are significantly underweight

They have been making improvements through government programs, the infant mortality rate has decreased from 80 per 1000 live births to 69 in 2000. Enrollment in primary school rose from 68% to 82%. They still have a large number of children working. 1/3 of their children work and are under the age of 16.
I was not aware of the issues of poverty in India, nor did I know how extreme it was, this website gave new information and made more aware of poverty and the world.

Reference:

Childhood Povety Research and Policy Centre, Retrieved from http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/

Establishing Contacts and Expanding Resources

I attempted to contact several different organizations using the links given. I only recieved one response from Megan Pacey, Chief Executive of Early Education in London, England. Her email stated the following:
Thank you for contacting Early Education, I'm afraid this organization doesn't have the capacity or the mechanisms to put you in touch with other early childhood practitioners and programmes as you have describe below. If you are interested in engaging with other early childhood practitioners and the issues that they are facing in England, you might find the Foundation Years forum helpful tool.
http://www.foundationyears.org.uk/forum/
I have emailed this foundation and was informed it could take 15 days for a response. I have decided to use the alterantive assignment for not having time to wait. I am hoping for a response and I am still emailing different organizations trying to find a contact.
I will be listening to podcast from the  world forum foundation, I have used this website before and find it intriguing to listen to converstaions from early childhood professionals.