When I enrolled into the Master's program at the University of Alabama, I knew that a thesis was required for the completion of my degree. A thesis, meaning a very detailed and very long attempt at creating, designing, implementing, summarizing, and explaining a research project. When I became a graduate student, I became a researcher. Let it be said, that "Researcher" is not and will never be my choice occupation. However, researcher and student have both been my occupation for the past almost 2 years.
Thesis & Graduate School FAQs:
Q. What do you do?
A. I've met a fair share of new people and friends over the past several months, and this has been a very common question. My response? I'm Kelly, I am in graduate school at Alabama. I'm getting my Master's in Human Development & Family Studies. I work for a professor in my department as a graduate research/teaching assistant (i.e., I graded a million projects, kept attendance records for hundreds of students, and participated in research.)
Q. What is graduate school like?
A. According to my experience, g-school is challenging and stressful. Not all of it, but a lot of it. For my program I needed 32 credit hours of classes and at least 6 credit hours of required thesis research. The classes were alright, with the exception of two stats courses. Wah, wah. Those are self-explanatory. Additionally, graduate school would probably be complete torture without buddies to share it with. I had some awesome grad companions and dear friends through the entire process!
Q. You're doing a thesis. What is that? What are you doing it on?
A. A thesis is basically a very intensive research project. The process begins by developing an idea or an interest in study something particular, and then designing a study around it. The process goes as follows: idea and hypotheses, research (reading a bazillion research articles), writing a literature review and a proposal, forming a research committee, proposal meeting with the committee (approval for project), IRB (Instutional Review Board) project submission, IRB approval, conduct research and collect data, enter and analyze Data, finish paper, and finally a thesis defense meeting with the committee. (There are many, many more finite details that go into the process, but this is the gist of what happens.) My thesis project is on Preschool Children, Children's Literacy & Literature, and Dramatic Play.
Q. Why study play and literacy in preschool children? Why is it important?
A.
- Play and literacy are two of the greatest influences to children's social and cognitive growth.
- Play is essential to learning. Research shows that children, who engage in play, benefit in areas such as developing social interaction, exposure to literacy, abstract thought.
- Play has purpose. That purpose being to allow children to form connections between their own actions and realizations, and the objects to which they give significant meaning.
- Dramatic play is a form of play that may be encouraged through emerging literacy and helps children give meaning to events that they experience in their daily lives.
- Dramatic play facilitates children's ability to improve and acquire literacy schemes and language skills, such as labeling through abstract thought, role assignment, developing conversation skills, vocabulary growth and imaginative story-telling.
-Imaginative and make-believe play are concepts that develop gradually as children grow.
Because of these things, I find that I have a huge interest in learning more about how young children play, learn, and grow.
Q. What does your project look like?
A. I recruited preschool children (via parental consent) ages 3-5 years old, their parents, and their classroom teachers.
Q. What were you looking at in your study?
A. The idea was to present children in preschool classrooms with a story and incorporate the use of props into the storytelling. I ended up conducting the study in four rooms, thus two classrooms were in the control group (story w/out props) and two classrooms were in the experimental group (story w/ props). The control group listened to the story without the use of props throughout the story. The experimental group listened to the story and were engaged with the use of story props and and interactions with the story-teller. The children in each group were then videotaped for 10 minutes as they played in dramatic play/home living area with the props from the story. They were filmed in small groups within their classrooms. After the 10 minutes of play, each child participated in a child interview with the research team. The play videos were eventually coded on a Make-Believe play scale that divided play into several different skill areas. I used Roles, Props, Language and Scenarios as my four categories on this scale. The Child Interviews were used as a measurement for memory and comprehension of the story. Teachers were asked to fill out a survey called Literature Exposure in the Classroom. Parents were asked to fill out a very similar survey called Literature Exposure in the Home.
All of these things were the methods in which I chose to collect data and information that would help me answer the hypotheses (research questions) I had established. I had four of these hypotheses:
1) Children who are read a story that includes props will show more advanced make-believe play than children in the story telling condition without props.
2) Children in the story telling condition with props will display greater memory for the story and greater comprehension than the children in the story only condition.
3) Irrespective of condition, greater literacy exposure at home will positively correlate with more complex make-believe play.
4) Irrespective of condition, greater literacy exposure in the classroom will positively correlate with more complex make-believe play.
Q. What did you find?
A. The main finding in the study revealed that, children in the prop condition used more story language to describe their roles in action than children in the control group. Gender differences analyses revealed that parents reported girls to be more engaged in literacy exposure at home, as well as using more imagination. These were not all of the findings, but they were the most significant.
Q. How can the information from your study be used?
A. Both parents and teachers may want to use the tools and findings presented in this study as a way of assessing their interactions with their children, their understanding of how children play and learn, as well as how they can be more informed facilitators of positive play and literacy relationships.
Q. You're finished with your thesis. That's great! What's next for you?
A. Two things. 1) I have completed my thesis paper/project (all 43 pages of it). However, I still have to defend my thesis to my committee. This means I will have to explain my study, specifically the methods and results, and answer any questions or challenges they throw my way. That's why it is called a defense...I'm literally having to defend my work and its contribution to child development and to the world. My thesis defense is set for June 11th. 2) I have the crazy and unexpected opportunity to teach an undergraduate class for a summer session at UA. I'll be teaching Preschool Development for four weeks....starting TUESDAY! EEP! I'm excited and a little intimidated all at the same time. Thankfully, I'm pretty confident that I will be able to communicate the information well, as I have such a deep passion for child development, and more specifically the preschool ages. It will definitely be a challenge and an adventure!
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Hopefully, this helps explain the craziness of my life over the past year and a half, or so. This project has literally been consuming and completely exhausting. It is why I haven't read a book in over 6 months...why I haven't been able to do anything besides shower, sleep, write, and grab quick meals over the past few months. Thankfully, the end is so near I can taste it...surely it tastes similar to a Peanut Butter Cup cupcake...or even a Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper! It's got to, right? So as I come to the end I am reflecting on what has taken place and dreaming of the future! Am I thankful for the experience? Did I enjoy graduate school? Bits and pieces of it. Some parts more than others. (Some parts WAY more than others.) However, I do know that the Lord provided in many ways before, during, and now after the process in many ways. I am very thankful for his sufficiency and his provision. I am also so incredibly thankful for and blessed by the many friends and family members that have been supportive throughout the whole experience!!! I couldn't have done it without all of you!
 |
| The stack of books to read that have been collecting in my office... |
I am enjoying having my bestest most favorite roomie in the history of ever back from 7 weeks of flight attendant training! (even if it is only for a few days!) It's been a challenging seven weeks for both of us, and it's nice to be back in the normal swing of things. I am also relearning what it feels like to have time to enjoy life and do fun things. The reality of entering into the real world will hit in the next few months, and honestly...I will be welcoming it with open arms!
 |
| Bri's Flight Attendant graduation in Atlanta! |
No comments:
Post a Comment