Concept/Strategy_ Social Skills Training
Program/Approach_ AbecedarianApproach
• Pretend you are the ‘Educational Leader’ at your Early Learning Centre Service and also for your council network.
• Several of your centres are co-located with primary schools, and teachers from the early primary will also be guided by you (hence research/advice can cover a range of 3- 8 year-olds).
• Educators in your professional network have heard of a particular concept/strategy AND a program/approach and wonder if they should be using it in their classrooms. Several parents have also asked about these.
Your job as Educational Leader is to write a 2500 word ‘Research Review Report’ that:
Overall aims to critically evaluate and summarise currently available and important research for concept/strategy AND program/approach. (NB. Your concept/strategy in no way needs to be related to the program/approach you choose).
For Concept/Strategy:- Describe/summarise components/details of concept/strategy that proposes impact on 3-8 y.o. development (the intervention)
- Explain how the concept/strategy proposes to impact on 3-8 y.o. development (the theory/mechanisms)
- Evaluate and summarise research describing the concept/strategy’s impact on 3-8 y.o. development (the evidence/data) For Program/Approach:
- Describe/summarise components/details of program/approach that proposes impact on 3-8 y.o. development (the intervention)
- Explain how the program/approach proposes to impact on 3-8 y.o. development (the theory/mechanisms)
- Evaluate and summarise research describing the program/approach’s impact on 3-8 y.o. development (the evidence/data)
Final Statement:- Use your overall evaluation and summary of currently available and important research for 1 concept/strategy AND 1 program/approach to provide a guiding statement for early childhood settings on the use of these. You can add comments on the strength of evidence, consistency of evidence, who it has or has not been applied to in research, and possible cautions or limitations to it or the research.
3- 8 y.o. “ development” can include physical/motor, social-emotional, cognitive (including executive function), early literacy/numeracy, and language domains, if research has been done in these areas. NB: Research may not have been done on all developmental domains or across all ages of 3-8 y.o. for a particular intervention. An accurate and thorough database search will help you find what is available.
What is the strategy/concept or program/approach?
What problems, difficulties, strengths or skills does it aims to improve/address?
What is the theoretical rationale (e.g., how will/does it work in theory)?
What is involved (e.g., time, sessions, training, who delivers it, materials, other people involved)?
Are there any risks/possible adverse effects?
What does the research literature/evidence say?
How effective is it (e.g., amount of improvement, what areas show improvement, what areas don’t, are there any effect sizes reported, how much did certain tasks or tests improve or not)?
What is the evidence that it works (e.g., how measured, tests, reports, surveys, observations, questions etc)?
How strong or weak is the research evidence base? (e.g., what is the quality of the research - using guides available)
What is the current overall conclusion/recommendation/guidance on its use based on multiple studies (if available)?