Looking at Research

I’ve got a research project I’m meant to do for the British Council. I discussed possible topics with my boss and in the end we came to:

How does math learning in early years (JUMP’s program is focused on grades 1-8) affect students’ lives as they move through school and into adulthood?

I think this will be a good topic as it gives me a lot to talk about but not to much. I mean, it gives me an area to focus on and I don’t have to talk about everything that JUMP does coz that might take a while.

I’ve done a bit of looking at this topic already. For instance, it’s obvious that preschool age children are naturally curious but did you know that they ask up to 76 questions each hour?! (Early Education for All, 2014) At a young age, children already have basic math and problem solving skills. They understand the concept of symmetry by building towers with blocks and they are even capable of simple division when dividing a snack amongst friends (Brenneman et al. 2009). Even babies just 6 months old can tell the difference between two pictures, one with 10 and one with 20 dots. This shows that even though they can’t count, young children understand and can correctly judge amounts. This estimation skill is the basis for future maths development (Nuwer, 2013)

It helps that my job as an intern is as an assistant researcher so I have 100+ sources that I can use for this research. If only I was doing this topic for a dissertation. I would have done my literature review already although, I’ve already picked my topic and can’t change it. I still think this research project will be good practice for me for my dissertation. I think it will help me become butte

r and finding suitable sources to write about.

I took a break from work over the weekend and made some sweets. The nougat we made didn’t set so we lined mini cupcake cases with chocolate and put them in those. Even though they didn’t work out exactly as we intended, they still tasted good. (Sorry if your really hungry now)

#emilycairns