dissertation topic

[Guest naziaislam]

Hi everyone, im new on here, I am starting my dissertation topic this semester. I initially wanted to focus on the "Importance of play in early childhood", however I feel its too broad, I would really appreciate it anyone has any ideas that my help me to make my question a little less broad!

 

thanks in advance

[narnia]

I did 'Risky Play' for mine.....................looked at how staff and parents perceptions of it affected the way we let children play. It was interesting, because sometimes what we THINK parents will say isn't what actually happens. I also looked at how 'play' has changed over the years.....for instance, children round here played on old bomb sites and there was an open rubbish tip locally, so children would play there too. I lived in Cyprus for a while, not long after there were troules on the island.............so I frequently played in a yard where the old landing craft had been stored and in local caves. It's unthinkable (or is it ) that children would be allowed to do that nowadays. We were also chucked outside at the start of the day and told not to come home until tea time............we wandered all over the place, swam in local streams, built small bonfires to bake a potato; climbed huge trees etc. I fell off the top of an old slide (they had huge ones with cages round the top when I was a child), because older children dared me to walk around the outside of it and i got almost to the end before I slipped and fell. Still bear the scars today! I think that some of it was down to our parents having lived through a war ( my mum lived in Liverpool and was bombed out), so maybe they reckoned if they could survive all that, then it was ok for us to go and gain some life experience

[mundia]

Hi Nazia, welcome to the forum, come on in and make yourself at home.

AS Narnia said, Id think about a type of play that you are interested in, or perhaps want to learn more about. Risky play? Heuristic play? Loose parts? Gender differences? Role of the adult? So many things that you could narrow down your idea to. From your experience, is there anything that really inspires you to want to know more about?

[narnia]

Sorry, it was a bit early in the day for me to realise it was your first post, nazia..................welcome

[Guest naziaislam]

Thank you everyone, i think i want to find out about the importance of play, and i can explore the types of play, and how an adult can support it. i have always been interested in how heuristic play has supported play and learning, but i don't know if there will be sufficient information around. but thanks again and i shall start on my questions.

[Beau]

You might find this free Futurelearn course useful.

 

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/play

[sunnyday]

Hi and a warm welcome from me too :1b

'fraid I have never mastered the whole link thingy :blink: but do check out 'The Imagination Tree' and 'Community Playthings' - should be able to find lots of useful info......

[Guest cathy m]

Welcome from me too.

I am currently also starting to plan my major independent study and am going to research heuristic play opportunities in early years settings. I think heuristic play in early years settings, which I was thinking about, could be misinterpreted because many think it is more about practitioners sitting back in silence. That's not what I want the focus to be, suppose I'm looking at an approach more like Reggio, offering natural resources for open ended play. Not adult led, child directed but adult support to extend if necessary. I offer this type of play daily and am constantly adding to resources.

 

It's proving to be difficult in finding any literature reviews about the provision of natural resources for open ended play. There's plenty of outdoor play articles but I was planning on researching the indoor environment. Very little is ever researched about home-based provision and as I was with a group of childminders who attended the training at the Totempole with Mary Barlow, I know how inspired everyone was. Early stages but I will do some sort of questionnaire and may compare early years settings. I think exploring the providers who routinely offer open ended resources for children's play as opposed to an over reliance on manufactured plastic toys has potential but need to focus!

[Guest naziaislam]

hi all sorry for the late reply. thanks all for the ideas, firstlyi chose to do the importance of play in early years but it was too broad but i now have narrowed it down to how gender plays a role in how children play in early years. hope this proposal is accepted by the tutor. his bit sceptical about researches as no one can agree on play. hope i find lots of literaure on it to back it up!

[Amina_Hussain]

Hi Nazia,

Your entry brought back not so distant memories: hard work but I loved it. Best of luck for your dissertation, its definitely good to get started early as it needs to keep ticking along. I was advised by my tutor to choose a subject matter that I was firstly passionate about as you need to keep your enthusiasm going and then research accessible as you need to be able to research, analysis, compare etc. so it may be easier to choose a topic that is already well researched.

From deciding on a subject I did loads of reading until something clicked and I found my final question/title. I would try to be even more specific with your question area, ie you say play and gender could you even definite it further by choosing an area ie play outdoors, imaginary play (role play).

I also spent some time thinking of my perspective ie, voice of the child, parent's views, practitioner viewpoint. This again helped me establish a definite question/title and I was able to produce a detailed plan for my further research and wider reading.

Best of wishes

 

 

 

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