A little bit about Brownies.

Brownies is a section of the ‘Guiding Association’ which is a charity that provides an opportunity for children to join a society outside of school hours and further their learning, social interaction and their personal development whilst growing up. The guiding motto has recently changed to: ‘we discover, we grow’ which is defined in the research covered.

Girls can join the Guiding Association from the age of 5 where they enrol at a group labelled Rainbows, when seven the girls can make the journey over the rainbow to Brownies where they can stay until they are 11 years old before flying up to Guides.  At the ages of 16 the girls can continue their guiding experience by joining the senior section and then furthering in to a young leadership role or even carry out their qualifications to become a leader to give young children the opportunities they had.  All leaders within the guiding society are volunteers and members can join at they own will and all is asked is a membership fee per term to help support the costs of the pack. 

Brownies is a group that is part of a worldwide organisation, and is just one in many extracurricular activities that are available in society today.

The reason behind my study...

I am a Brownie Leader, and have a great interest in the pack I run and what I can bring to the pack ofr the childrens learning from an extracurricular activity. 

Learning what benefits children from attending and what has little effect will help me as a leader to provide the best experience I can each week. 

I also hope to go on to start a PGCE year in September, learning whatr beneifts children and what extracurricular activities bring to a child's development will hopefully make me a strong and successful teacher.

My Inquiry Title

The values of Brownies as an extra-curricular activity

for Girls aged 7-10 years.

Research tools

There are many research tools that can be used in an inquiry. 

One research tool could be field journals. This would involve key observation at certain events. The observer would need to monitor the activities, record reactions, behaviour and developments.  Field journals provide a valid method of data collection allowing the observer to participate in the meetings and see first -hand how the children engage with the tasks. The use of a journal will help collate these findings.

Another research tool could be interviews. Asking questions direct to participants can provide a good set of data that is clear and precise.  With interviews they need to include open questions to allow the interviewee to answer freely without being pushed towards a specific set of responses before answering the question. Open questions allow individuals to answer freely and from their own thoughts and views with just being directed the topic that is being researched in to.  With an open ended question it allows the data to represent true findings from each interview. 

Another method is surveys to gather research for a study.  Surveys have advantages that include sourcing to a wide amount of participants, gathering a wide amount of results, and also you can use questions that point towards specific answers/answers that fit in to a category. 

Another research tool is observations.  Observing participants can be very valuable but also can have disadvantages. 

I think the best methods for me are interviews and field journals.  Interviewing subjects on a one on one level gives a much more detailed and personal response as opposed to a survey with limited response due often to closed questions. A field journal is a profitable method to gather the data as my study is based upon young children; therefore it was easier to be involved in the activities than observing from afar or using surveys. 

Literature

Here are some links to some sources of literature that has helped me through my study. 

These articles focus on a range of things including, extracurricular activities, benefits to children, Brownies, The Guiding Association, bolgs from parents views, forums and more. 


http://www.helium.com/items/2013755-great-indoor-activities-for-girl-scout-brownies


http://www.helium.com/items/2012753-advantages-of-joining-the-brownie-girl-scouts


http://voices.yahoo.com/extracurricular-activities-kids-170683.html?cat=25


http://www.netmums.com/coffeehouse/children-parenting-190/primary-school-age-4-11-years-60/905202-beaver-scouts-brownies-does-your-child-go.html


http://www.girlguiding.org.uk/home.aspx


http://drsaraheaton.wordpress.com/2010/02/16/formal-non-formal-and-informal-learning-the-clase-of-literacy-and-language-learning-in-canada/


These all helped me to get an insight in to the area I'm researching into and its background. 

Ethical Considerations before an inquiry

Before doing my inquiry I considered the ethics as they are always going to need to be considered and ethical implications avoided with every necessary precaution put in place previously.  Following a suitable and strict guideline of ethics within my study, will ensure that the results are reliable.  Research studies involving people carry.  My inquiry focuses on children therefore many rules and guidelines need to be sorted before it started.  

 

I need to ensure that all children taking part and each interviewee were not revealed, so I can protect the identities of each participant.  I need to consider ways to do this before writing up my results, for example could use letters, numbers or even a key to represent those involved but which stays confidential.  One of these methods could work to allow me to still express the findings. 

 

This process would insure all those willing to take part will remain confidential and anonymous.  Although I will reveal that the participants’ ages so the results will benefit the correct audience. 

 

I also need to consider if I use when gathering the research data was the vulnerability of this group of participants. If less than eighteen years of age I need to ensure consent is received by those responsible for them.   This could be achieved by sending letters or filling in forms.  It is not just the children who need to show consent but any adults need to understand what they are involved in. 

 

Making sure all those involved from the onset and kept up to date with the progress of the study is a key role to keep everyone’s trust and respect during the process.    

 

I also not only need to get permission from those involved but also those above me in charge of the place of study.  There is a hierarchy within the district and to have them understanding, supporting and giving permission is also vital for a successful project. 

 

In relation to all ethical considerations, I need to ensure these are all covered, prevented and protected before the inquiry starts to allow for a successful set of results.  

 

Critical reflection on Profession Practitioner Inquiry

Critical Reflection on Professional Practitioner Inquiry

Working my way through many elements of research, assessing existing knowledge and looking into research tools I have come to an Inquiry that is best suited to me and my working environment. 

To begin with I carefully considered my wide range of topic areas that I encounter each day within my working profession also considering how I would like to move forward.  An effective tool for me was starting with a brainstorm in which I branched out with initial thoughts and ideas I could pursue as my practitioner Inquiry.  With the initial feedback from colleagues and piers on my brainstorm my initial starting process had made a positive lead.  Taking this further, after learning from the reader to consider my existing knowledge as a tool for developing my lines of professional inquiry and how this can be developed not just to progress myself as a professional but also to benefit others within this profession.  Once I had my inquiry subject and proposed my award title I furthered my inquiry plan process by looking into the ethics that could be questioned when carrying out the inquiry.  This stage I found more difficult as although ethics surrounded me on a day to day basis it is not something, being self-employed, I have ever taken much thought over therefore I benefited from first blogging on what ethics actually were, so I could gain my own understanding on how they would be part of my inquiry.  Developing my own definition and understanding will help me further on through my inquiry process to adhere to ethical considerations.  As my Inquiry will take place in a school environment I needed to look in to code of conducts within schools to avoid any ethical issues causing problems for my inquiry and so I could plan and use tools that would be ethical.  To prepare myself for this I looked in to what is expected and followed as ethical boundaries to stand me a better stead when starting my inquiry. 

As part of preparation for my inquiry I found published articles that provided me with findings that related to my planned studies.  These show the development that dance has already made and can assist me in finding how development is continuing to grow.  I displayed via my blog key information that I took from specific web links that I used to develop my inquiry plans.  Also of benefit for the effects I am considering dance to have on children I have been informed of issues that could arise from further readings I looked into. 

With reference to tools that I can use I could have developed these further, looking at possibly interviewing the subjects of my inquiry however with the age I am focusing my inquiry on I felt with the effectiveness of streamlining my own questions surveys would be more conclusive to a strong set of findings. 

Overall I have effectively used my blog to publish my progress on my journey to developing my professional practitioner inquiry.