I chose to explore the website, European Early Childhood Education Research Association, or EECERA. This website had great research topics that were explored in their journal publication. Many of the research topics were similar to ours here in America: COVID-19, how children are handling lockdown/quarantine, play-based learning during a pandemic, bullying, helping immigrant families, teachers' well being, and social-emotional learning in a preschool setting. I really liked that most of the international topics were so similar to ours. It was easy to relate to these topics.
What surprising facts/insights/new ideas about early childhood did you gain from exploring this international early childhood website?
I really liked the article that I read about comparing cultural differences in Australia versus Japanese culture. In America, we assume that all international cultures are different from ours, but we forget that other countries feel the same way and are making the same comparisons as us.
I also enjoyed reading about how teaching math to children under 3 is becoming a popular and successful trend in Australia. As someone who loves math, I find it to be a great idea and that we sometimes do not give children under 3 much credit in this department.
What other noteworthy information did you find on this website?This website was extremely easy to navigate. Everything was formatted in a way that anyone could find what they were looking for. I also really liked that there were special issues that were targeted to specific trends. I will most definitely be adding this site to my favorites tab and using it in the future.
References
(2020) Mathematics education beliefs and practices of Under 3s educators in Australia. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 28:5, 758-769.
(2020) Culturally inclusive early childhood education for sustainability: a comparative document analysis between Australian and Korean curricula. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 28:5, 712-730.