March 26

Dear all,
It has already been one month since our GEDS program experience began. Looking back, we can confirm that the time runs through the different and engaging experiences that we find day by day. Till now we’ve been immersed in a growing network that has been expanding in terms of contacts and knowledge in all the – almost endless – research life contained on Chapel Hill University. Everyone we meet knows someone else that also has a research theme that fits our interests – and then here we are engaged in a snow ball of new worlds of knowledge and perspectives. Quickly and simply they connect us and a new window of learning opportunities emerges – it’s amazing how flexible and effective is this communication and openness of everybody to share their work, ideas and projects.
Among these experiences, as you already know from the previous post, we met the Pam Winter’s project named CONNECT: The Center to Mobilize Early Childhood Knowledge. This is a about providing a web-based resources and supports to implement inclusive evidence-based practices: http://community.fpg.unc.edu/connect. Addressing inclusion issues this web-based resources focus on and respond to challenges faced each day by those working with young children with disabilities and their families. Through a friendly user web-site you easily get absorbed on a new brand space that links the research evidences with the daily practices – by building learner modules that adopt a Five-Step Learning Cycle: (1) dilemma: is about a child’s participation in an inclusive setting viewed through the eyes of both the teacher and the family; (2) question: turn the dilemma about child’s participation into an answerable question; (3) evidence: consider research, consensus statements and policies, and experience-based knowledge related to embedded interventions; (4) decision: integrate sources of evidence, different perspectives, and unique contexts to make an informed decision; (5) evaluation: consider ways to evaluate the plan for promoting child’s participation that resulted from the decision-making process. The research evidences are presented and highlighted through practices examples that represent inclusion theoretical principles, namely embedded interventions, family involvement, family-professional partnerships and transition. A case report given by teachers, other professionals and family show how the same situation can be perceived by different persons, knowledge domains and contexts.
In knowledge diffusion domain we found on that web-based researches a powerful tool to evidence-based practices.
Looking forward to hear from you through comments and new posts.
Best,