Approaching the Childcare Project - 2019

Project Outline r Your individual Child Care project is worth 15% of your final Junior Certificate mark (Ordinary/ Higher Level) and will be examined separately from the exam paper in June r

Project Outline For assessment, this project is recorded and presented in a folder under key headings The project should not exceed 1,500 words Quality is more important than quantity in achieving success r

Project Outline The focus of the project is on the “basic physical, mental and emotional development of the child in its formative years (0-12 years)” The investigation may be sociological, consumer or scientific in nature r

How do I get good marks for my project? Choose a topic that interests you Check with the teacher that the topic is suitable If the topic is interesting and suitable, are you ready to begin straight away? Work carefully following guidance on: - What to include in the project - How to carry out the work - How to present the work Keep forwarding the project to the teacher by email (homeeconomicsjc@hotmail.com) for guidance and advice

Project Outline As this project is your own work, the choice of topic must be suited to: Your personal capabilities Allow for individual input/ initiative & personal development of the topic AND Should be completed within 8 weeks and with the available resources r

From where do I get my ideas/ secondary research? Projects involving investigative methods may use information from the following: - relevant websites - Books - Magazines - Agencies with relevance to the project TOPIC

Starter Web Sources of Information www.rollercoaster.ie– for the ups and downs of pregnancy and parenting www.mumsonline.ie - look at the magazine section (scroll down for “precious beginnings “& “discovery years”) http://www.howkidsdevelop.com/resWebs.html (American website) http://www.nhs.uk/Tools/Pages/birthtofive.aspx SMA Nutrition -Information on products. Additional features on planning for a pregnancy as well as how to obtain free booklets. www.smababy.co.uk Cow & Gate - Pregnancy Information, Pregnancy Advice, Baby Nutrition, Baby care, etc. www.candgbabyclub.ie

Selecting my TOPIC General areas for childcare projects are: Physical development of the child Mental development of the child Children’s diets, e.g. commercial baby foods Children’s clothing (consumer based) Healthcare for children in the local area and preventative medicine

Project Outline When working on the project there are four main stages: Background secondary research into the general topic Information gathering to develop the topic under certain headings Primary research/Personal investigation, e.g. survey, questionnaire, interview Conclusions/ critical examination to form personal judgement r

Originality? What is this? Project work and finished result must be your own information or ideas that you found out during your research To make it original, read a variety of research resources, select appropriate material keeping focus on the topic; for primary research phrase the questions you might ask parents/ teachers, etc. about their child/ student carefully To make it original, an observation that you carry out with a child/ student

How to present the information… To help give a clearer description of what you found out use: - pictures and captions - Photographs - Labelled diagrams - Graphs/ charts - Answers to questionnaires - Information from conversations with parents of children - Letters from firms/ agencies answering queries - Recordings of children

Approaching the Childcare Project Choose possible topics Check suitability with teacher Ensure personal interest in topic Carry out initial research on topic Does the topic still interest you? Confirm topic choice with teacher Begin project using specific headings Check your progress each class with teacher Complete project while interest remains