Planning and organising my exploration project

I think I am going to try and do at least 1 blog post a day to keep a track of how my exploration project is going, a bit like a diary of work. So whats happened since yesterday…
Well I have managed to get an appointment with Dr Nick Neave, this is happening on Tuesday morning so hopefully his opinion will help me with a lot of the research I have already found on the Nature VS Nurture debate.
I have had a reply from a nursery interested in my project who will hopefully allow me to come in for a focus group, I have made a plan of what I intend to do for that today and sent this in an email with the relative ethics forms to fill out –

I think my plan is to present each child with 4 different toys, each one have different traits.

1. stereotypical feminine job, feminine appearance
2. stereotypical masculine job, masculine appearance
3. stereotypical masculine job, feminine appearance
4. stereotypical feminine job, masculine appearance

When each toy is presented I will ask them their opinion showing them a card with 3 faces on, happy, neutral and sad to help them communicate. I will then also ask them whether they think the toy is for a boy/girl/both. Hopefully from this experiment I can start to get an idea of whether its the role of the toy or its appearance that influences what the child thinks of it.
I have also started to get a plan together for all my research of how to present it. We are getting told that creating a book is the usual route but the tutors eally like to see a visually creative way of presenting so my idea currently is to create a book however make it interactive like a children’s book with pop ups, slide out parts, lift up flaps etc. This way I can collate all my research but make it fun to read about everything I have carried out and it also links in very well with the topic of my project.

I’ve also painted a blackboard for myself today in my desk space, I thought it would come in handy for writing deadlines and quick notes on etc. and as you can probably tell I got some new sharpies and highlighters today from my photos! I love getting new stationary to play with!