Overall Reflection

As I reflect back on this whole blog and technology experience, it has really been an eye opener and given me a new view of ICT.  As I look back, my previous knowledge of ICT was very limited, I thought ICT was only digital technology such as cameras, laptops, computers and radios to name a few.  However through doing this course I have come to realise that ICT can be tools or materials such as cooking utensils, hammers, scissors and ice block sticks.   

ICT involves helping people and solving problems and can be a creative activity intended to meet needs and opportunities (Smorti, 1999).  ICT is defined by Siraj-Blatchford & Siraj-Blatchford, 2003 cited in Shah & Godiyal as “anything which allows us to get information, to communicate with each other, or to have an effect on the environment”.  Through this learning I have come to think of ICT in a new light and it has given me a new way of thinking about ICT.

In my centre I rarely saw the children using computers or cameras it is mainly the teachers that use these technologies.  This I saw was a common thing between my centre and what I read in my group’s reflections.  This course has given not only me but my group a new way of thinking about children using cameras.  There is the view that if adults allow children to use cameras that the camera may get broken.  This I think is a fair view and opinion of teachers as yes these technologies such as cameras and laptops do cost a lot of money but if we do not show children how to use them correctly how will children gain the understanding of the value of these technologies and how can they gain the knowledge of how to use them if their opportunities to use them are hugely limited.  It also contradicts the view of children as capable and competent learners.  Ministry of Education (2009) recognises that ICT being used in a meaningful way can support children’s learning and to grow and develop as competent and capable learners and communicators.  

Through children using ICT it was clear there were so many ways the children benefited from new ways of thinking and gaining knowledge, connecting links between home and the centre.  The children were also able to gain confidence, self-esteem and a sense of accomplishment and ownership.  Although I showed the children at my centre how to use the camera it was amazing to see the current knowledge they bring from home to the centre where some children were already capable and confident in using the camera and the children who knew how to use the camera or computers were able to teach or show the small or less skilled children how to use these technologies.  This is great and shows the concept Ako of learning and teaching.  Through the children working together it show the children engaging in social interaction and practicising strategies such as scaffolding where the more skilled or experienced child is assisting the less skilled or experienced child.

I found that through reading my group’s reflections that the children really enjoyed the opportunities of using different forms of ICT.  It was great to see that each of my group members were able to notice children’s interests and cater for these interests through the use of different technologies.  I was very impressed by some of my group’s experiences such as the light box.  I found this very interesting and was wonderful to hear the children were actively exploring and using the different resources to experiment with the light box.  I was impressed that the children were exploring with the feathers and were overlapping the different coloured feathers to make new colours.  This was very impressive and I applaud the staff for providing a variety of resources to engage the children in active exploration. 

My group placed some good feedback to my reflections and they were able to see the learning that the children gained from having technology apart of their learning.  From the feedback I received I have reflected and considered the feedback and suggestions that were provided and I agree with my group member that L being recorded this could have been a good opportunity to ask if she would like to try recording.  This is something I will consider in my future teaching. 

Overall I this course has opened my eyes to providing technology to children.  As our world is becoming more technical it is now becoming a need for children to be exposed to technology even in early childhood; this way when children transition to school and transition in to the workforce the children have knowledge and experience with different technology.  Teachers have a responsibility to provide these opportunities so that children are aware of the types of technology that are apart of their world and have knowledge about how to use these technologies even if it is a basic knowledge. 

Images from Google Images

References

Ministry of Education. (2009). Information and communication technology (ICT); te hangarau parongo me te whakawhitiwhiti. kei tua o te pae assessment for learning: Early childhood exemplars.

Shah, A., & Godiyal, S. (n.d.). Retrieved 23 Sept 2011 from http://www.aiaer.net/ejournal/vol21209/17.%20Shah%20&%20Godiyal.pdf

Smorti, S. (1999) Technology in Early Childhood. Early Education, No.19 Autumn 1999

Blogs I've Commented On

Hayley

http://costartechnology.blogspot.com/2011/09/blog-reflection-3-technology-using.html?showComment=1316509677384#c3106122637772846900

http://costartechnology.blogspot.com/2011/09/technology-using-computer.html?showComment=1316510553041#c4163401882198168315

http://costartechnology.blogspot.com/2011/09/technology-using-camera-and-computer.html?showComment=1316511306581#c9218395523950883352

Michelle

http://michellem7.blogspot.com/2011/09/children-using-light-panel.html?showComment=1316512176765#c5812795803230731000

http://michellem7.blogspot.com/2011/09/children-using-digital-cameras.html

http://michellem7.blogspot.com/2011/09/children-using-computer.html?showComment=1316513696016#c3978423317434647305

Lorraine

http://lorrainepwai1.blogspot.com/2011/09/entry-three.html?showComment=1316516063981#c6286976595783108732

http://lorrainepwai1.blogspot.com/2011/09/entry-two.html?showComment=1316516655296#c43993869121341834

http://lorrainepwai1.blogspot.com/2011/09/entry-one.html?showComment=1316517189452#c5083363714783982267

Serena

http://serena-c-serena.blogspot.com/2011/09/connecting-link-s-new-resources-have.html?showComment=1316514458919#c621080884890683322

http://serena-c-serena.blogspot.com/2011/09/world-of-technology-over-last-two-weeks.html?showComment=1316515149000#c7865662802642041084

http://serena-c-serena.blogspot.com/2011/09/entry-one-today-while-i-was-in-outdoors.html?showComment=1316515573421#c4386222384764946538

Children Using the Internet

Over the last month at my centre the children have taken an interest in the weather, in particular lightening and thunder, which started from a child coming to the centre and talking about thunder and lightening he saw and heard when he was at home.  The children have been looking at books on lightening and reading stories at mat time that have lightening in it.  They have been drawing pictures of lightening and have been talking and engaging in dramatic play that involves lightening and thunder.   

From this interest a teacher at my centre brought her laptop in so that the children could see images and videos of lightening and thunder.  As the children gathered on the mat to watch the images and videos of lightening the children sat engaged in watching what was on the laptop, carefully listening to the sounds on the thunder and watching the images of different lightening.  The children also watched a power point about lightening and safety.  It showed the children different situations when they are safe and when they are not safe when lightening strikes.  The internet also showed different animals and people that had been hurt by lightening; this showed the children that lightening can be dangerous.  From using the computer and the internet to research about lightening and thunder the children were able to recall and imitate the sound of thunder and recall what lightening looks like.  The children were able to recall when they are safe or when they are in danger when lightening strikes and were able to recall the different animals and people that were hurt and how they were hurt.

Through this experience children were able to gain knowledge from the internet to learn more about lightening and thunder.  Children’s learning is scaffolded as children and teachers use ICT together to use the internet to gain information about a child or children’s interest in a particular interest or area (Ministry of Education, 2004).  It opens provides children with the knowledge that there are other methods and ways to gain knowledge and information.  Like a book, using the internet to gain information it bridges the gap between what children already know and what they don’t know.  Ministry of Education (2004) recognises that the use of ICT provides “opportunities to support and enhance children’s learning”.  Through the use of the computer to research about lightening and thunder the children were able to experience the graphics and sounds of lightening and thunder, this is supported by Shilling (1997) where it acknowledges children’s cognitive skills are stimulated through graphics and sound.  From seeing the people and animals hurt by lightening, the children were able to empathise with the people and animals that were hurt.  They were able to talk about how they thought the people and animals may have felt and a lot of the children expressed that they were sad about what happened to the people and animals.  This experience enabled children to make links between home and the centre where children had the opportunity to learn about thunder and lightening from the internet and were able to talk about their own experiences about thunder and lightening that they had experienced from home.  Ministry of Education (1996) acknowledges that “children develop an awareness of connections between events and experiences within and beyond the early childhood setting”. 

This experience highlighted the importance that the use of computers and the internet can have on children’s learning.  It is another tool that can be used to extend children’s knowledge on their different areas of interest.  The opportunity for the children to watch real life videos about thunder and lightening gave the children an insight on thunder and lightening while being in the safety and comfort of the centre environment, which was a great way to see and hear the thunder and lightening for some of the children that seem to be a bit fearful of the noise.  This experience gave the children new knowledge and understanding about thunder and lightening and after watching and learning more about this topic from the internet it deepened there imagination when engaged in dramatic play that involved thunder and lightening.   As I reflected I started to recognise that exposing the children to the internet in a safe monitored environment is a very valuable tool and experience that our children should be exposed to as it has proven to be a valuable tool to extending their knowledge and learning.

References

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki: He whāriki mātauranga mo nga mokopuna o Aotearoa .Wellington: Learning Media.

Ministry of Education.  (2004).  ICT in early chilhood MOE Research retreived 20 Aug 2011 from edcounts.squiz.net.nz/__data/.../ict-in-ece-lit-review-final-for-printing.doc

Shilling, W. A. (1997). Young Children Using Computers To Make Discoveries about Written Language. Early Childhood Education Journal, 24(4), 253-59. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Images from Google Images

Children as Performers

At my centre we have a child that loves to perform.  This child loves to build stages and seats out of blocks and use different objects as instruments and microphones and use these to perform for the teachers and her friends.  One day she was sitting at the drawing table drawing on a lot of different pieces of paper, when asked what she was doing, she replied saying she was making flyers for her concert.  When she finished making her flyers she continued to stick them around the outdoor setting before standing on her homemade stage and began singing and dancing for the teachers and children that wanted to watch.  The next week L asked me if she could sing me a song, I replied “sure I would love to hear your song L”.  L began singing and dancing the song for me.  Once she finished I asked her if she would like me to record her song and dance for her.  L replied “what is record?”  I explained to L that record is like taking a picture but it takes a picture of her singing and dancing so that we can watch again afterwards.  L had a very puzzled but excited look on her face and I asked her if she would like to try it.  L got ready and began singing and dancing her song again as I recorded it on my camera.  When she finished she asked if she could have a look.  As I showed L the recording of her singing and dancing, the smile on her face was priceless.   She began asking the other teachers and her friends to come and have a look, and as I showed her friends and the teachers L could not stop smiling and was telling everyone I recorded her.  I asked L if she would like me to put it on a DVD so that she could take it home to show her parents and grandparents, L excitedly replied with a big yes.

Through this experience L is able to use technology as a new and different way to express herself (Plowman, 2006).  Smorti (1999) talks about technology being a “creative and purposeful activity to meet needs and opportunities”; in this case the camera was used to record L as a creative and purposeful activity that was meaningful to the child.  I recognised the interest L has in performing for others and extended her interests and knowledge by giving her the opportunity to record herself not only for herself to see but for her friends, teachers and family to see as well.  Through this experience it promotes and develops L’s confidence and self-esteem as she is able to perform with confidence and able to look back on her performance and feel a sense of accomplishment.  This experience opens up other possibilities to L, it provides her with different ways she can express herself and ways she can look back on what she has done or in this case what she has performed.  Ministry of Education (1996) states that “children need to develop confidence in themselves and be able to ‘continue to acquiring new knowledge and skills’”

Through this experience it proves that children are not aware of some technology unless we as teachers make these opportunities and experiences available to them.  With the world now becoming so technical and so much technology becoming part of our everyday world, our children have the right to be given the opportunity to be exposed to these technologies.  This experience where L was able to record herself performing, this gave her so much pleasure to be able to see herself performing, where previously she had never had the opportunity to see herself perform as she has always been the one performing.  This experience gave her a different lens to look through, instead of seeing things from a performer’s point of view she was able to change the lens she looked through, going from the performer to being an observer, watching herself perform.  This would never have been possible for her without the technology to record her.  From this experience I believe that technology is a useful tool to help children develop their confidence and it links the centre and home life as in this situation L was able to take her performance home on a DVD to share with her family.  From this situation I plan on making this an ongoing experience for all children so that they too can have the opportunity to be recorded not just doing a performance but whether they are playing or constructing master pieces, and give the children to opportunity to take it home and share it with their families.

References

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki: He whāriki mātauranga mo nga mokopuna o Aotearoa .Wellington: Learning Media.

Plowman, L. & Stephen, C  (2006). Supporting learning with ICT in pre-school settings.  Research Briefing for the  ESRC Teaching and Learning Research Programme.

Smorti, S. (1999) Technology in Early Childhood. Early Education, No.19 Autumn 1999

Images from Google Images

Children's Use of Cameras

At my centre I noticed the children playing with the toy camera and pretending to use the camera to take photos of their friends and things around our centre that interest them.   Seeing the children pretending to take photos with the toy camera it prompted me to find out if the children were interested in taking their own photos with a real camera.  I approached the three children that were playing with the toy camera and asked if they would like to take photos with the real camera.  The children excitedly said yes.  I began to talk to the children about how to use the camera, showing them the screen to see what they want to take a photo of and showing them what button to use when they want to take a photo.  The children took turns taking photos of things they liked playing with in our outdoor environment.   

 L was first to take photos of plants around the outdoor environment.  She wanted to take photos of flowers that she likes to pick to give to us teachers.   

As it was a nice sunny day when L looked at the ground she saw her shadow and took a photo of her shadow and took a photo of our shadow that she saw as I stood behind her taking a photo of her taking a photo of the shadow.
 

C was next to take photos and he took photos of the plants

 that are around the outdoor environment, photos of the carpentry table and the balancing beam that he likes to play on outside.

J took photos of all the things she liked to play with, the swings, the monkey rings, the carpentry table, the climbing ladder and the wooden beam.  As J looked down she noticed my bare feet and took a photo of my feet and the shadow it made on the ground.   

From taking their own photos the children had the opportunity to view the photos on the computer after and choose the photos they would like to print and write about afterwards.

Through this experience the children have the opportunity to take visual images of things that are meaningful to them and write about them.  According to Supon (2006) digital imaging motivate children to write, therefore children should be given the opportunity to take their own digital images to encourage them to write.   

Through children having the opportunity to take their own photos, this promotes children’s ownership.  They are able to feel a sense of ownership, something that is theirs (Supon, 2006).  As the children take pleasure in enjoying taking their own photos of what they want and the way they want this promotes children’s pleasure in and of learning through improving their engagement, motivation, want to learn and develops their individual way of expressing themselves (Plowman, 2006).  Through experiences such as this the children are able to develop operational skills such as how to use the display screen to see what they want to take a photo of and how to use the button to take a photo.  It also develops children’s concepts, that when they take an action a response is produced, in this case when the children press the button to take the picture it produces a still image (Plowman, 2006).  Through the opportunity for children to take their own photos the children are able to gain confidence in using a number of different approaches to explore and make sense of their world around them.  They are also able to view themselves as active explorers who are competent and confident in making their own discoveries (Ministry of Education, 1996).  

As I looked back on this experience I realise the importance of ICT within children’s learning.  At my centre the children never had the opportunity to use a real camera to take photos themselves of what they wanted, it is more the teachers taking photos of the children and the learning they are engaged in.   To have the chance to give the children the opportunity to take photos themselves with the real camera was great.  Not just to see the pleasure and enjoyment the children gained from being able to take their own photos but to see the different things the children thought were important and meaningful to them and to see the things the children thought were interesting or different.  It was a meaningful experience for me to see the children having the opportunity to take their own learning into their hands.  Seeing the children talk about what they took photos of and why they took the photos.  It also surprised me at how competent the children were at taking photos, how focused they were and how the photos were well framed. This experience clearly showed me that children need to be given the opportunity to use digital cameras as part of their learning, especially with our world becoming a more technical world.

References

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki: He whāriki mātauranga mo nga mokopuna o Aotearoa .Wellington: Learning Media.

Plowman, L. & Stephen, C  (2006). Supporting learning with ICT in pre-school settings.  Research Briefing for the  ESRC Teaching and Learning Research Programme.

Supon, V. (2006). Using Digital Cameras for Multidimensional Learning in K-12 Classrooms. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 33(2), 154-156. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Images of children taking photos and their photos they took