Final reflection 

Technology is here to stay and I believe that children should be exposed to it in a balance to know what it is. My home centre is very anti-technology so this blog was a great way for me to share my ideas and approaches with them. For example the digital camera, I explained to the teachers what learning development was happening for them to acknowledge the significance of technology in our centre. The digital camera was my first reflection and it was a great way for me to introduce the centre to technology without frightening them. Since my centre is very involved in creativity I explained to them how the camera was part of creativity and the exploration and imagination of children were being tested when using a digital camera. This is linked to “Technology is also a creative and purposeful activity aimed at meeting needs and opportunities through the development of products, systems or environment” (Smorti, 1999, p.5). With this reflection the feedback I got was that it is a great resource to introduce to children but depending on their age as Rachel said she works with under 2’s so she wants to make them familiar with photos because she will find it hard to work with a digital camera with babies. Most comments were agreeing with my reflection in the sense that an anti-technology centre could adjust to a digital camera so well.

http://ash-khan44.blogspot.co.nz/2012/08/blog-post.html

Making paint in the centre was very challenging for me, this reflection I tried to focus on the process then the actual product as finding solutions, and thinking about process is more important (Smorti, 1999, p.7). What I found with this reflection was the importance of enquiring and exploring; children were problem solving and discussing what was happening this was technology to be. I posted a video of making paint on this reflection to share my knowledge with my group. The response I received that was great to read, would be Rachel’s comment where she said she shared the video with the children at her centre so children can watch. I felt great to be able to share my knowledge with others and see what they did with it. Jasmeet said this activity depends on the age group, well every activity depends on the age group what matters is to find a solution that can work with the age group you are working with, like this activity had 4 year olds, 3 year olds and 2 year olds involved. It did get messy but no body said technology was suppose to be pretty.

http://ash-khan44.blogspot.co.nz/2012/08/blog-post.html

My final reflection on technology was on laptops this activity was very teacher guided but I believe children were learning more by me dictating their moves to learn the basic use of this technology. This activity was done with 4 year olds, as I wanted to use it for my school readiness programme. I did this because the NZ curriculum is a subject in primary school and I believe children need to learn the importance of technology by this age to be able to accept technology when they go to school so it would not seem so frightening to them. I focused on how to make laptops easier and basic for children in this activity and by providing the use of researching things instead of playing YouTube videos or music. It was a great exploration for the children. The feedback I got was a positive one from Jasmeet http://ash-khan44.blogspot.co.nz/2012/08/laptops.html?showComment=1346222365110 where she said she really like the idea how I gathered information and incorporated into children's learning by using the laptop.

Overall I found that technology plays a great significance in children’s learning development it builds, cognitive skills, communication skills, physical skills as Ruby talks about in her blog http://jiayinhong.blogspot.co.nz/2012/08/going-to-course.html

From reading the groups blogs and learning about the different types of technology they have in their centre was good to read on, as it gave me great insights on what I could introduce to my centre that can build on technology in the centre.

Reference 

Smorti, S. (1999) Technology in Early Childhood. Early Education, 19, 5-10.

All done image retreived from http://www.google.co.nz/imgres?q=all+done&um=1&hl=en&biw=1280&bih=760&tbm=isch&tbnid=LO3WrMG39RjP7M:&imgrefurl=http://www.alliesinteractive.com/tag/logo-2/page/15/&imgurl=http://www.alliesinteractive.com/wp-content/uploads/Logo-Design-All-Done3.jpg&w=700&h=292&ei=jjdAUNSDJYaQiQep_IHIDQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=137&vpy=504&dur=2253&hovh=145&hovw=348&tx=164&ty=84&sig=101586902518276814607&page=2&tbnh=76&tbnw=181&start=26&ndsp=31&ved=1t:429,r:13,s:26,i:194

Hyperlinks

Catherine 

15 August http://macdonald-catherine.blogspot.co.nz/2012/08/photo-of-old-that-i-have-mentioned-in.html?showComment=1345089001435

29 August  http://macdonald-catherine.blogspot.co.nz/2012/08/fostering-use-oftechnology-in-my-center.html?showComment=1346308701937 

Jasmeet

22 August http://jasmeetgrewal.blogspot.co.nz/2012/08/ipad-cellphones-technologyis-vital-tool_1460.html#comment-form

29 August http://jasmeetgrewal.blogspot.co.nz/2012/08/celebrating-eid_25.html?showComment=1346310092269 

Linda-Jie Zha

24 August http://lindazha.blogspot.co.nz/2012/08/paper-cutting.html?showComment=1345860601773

29 August http://lindazha.blogspot.co.nz/2012/08/play-dough.html?showComment=1346293092123

29 August http://lindazha.blogspot.co.nz/2012/08/dancing-with-music.html?showComment=1346314036845 

Rachel Sun
29 August   http://rachelsun-in-nz.blogspot.co.nz/2012/08/hebi-ring_25.html?showComment=1346290081770

29 August http://rachelsun-in-nz.blogspot.co.nz/2012/08/cherrybytes.html?showComment=1346310874312 

Ruby -Jiayinhong
29 August http://jiayinhong.blogspot.co.nz/2012/08/iphone-ipad.html?showComment=1346294110680

29 August  http://jiayinhong.blogspot.co.nz/2012/08/going-to-course.html?showComment=1346307944251

29 August http://jiayinhong.blogspot.co.nz/2012/08/technologies-in-library-computers.html?showComment=1346316029233

Reference list

Isenberg, J., & Jalongo, M. (2009). Creative thinking and arts based

         learning: Preschool through fourth grade (5^th ed.). Columbus

         Ohio, United States of America: Pearson

Ministry of Education. (1996). Early Childhood Curriculum Te Whāriki:

         He whāriki mātauranga mo nga mokopuna o Aotearoa.

         Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.

Ministry of Education. (2006). The New Zealand Curriculum. Draft of

         consultation 2006. Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand:

         Learning Media.  

Smith, A. Understanding children's development (4th ed.). Wellington,

         New Zealand. Bridget Williams books Ltd.   

Smorti, S. (1999) Technology in Early Childhood. Early Education, 19,

         5-10.

Laptops

Laptop

Apple Laptop

At my home center we have 5 laptops, 3 remain upstairs in the office where staff can work of portfolios and administration duties, and the other 2 laptops are on the stairs so it can be used with children if needed.

The center is currently planning around insects, so I decided to incorporate this with technology to see how the learning development was formed. I Sat with a group of 4 year olds during our school readiness programme where we were discussing about “where do insects live”. I had no idea about the different types of insects and where they lived, so I goggled it on the laptop, through each process the children sat with me with pieces of paper ready to draw homes of different insects. With the word visible to the children as it was written down on a white board, children spelt the word insect out for me and each got a chance to type a letter in to the Google tab. This was great to see as the children were getting excited and were looking back and fourth towards the white board and laptop, to see the resemblance in the letters. This is linked to “Children develop familiarity with the properties and character of the materials and technology used in the creative and expressive arts” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p.80).

We researched together and found various different insects and there homes, and each child had a chance to look through the photos on the laptop. I taught them the were to click to go on to the next, some children struggled at first but got use to it after, and some children were using it as if they have been using it at home.

This particular activity I did with the children was to allow them to get familiar with simple buttons on the laptop, and I believe because this activity was teacher guided it was also successful in the terms of safety and misuse of the laptop. Children talked about their own favorite insect after I wrote it on the board they will type it out themselves and press enter. This showed me that the learning development that took place in this activity was recognition, memory, problem solving and a great way to learn literacy (Ministry of Education, 2006, p.23).  Children were so engaged to this activity and this was quite rare when it came to school readiness programme as children sometimes only want to paint.

Clicking enter

I found that the laptop was a great way for me to explore their imagination, to teach them and myself about this topic. There were pictures and words together so while they looked at a picture I was able to read about it and explain to them. This activity was a great social development for the children as they discussed amongst themselves what they saw and what they will do. Through the laptop I was able to gather so much information and incorporate it in children’s learning this was interesting to all children and myself. I was amazed with the recognition of letters that children were developing and the physical safety of insects and them on how to hold them this was done by a child asking “will a bee hurt me”. This lead us to research more on what to do with a bee around and through pictures and videos we were able to talk about there safety towards different types of insects. Overall the use of technology itself helped me to be more confident in this particular topic, Children were so engaged in the topic and the laptop that they asked to be used all the time. This is linked to “In early childhood education, as in later learning and development, exploration will be guided, supported, and challenged by adults and other children” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p.82).

Apple laptop Retrieved from:  http://www.google.co.nz/imgres?q=laptops&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1280&bih=760&tbm=isch&tbnid=4_kKqpj7VYMlKM:&imgrefurl=http://topamazingnews.blogspot.com/2011/05/top-10-best-laptops-2011.html&docid=BoxH03LzfmNMzM&imgurl=https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2qVRaRaEsvidrz2PRXYaRhUko0m3r6vBulGF0zGSQIgzegjCY-9gX4WDImPYoTyyff2HcNIkzZD_PuxgOV5xxSMlKfLvq2vFTkpw7EI8fTyQmbOFu7cgl51j46R2OCHbJhWA4Hib-m7ze/s1600/Apple-macbook-pro_best_laptops_2011.jpg&w=500&h=436&ei=oFw4UInqKYmUiQe51IDQDQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=835&vpy=383&dur=276&hovh=169&hovw=204&tx=62&ty=135&sig=101586902518276814607&page=1&tbnh=167&tbnw=202&start=0&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:8,s:0,i:161

Clicking enter Retrieved from: http://www.google.co.nz/imgres?q=cartoon+children+laptops&start=251&um=1&hl=en&biw=1280&bih=760&addh=36&tbm=isch&tbnid=ApnfzjSqn7l3RM:&imgrefurl=http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/24/us-cybersecurity-kid-hackers-idUSTRE75M8BF20110624&docid=ZCKumkIC8356xM&imgurl=http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/%253Fm%253D02%2526d%253D20110623%2526t%253D2%2526i%253D445320897%2526w%253D460%2526fh%253D%2526fw%253D%2526ll%253D%2526pl%253D%2526r%253D2011-06-23T231545Z_01_BTRE75M1SMQ00_RTROPTP_0_VENEZUELA&w=450&h=300&ei=J144UNemHc20iQfSlYCYBg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=315&vpy=270&dur=70&hovh=183&hovw=275&tx=150&ty=89&sig=101586902518276814607&page=9&tbnh=132&tbnw=177&ndsp=31&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:251,i:222

Ministry of Education. (1996). Early Childhood Curriculum Te

         Whāriki: He whāriki Mātauranga mo nga mokopuna o

         Aotearoa .Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media

Ministry of Education. (2006). The New Zealand Curriculum. Draft

         of consultation 2006. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning

         Media

Paint 

“Technology is about helping people and solving problems” (Smorti, 1999, p.5).

This is related to my second blog about paint, a non-digital technology. Paint is very useful in all of our lives including children. Children in my centre a very creative and love painting, it is their way of telling a story and using their imagination.

Technology is about problem solving, designing, re-designing, finding solutions, and thinking about process (Smorti, 1999, p.7). In my centre children often paint about something that they have seen, heard or have done in or outside of the centre. They draw their parents, their pets their friends, or shapes and figures that are of interest to them. Children explore with colours mixing them and using paint to explain their stories to us.

Finger paint 

I believe this is part of technology as it involves critical thinking for children, were children develop their emotional, social and cognitive development this is linked to “Learning through the arts is beneficial in its own right and contributes to children’s development in all areas of learning” (Isenberg & Jalongo, 2006, p.xv1).

I believe in my centre as technology plays a small role, I wanted to introduce a Paint activity that will also encourage children to see the process behind it, so we made our own paint. I believe technology is an invention not an analysis of what you create or have created (Smorti, 1999, p.6). When we made our paint children worked together and talked about the final solution and problems that we had on the way. This is linked to “In technology, students explore how people intervene in the world by developing products, systems, and environments to expand their possibilities” (Ministry of Education, 2006, p.13). I believe experimental learning encourages children to develop their enquiring minds, where they can experiment and be able to see the end result and praise themselves. This is how they build confidence in themselves.

Paint

I believe if children are presented with the knowledge of what technology is and how it works this can be easily adaptable by teachers and children in the centre, children need to be exposed to technology and the process of creative technology at an early age. This is linked to “Since it has been established that early experience is important for development, it is now necessary to establish in more detail the particular qualities of experience that is required” (Smith, 1998, p.94).

Technology will be learnt by those who see and hear about technology in their environment, if we use process technology for example my paint activity then we are encouraging children to adapt to change, be more welcoming to other technologies to come to the centre. Te whariki says “A child learns to talk in a setting where adults talk to children and to each other. A child learns to explore in a setting where exploration is valued and possible. Learning is about the way in which children perceive and deal with their environment” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p, 19).

Here is a video that teaches how to make paint, if you are interested it is a great way to start introducing technology in a centre by allowing children to know that what we are about to do isn’t science but technology. 

How to make paint

Reference

Retrieved from: http://www.google.co.nz/imgres?q=child+with+paint+on+hands&start=85&num=10&um=1&hl=en&biw=1280&bih=760&addh=36&tbm=isch&tbnid=cpm97cE8riihYM:&imgrefurl=http://kiddiewink.com/&docid=FZLAPgMTq_Z8SM&imgurl=http://kiddiewink.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/fingerpaint-680x320.jpg&w=680&h=320&ei=jV84UK3wMsifiAfq4YGYCA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=929&vpy=4&dur=80&hovh=154&hovw=327&tx=239&ty=97&sig=101586902518276814607&page=4&tbnh=88&tbnw=186&ndsp=32&ved=1t:429,r:6,s:85,i:24

Paint Retrieved from: http://www.google.co.nz/imgres?q=paint&um=1&hl=en&biw=1280&bih=760&tbm=isch&tbnid=Jrhl_nbe877HJM:&imgrefurl=http://www.ntp.co.nz/services.aspx&docid=zzdEvv62vI_IsM&imgurl=http://www.ntp.co.nz/images/paint.jpg&w=380&h=316&ei=_l44UJSXN4nNmgXdkYDYCg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=621&vpy=201&dur=504&hovh=171&hovw=208&tx=95&ty=81&sig=101586902518276814607&page=1&tbnh=161&tbnw=197&start=0&ndsp=16&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0,i:140

Isenberg, J., & Jalongo, M. (2009). Creative thinking and arts based learning: Preschool

            through fourth grade (5^th ed.). Columbus Ohio, United States of America: Pearson

Ministry of Education. (1996). Early Childhood Curriculum Te Whāriki: He whāriki

Mātauranga mo nga mokopuna o Aotearoa .Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media

Ministry of Education. (2006). The New Zealand Curriculum. Draft of consultation 2006.

            Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media

Smith, A. Understanding children's development (4th ed.). Wellington, New Zealand. Bridget

            Williams books Ltd

Smorti, S. (1999) Technology in Early Childhood. Early Education, 19, 5-10.

Digital Camera

Digital Camera 

child using camera

With working at my home centre for 3 years, the children have always been interested in taking photos or being photographed. I decided to bring my camera in to the centre and allow children to take photos of each other. I believe cameras have come a long way from Kodak rewind cameras to now digital cameras.

I gave the children my digital camera to have a play with. Children were taking photos of each other and then playing it back to see how they looked in the photo. Before I brought my camera into the centre.  I thought maybe it might be a bit difficult for the children to use or explore as it is quite technical with lots of buttons. Surprisingly it wasn’t, children knew which was the shutter button. They were familiar with shapes and logos that symbolised certain things like the play shape on remotes are the same logo that was on my digital camera. A child said to me “This is the play button Ash, I have this button on my dvd remote”. It was good to see that children were familiar with certain things of the camera.

I found that children were learning social skills by asking children if they could take a photo of them, this was a sign on respect and well being. This is linked to “Technology- capability in solving practical problems contributes to self- confidence and wellbeing” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p.94).

Photography for children 

The centre is very anti-technology, staff believe that children who are exposed to technology will not take risks and not build on their learning development. I decided to introduce the digital camera to children and the staff as I way to show staff that technology has its place in Early childhood setting.Children were exploring with the camera, taking photo’s from different angle’s and learning about the different shapes and viewing nature from the view of the lens. Children were learning about creativity learning by talking about the ways things looking different from a camera’s lens. Something that was also great to see was that children were taking care of the camera, using it in an appropriate manner. I noticed a huge amount of social learning where children talked about the photos they took. This is linked to “Techonology is also a creative and purposeful activity aimed at meeting needs and opportunities through the development of products, systems or enviorment” (Smorti, 1999, p.5).

I found that the digital camera was a great way for me to introduce technology to my centre, since teachers do use it on a daily basis but are not afraid to use it but are afraid of using other technologies or allow children to use other technologies. From this experience I was able to explain to staff that children were gaining meta-cognitive ability which means “that is, their ability to think about their own thinking” (Ministry of Education, 2006, p.24).

I believe a digital camera is a great social tool for children, it influences children to talk about their photos, it allows children to explore their own thinking and gain cognitive skills. I believe this is linked to “Piaget said that children are able to succeed in cognitive tasks depending on the presence of certain operational compentecies” (Smith, 1998, p.6).

Therefore I believe technology such as a digital camera is not only a great social skill tool but also a great way to get isolated children to interact with other children and the teacher. Children are able to take their own photos and explore in their own thinking.

I believe technology is here to stay and therefore we should embrace it and teach children the basic use of these technologies.