Laptop
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| 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.
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| 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
Hi, Ash
ReplyDeleteIt's so true about lap tap. It's so easy to use for everything and we could also carry it around the centre, so the children can have access to it. For example if the children's interest is on insects, we can always can take to the lap tap to the garden, as we research for insect and at the same the children are learning to explore the nature as well as the technologies by clicking and looking at photos and searching for real things as in insects or snails. I really like the idea how you gather information and incorporate into children's learning by using lap tap, and you have follow it through so well."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).
Hi Ash! Sorry about the late comment. T.T
ReplyDeleteI agree with the way you were using the laptops with children in your centre. Can see it really benefits all the children in your centre. As we live in a computer age. By exposing children to computers at young ages, they are exposed to a skill that adults have to catch up to. Children will be able to keep up in the ‘Information Age’ and will do so successfully.
You used a lot of educational material that available via the internet. Because not all children learn the same way, computers can offer a variety of ways of learning. The Te Whāriki says “Children develop familiarity with the properties and character of the materials and technology used in the creative and expressive arts” (Ministry of Education, 1996).
You said that “I believe because this activity was teacher guided it was also successful in the terms of safety and misuse of the laptop.” So I am wondering, will laptops make the same benefits if children use them without any guidance from teacher?
You are very lucky to have five laptops at your centre and also to have one set aside for children to use. Is the lap top available for all the children or is it only for the older children that are in the ready for school programme? I like the way you included non digital technology in the way that the children were drawing homes for the different insects. At my home centre we also research with the children a topic that we are not sure of but instead we do it on a computer as we only have one laptop and that is for teachers use only. I noticed and agree when you let the children type the letters into the Google tab; what a great idea. Again at my centre it is the teachers, not the children, which do the typing if we are to research anything. I must try that some time because technology is a large part of their world in this day and age, and we teach them how to use these sorts of items such as the laptop so they can build on their skills and prepare them for school. “The early childhood curriculum reflects the holistic way children learn and grow” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p.41). These days this includes digital technology such as the laptop.
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