Today 'B'
and I were playing with the toy whales in the water trough. This is one of her
major interests at present. We began to discuss the features and
characteristics of each of the toy whales and 'B' was able to name a couple of
the whale’s species.
Recently I
have purchased and I-phone 5, which to be completely honest I was questioning
why I had been peer pressured into wasting so much money on a silly phone. However it became quiet
useful during this learning experience.
My centre
does not have digital technology to search for information off the internet, so
after spending a very long time looking for a book about different species of
whales, and having no luck at all, I asked permission from my supervisor to use
my I-phone to Google search different species of whales with 'B.'
At the
beginning of this experience I had total control with the device, as it was
mine, brand new and I had paid a lot of money for it. I felt nervous that 'B'
would drop it and I also was unsure if she would be able to navigate the device
of how to get onto the internet.
However when
'B' asked to have a turn, I knew it was my role to give her the opportunity. I
was still nervous that something was going to happen to my precious I-phone so
ensured to explain the rules, such as; we are staying on the couch with it, we
use it with clean hands and we use our careful hands when holding it.
I then
handed the phone over and got a BIG surprise. 'B' knew how to hold the device,
use her fingers on the touch screen to tap into the internet, and slide her
finger to scroll through the information sheets on the screen. I was a stunned;
the only aspect 'B' needed guidance with was spelling the work whale. This made
me question my belief that children are confident and competent (Ministry of
education, 1996) was I not walking my talk after all?
This
experience has made me reassess my teaching practice and look further at having
confidence in children's ability to use new technology such as I-phones. I need
to realise and accept that this error that the children in my care are being
brought up in, is very technological and I as a teacher need to embrace it for
the children’s development and learning. Although I still firmly believe that
technology such as I-phones should be given to children at an appropriate age
and is for a purpose and we as educators, along with family/whanau need to
monitor the use of technology as it can be somewhat dangerous, as discussed by
our net safe guest speaker. I also believe it needs to have time limits,
because I am a strong believer that technology can hinder physical activity if
used more often than needed. This reflects part of my philosophy that I will be
an advocate for physical activity and movement to support health and wellbeing
in all children. I believe I feel this was as when I was a child technology was
not a huge part in my life, my brother and I were allowed to watch half and
hour of television a day, while having our afternoon tea and then were made to
go and play outside, which I feel has made me the physically active person I am
today and continue to promote active movement.
Now
reflecting back on this experience with ‘B’ I realise that technology has a
time and place, as does everything else in regards to children’s learning and
development. From this ‘B’ was able to further and store knowledge about her
interested about whales, and it empowered her explore the world that surrounds
her (Ministry of Education, 1996). ‘B’ was also able to communicate her ideas
and knowledge with myself and other children in the centre which relates to
both the communication strand and belonging strand in Te whāriki: He whāriki mātauranga mō nga mokopuna o Aotearoa/ Early
childhood curriculum.
A quote from
the New Zealand Curriculum (2007), highlights what children will follow onto after
their early childhood years, and I believe that this experience is working
towards laying a good foundation for technology;
“… to develop a broad
technological literacy that will equip them to practice in society as informed
citizens and give them access to technology related careers” (Ministry of Education, 2007, p.32).
Reference
list:
Ministry of Education. (1996). Te whāriki: He
whāriki mātauranga mō nga mokopuna o Aotearoa/
Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.
Ministry of Education. (2007). The New Zealand Curriculum. Wellington,
New Zealand: Learning Media.
Smorti, S. (1999) Technology in Early Childhood. Early Education, 19, 5-10.
I really enjoyed reading your reflection Morgan, I could totally relate to this learning moment, especially the part about being protective over your new iphone and not knowing whether ‘B’ could navigate it. It can be frustrating when you want to seize the moment and extend on the child’s interest but there are no resources in which to use. How fantastic the digital tool ‘goggle’ is for making connecting links between first hand experiences and further developing children’s knowledge and learning Arthur, Beecher, Death, Dockett & Farmer, 2007). I believe you were walking your talk, but educators on a whole have assumptions about what children are capable and confident in doing, I think this stems from what we as teachers know or ‘do not’ know and as you mentioned our beliefs. I feel the same way you do about technology hindering children’s physical activity and impacting on nature deficit disorder (Richard Louv, 2011). But everything has a time and place and when technology is used to “help people and solve problems” (Smorti, 1999, p.5) like finding out about whales it can be such a great tool for learning.
ReplyDeleteA suggestion to extend on this – which is what I am doing, is doing more reading around the topic to further enhance my understanding and knowledge
It was good to be reminded of the comments and topics of discussion that we explored during Susie’s class in our second year and an example of good reflective practice to see that you analysed your ‘teaching self’ and your values and beliefs about children, when carrying out the activities. It is refreshing to witness your strong advocacy for physical education and although you are a proponent of technology and its valued place in education, you are still able to integrate the two approaches so that the complement one another. It shows that you are adaptable while maintaining a true connection to who you are. It also showed the accommodation of your supervisor in allowing you to use your personal device in the early childhood setting and that its use resulted in an enriching experience for the child’s exploration of whales. To further this experience, digital media could be used to introduce David Attenborough or other naturalist’s ‘wildlife’ encounters with animals and the environments that ensure their survival. Excursions to Kelly Tarleton’s and using ‘real’ visual experiences could also be extensions to the children’s learning. Allowing them to create their own videos of animals or sea creatures would be equally stimulating and could involve viewing evenings with parents where children could showcase their own observations and personal perspectives. “The creative act is much more possible when educational creativity involves not only the children, not only the teachers , but also the parents and the entire society around the children” (Gandini, 2001,p.53).
ReplyDeleteWow, I think that it is amazing that you allowed 'B' to use your i-phone 5. It would be a nerve racking experience for anyone to let a young child take over the usage of such an expensive item of personal technology and personally I would have found near impossible to relinquish control of such an item. You showed integrity, dedication and professionalism here which is empowering. How interesting to see that 'B' knew exactly what she was doing, it just goes to prove that children have far greater understanding of todays technology than most of us do as this is the world in which they are currently growing up in which shows that technology is relevant in teaching infants and toddlers when used productively.
ReplyDeleteIn this instance the i-phone proved to be an asset when you could not find literature to extend the child's learning and curiosity around something of great interest to her. The Ministry of Education (1998) states that "learning is a complex process fundamentally controlled by the learner and assisted or facilitated by others who are more competent and often more powerful" (p. 5). By building using the i-phone and internet on the child's interests and current knowledge of whales you were able to assist in part of her learning process and are now in a position to extend this learning as she guides you, possibly going into more depth about whales and the ocean at a later date.
This was a very interesting refection as I would have felt the same giving a child my I phone! But good on you for giving them the chance to show you that they can use it, with the explanation of how and ensuring they knew! This is a great experience that has happened and I can see how beneficial this was.
ReplyDeleteThis was a great way to use technology when you could not find the information in any books, as the Internet has so much to offer with real life pictures and so on. Isenberg & Jalongo (2010) state “all adults who work with children and computers, an example of one kind of technology, need to know how to choose and use software that facilitates children’s creative and artistic expression as well as their own roles in facilitating children’s learning with computers ”. (p. 293) – Morgan, I believe you have shown this in your reflection and that this was a very engaging learning experience.
Nice post. Your information is really good. Thank you for sharing..........
ReplyDeleteMobile Dating Apps Android