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Reference List

Reference List

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whariki: He whariki matauranga mo nga mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media

Ministry of Education (2007) The New Zealand Curriculum, Wellington, Learning Media.

Oldridge, L. (2007). Debunking the myths: ICT and young children. Early Education, 42 (Summer), 8-11

O’Rourke, M & Harrison, C. (2004). The introductions of new technologies: New possibilities for early childhood pedagogy. Australian Journel of Early Childhood, 29 (2), 11-18.

Tsantis, L., Bewick, C., & Thornton, S. (2003). Examining some common myths about computers in the early years. Young Children on the Web, November 2003, 1-9.

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

The Hot Glue Gun

The children at my centre just love the hot glue guns that we have out for them to use. At the moment the boys are really into making swords with them, the girls are more inclined to use them at the collage table when creating. Smorti 1999 defines technology as "helping people and solving problems" (pg 5). I think the hot glue gun can definitely be classed as technology because; the children use it to help make their creations and it’s often the alternative to cello tape. If cello tape won’t work the children always go to the hot glue guns to solve the problem.

As we have the hot glue guns out every day I was able to observe the children using them while not having to be at the centre of what they were doing. I think this is really important, to step back and let children make discoveries on their own. As I was watching I found that the children are just so capable and confident with the hot glue guns. They all seemed to have a plan or vision in mind of what and how they wanted to create. Te Whariki 1996 states that should develop “the ability to represent their discoveries, using creative and expressive media and the technology associated with them” (pg88). I believe this is what was happening at the collage table with the hot glue guns. The children were using a range of materials to create their own unique creations, while using joining technology eg, glue guns, staples, paper clips.

I noticed a range of learning as the children were using the hot glue guns, the first was social competence, as we only have four glue guns two outside and two inside when a lot of children are at either table, they have to wait for their turn or pass the glue gun on to the next child. I found that it was a real social event being at the collage table, the children were discussing what they were making with each other, asking questions like ‘how did you that?’. Somerset 2000 states that the special value of collage is “they make something new that has meaning by assembling odd bits that already exist in a different form” (pg 83). The child would then explain to the others how they had constructed and joined their creation. The children weren’t just learning from the materials but from each other. I also noticed that the children were using their fine motor skills to manipulate the glue gun to aim the glue in the right spot, which can be tricky sometimes.

The main benefit I saw to this technology being in my centre was that the children were able to make creations from their imaginations come to life, and be a real object. The hot glue opens up a range of different possibilities for children to explore. The New Zealand Curriculum states that “Adaptation and innovation are at the heart of technological practice” (pg32), I believe this is true. By using hot glue guns in early childhood we are setting children up for life to be able to rethink, rework, original designs and believe that they can invent worth wild creations.

 

 

Digital Microscope

Our children have a real interest in dinosaurs at the moment, so to extend this further I decided to set up our digital microscope with some dinosaurs and dinosaur skeletons. Oldridge states that technology should be used to "follow a child’s interests and to draw links across the wider curriculum" (2003, pg9). The digital microscope works by being connected to our laptop, so the instead of looking through the top of the microscope to see what’s inside, it shows up on the computer screen. The software also works by taking photos and videos of what is under the microscope. After setting this up I also put out some flowers, shells, and leaves for the children to examine.

 This was a really popular activity and as the children were examining the objects we were able to engage in conversation about the objects we were looking at, asking questions and building out knowledge on certain thing. While this was happening the children realised that as they were placing and turning the objects under the microscope they could see their fingers. This started off all children placing their fingers underneath, and wiggling them. They were really amazed that they could see their fingers moving on the screen. From this piece of technology they were able to explore their own bodies and engage in discussion about how fingers work.

One child in particular really interested in how he could make movies from what was underneath the microscope. When I started out using this microscope I thought that we would just be examine the objects but this child took the activity in whole new direction. He would get the objects place them under the microscope and make up a whole story line about what they were doing. Hatherly 2008 states that "by using ICT, children can shift from being  passive to active contributors" (pg 47) I think this is true as I let the  children explore this on their own and take the activity in what the direction that they chose. He made several movies from this and kept on wanting to play them back to watch them. He thought this was really cool and would bring his friends over to watch his movies or ask them if they would like to make a movie with him. This child had an awesome imagination and was really engaged in using the microscope.

 Hatherly 2008 state that "ICT has the potential to blur the lines between teaching and learning, as children and educators do both" (pg 47). I think this statement is really true, as I was using this technology with the children we were engaged in discussions of dinosaurs at first and the children were real experts on this subject. I was able to listen and learn about each dinosaur and in return I was able to show the children how to use the software so they could take photos and movies by themselves.

 I could see that through the microscope we were developing literacy, through talking about objects asking questions, making story lines to movies. Children were sharing their ideas and this became quite a social activity, while they were showing each other their movies and pictures they had taken from the microscope.  The New Zealand Curriculum states that "graphic’s and other forms of visual representation offer important tools or exploration and communication" (2007, pg 32), I feel that this piece of technology is really beneficial as it gave the children another dimension of looking at things in our world and this piece of technology offered different ways for the children to explore the objects through looking at them on screen, taking photos and making movies with the objects. This made the think what an awesum way discover our world, I will definately be using this piece of technology more within my centre!

The Mimio Board

Today I set up the Mimio board, which is an interactive peice of ICT which is connected to  our computer and projecter so it is displayed on our white board. It works with a pen which makes it an interactive playground for children to explore.
I observed the children using the kidpix game on the mimio board. Kidpix is a creative canvas with different tools children can use to create works of art, for example spray paint, chalk, stamps, pencil and crayon.

As i was observing the children using the mimio board I had never really thought about or realised how this peice of technology benefits child development and thier learning. I discovered that when using the pen on the board the children were practing their pencil grip, fine motor skills and pen control. They were also able to use the pen to drag objects over onto their canvas and place colours over top of one another with out them mixing as they would if they were using paint and paint brush in the art corner. I really liked that they were able to do this with the pen as it gives them a different perspective and way of creating works of art. The New Zealand Curriculum state that "graphics and other forms of visual representation offer important tools for exploration and communication" (Ministry of Education, 2007, pg32).

The children also like to look at what is on the laptop screen and then on the mimio board, as they are able to see the changes on the laptop screen without watching the child. Oldridge states that when "there is room for more than one child to participate in the activity verbal, cooperative and supportive interaction can occur " (2007, pg9). I noticed that this is also a very social activity as children are using the mimio board their friends are watching what they are doing and talking to them about it. Children also come in groups and stand to watch what is happening on the laptop.
I noticed one child who was using the mimio board to create a work of art, I watched as he was really confident. This child rarely goes into the art coner or to the collage table, so I was very suprised that he was taking time and care with his drawing. I thought about this as I watched him , maybe he isnt confident using paint or it just isnt an interest area for him. I have also noticed that this child uses the iPad quite alot, it may be the pulling and pushing of the images and graphics that draws him into using the mimio board as his art canvas instead of paper. It is alot easier to control the paint and draw with on the mimio board than paper so they could also be why hes interested in using the mimio board.  I obsereved as he opened up the colour chart and was able to choose from a range of colours  and differnt grapics, not just three or four that would be out on the art table.
Te Whariki states that "children use a variety of technologies for different purposes as they explore their world" (Ministry of Education, 1996, pg98) this child was able to explore his creative side through this peice of technology. Oldridge states that " from teachers knowing the software well enough to use it to follow a child's interest and to draw links across the wider curriculum" (2007, pg9).I beleive that this peice of teachnology helped encourage this child  to try something new, and could lead him into the art corner to try with paint and a paint brush.

After thinking about what other games I could put up on the mimio board, I came to realise that depending on what sort of learning outcome you wanted to acheive you could use differnt games on the board to acheive them. I think this is really important as it is another way to enhance leaning and development through a different medium.