Reflection Two: Integrating Technology into Young Children’s Learning

Date:29 August, 2011

   

It was a sunny morning. Child S’ shouting “it’s raining” caught my attention. He was making rain with a spry bottle. In the gardening area, child K, N and R were spraying the plants while they were having a conversation about which plant needed more water. Another two young children Ka and F were washing the wheels of a bike with their spray bottles. When I approached to them, Ka said her spray bottle didn’t work. I asked her to find the reason why it didn’t work by guiding her to examine the straw in her bottle and that in F’s bottle. She soon found that her straw was not in the water when she sprayed. So she set her bottle up straight and triggered a few times but still it didn’t spray. She hardly gave up and I told her to keep going till spray came out. However she challenged me with a question why she had to trigger so many times before spray came out. To answer her question, I emptied the straw and showed her how much water one trigger could suck up water in the straw. She seemed very happy to understand how to make a spray bottle work properly. 


“Technology is about helping people and solving problems” (Smorti, 1999, p.5). A spray bottle is associated with technology as it is a technological product. From the above learning experience with the spray bottles, there was evidence that the children used the same technological tool for different purposes as they explore their world (Ministry of Education, 1996). Different learning outcomes were brought up according to their individual ways of playing. Child S developed creative and imaginative skills when he associated spraying in the air with raining. Child K, N and R’s social skills were fostered as they were working together, talking about and showing empathy for the plants while watering with their spray bottles. Child Ka developed capability in solving practical problems which contributed to self-confidence and well-being.

Technology can enhance early childhood practice when integrated into the environment, curriculum, and daily routines. Good pedagogy and sound learning objectives should guide the choice of materials and tools, including technology, to be used in learning activities (Bredekamp & Rosegrant, 1994). As a teacher of very young children, I feel it very important to work out teaching strategies about appropriately implementing technology in our daily practice to meet the social, physical, and cognitive needs of young children.

Before taking the course, my understanding of technology was very narrow and limited only to electronic and digital resources. From the class discussion and readings about technology, my perspectives on technology changed and now I feel that technological materials and resources are helping us teachers and children as well in our daily teaching and learning. However, I think intentional, appropriate, and integrated use of technology with young children depends on the ability, knowledge, and skills of teachers.  I also agree with the statement that “our understanding of the scientific principles supporting technology was limiting our ability to scaffold children’s learning in this area” (Smorti, 1999, p.7) because technology is continuously evolving. Therefor as early childhood teachers, we need to be life-long learner so as to become active participants and competent users of technology for personal and professional growth (National Association for the Education of Young Children, 2001). Only in this way can we model and support appropriate and effective use of technology in learning environments for children.

References:

Bredekamp, S. & Rosegrant, T. (1994). Learning and teaching with technology. Young Children: Active Learners in a Technological Age. pp. 53-61.

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

National Association for the Education of Young Children. (2001).Technology and young children. Retrieved from http://www.techknowlogia.org/TKL_Articles/PDF/320.pdf

Smorti, S. (1999) Technology in early childhood. Early Education, Autumn(19), pp.5-9.