Exploring magnifying glass – non-digital technology

Before having this course, when talking about technology, what come into my mind automatically are the digital technology products such as computer and cameras. However, after I had this course and read a few articles, I have learnt that technology is much a broader term than I used to understand. Technology is about “helping people and solving problems”, technology is also a purposeful activity which is intended to solve problem and achieve goals by using strategies (Smorti, 1999, p.5). After that, I started to recognize more and more technological items or activities which are usually ignored by us, for example, paper, scissor, cooking and painting. 

Children explore through various types of non-digital technologies every day. One of the technologies that children loved to use is magnifying glass. We have several magnifying glasses in the science corner, children loved exploring the world closely with the magnifying glass.

This morning, a little boy M came into the centre with a small container in his hand. He told us proudly that he had found a praying mantis at home and daddy helped him put the praying mantis in a container so he could bring it in and show it to other children. We transferred the praying mantis to the insect observing container which we use to store insects that children found from centre or home. Several children were attracted by the praying mantis, they came over and wanted a look. A child said the mantis was too small and he could not see it properly, another child suggested him to use the magnifying glass. I was very impressed to notice the process of problem solving has occurred. Linking to what I learnt from Smorti (1999), I realized a technological activity has begun. Ministry of Education (1996) suggests that children should develop the problem solving skills. Now this technological activity provides children an opportunity to find out solution for the problem.

I was pleased to hear the conversation arouse from this activity, because it indicates that the technological activity has enhanced children’s communication and language skills. As we only have three magnifying glass in the science corner, children need to take turns while using them, children’s social skills has also been nurtured through this learning experience  While children are exploring with the magnifying glass, I often use open-ended questions to foster their learning (MacNaughton & Williams, 2009). For example, when M is observing the spider with the magnifying glass, I asked him, “How does the magnifying glass make the spider look like?” M answered me, “It’s big! I can see all the legs of the praying mantis now.” I believe that asking open-ended question is a good strategy to expand children’s thinking and foster children’s learning. Furthermore, I have noticed that children learnt opposite concepts through exploring the magnifying glass, for example, far and close; big and small. Overall, this technological activity has enhanced children’s learning and development from all aspects.

I believed this technological learning experience is beneficial to children’s learning and development. In my future practice, I will keep on looking at children’s learning from a technological lens and reflecting on them, so that I could be better supporting children with their technological learning experience. Thanks to this course which has helped to understand a lot more advantages of technology.

Reference:

Google. (n.d.). Image1. Retrieved from http://willowchildrensnursery.edublogs.org/files/2010/09/boy-with-magnifying-glass-29eyjol.jpg

Google. (n.d.). Image2. Retrieved from http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/news/080806_p3_top.jpg

Google. (n.d.). Image 3. Retrieved from https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD2UC8cBDzy3-1qQuOq7WMbQSzndf-Ox2FXMZaUG1dG6mRg8WWmJFagWHpDItCfoJcD-gj9ax5xogbMwTsAjO9TBON91CpGdcAN6f8-bWglZFp8JfG4bPZsfg1Kazq24GRoFiDI3ZVYdQ/s400/magnifyingGlass2.jpg

MacNaughton, G., & Williams, G. (2009). Techniques for teaching young children: Choices in theory and practice (3rd ed.). Frenchs Forrest, NSW, Australia: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki: He whāriki mātauranga mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa : Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.

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

My comments

Nicola:
comment 1- exploring a camera

comment 2 - building a ramp

comment 3 - making paper planes

Beth:
comment 1 - contructing a path

comment 2 - use technology to gain knowledge

comment - children using cameras

Ragina：
comment 1 - young photographer

comment 2 - computers

comment 3 - pens
Kate:

comment 1 - taking photos

comment 2 - screen painting

comment 3 - 4-year-old IT experts

Computer and young children

Image 1

Although In my home centre, we don't have any computer or laptop available for children to use daily. We do have a special technology lab programme which teaches children to learn ICT skills in a fun way. In our daily practice, teachers often provide opportunity for children to get in touch with computers, for example, playing cartoon with a laptop or using laptop at mat time. Thus, children in our centre are familiar with computers or laptops.

Living in an era of information, people get increasingly more dependent on a variety of digital facilities such as computers and phones. As Smorti (1999, p.5) suggests, technology refers to “helping people and solving problems”. And I have to admit that technology has made life much easier and more efficient. When I was young, I didn’t have as much opportunities as the children have now to access to the computers. I am glad that as a teacher I could now give children the opportunity to get closer to the new technology. I believe that technology is something children are going to live intimately with for the rest of their lives. Thus, I agree that children should be educated to use a variety of technologies while they are exploring the world (Ministry of Education, 1996).

Image 2

Ministry of Education (2007, p. 32) states that through the use of technology “students develop knowledge particular to technological enterprises and environments and understandings of how and why things work”. Using computer allowed children to explore and experiment. We encourage children to push the keyboard or click the mouse and observe what’s happening on the screen. According to  Te Whāriki,  children develop confidence in using a variety of strategies for exploring and making sense of the world, such as in setting and solving problems, thinking logically making comparisons and participating in reflective discussion (Ministry of Education,  1996). By exploring and experimenting through the computer, children are able to make sense from their own perspective. Moreover, using computer enhances children’s hand-eye coordination and motor skills (Edwards, 2012).

During the practice, I found that using computer is an effective way of extending on children’s interests. For example, we found a group of children recently showed interests on pretending to go shopping, so we brought the laptop in and showed children how to search the things they wanted to buy through the internet. We showed children different pictures and let them talk about what they would like to buy, a teacher even showed children how to purchase a book online. Computer is a very helpful teaching tool for teachers.

I have also found out that not all children have the same knowledge on computers, for example, some children are very familiar with the computer however others hardly knows how to handle it. This is because that children’s knowledge on computer is based on their previous experience (O’Hara, 2004). Some children have had many experience using computers while others may not have as many experience as them. Thus, when I am helping children with their ICT skills, I will be aware of children’s individual capability, support children according to their needs.

However, like everything else in the world, computer has its downsides even though it has brought many benefits to everyone’s lives. For example, children might get inappropriate information from internet as a result of using computer. As a teacher, I think it is my responsibility to nurture and guild children when they are exploring with computer. For example, I need to be very careful about what we show to children, make sure children always get appropriate and positive information through the computer.

Reference:

Edwards, A. (2012). New technology and education. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group.

Google. (n.d.) Image1. Retrieved from http://www.robinchung.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/computer.jpg

Google. (n.d.) Image2. Retrieved from http://webpages.scu.edu/ftp/mgaletto/little%20brother/baby_on_computer.jpg

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki: He whāriki mātauranga mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa : Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.

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

O'Hara, M. (2004). ICT in the early years. New York: Continuum.

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

Digital camera and children's development

With the development of science and technology, more and more people are more familiar with and dependent on the new technologies such as mobile phones, digital cameras and computers. Ministry of Education (1996, p. 18) states that in order to cope with a rapidly changing society, children need "both the confidence to develop their own perspectives and the capacity to continue acquiring new knowledge and skills.” Thus, I believe that in order to prepare our children for the rapidly developing world, we need to enhance children's learning of using those new technologies.

In our centre, children don't get many opportunities to operate a real digital camera as there aren't any real digital cameras available for children, however, we do have a lot of toy cameras or faulty cameras for children to play with so that they could get a basic concept of camera. Even though, I believed that it would be beneficial to engage children in the real experience of using a digital camera. O' Hara (2004) suggested that the use of new technology enhances children's overall development, including cognitive, emotional communication and social development. A new learning experience could easily stimulate a child to explore and learn through it so that children are very likely to develop cognitively. Children are able to acknowledge positive emotional feelings from the exploring of digital camera, for example, pleasure in finding out, satisfied curiosity and confidence. Social interaction with peers is very likely to occur in the photo-taking process, children will learn to join in and enjoy working with others.

One morning, I noticed a girl S was taking photos for her friend - another girl A with a toy camera. S said to A, "Say cheese!" So A posed for S and kept her big smile on face for a long time so that S could "capture" it on time. I realized this could be a good opportunity to further develop children's interest on this new technology. Thus, I approached to the two girls and asked them if they would like to try and take a real picture with my camera, two girls were excited to give it a go. So I took out my camera, demonstrated and role modelled how to use the camera as I believe these are effective strategies to teach children new skills (MacNaughton& Williams, 2009). Before S started, I taught her how to hang the camera on her neck so that she would not drop the camera. Soon after, girls started their experience of taking pictures with my real digital camera, I was surprised by how fast a child were able cope with a new technology. More children were attracted by the digital camera, as S was the first and most experienced child in using the camera, she started to teach the other children how to operate it! Vygotsky's concept of zone of proximal delopment (ZPD) was embodied here that the more experienced child helped a less experienced child to get a new skill (Santrock, 2010). The conversation during the tutorial indicated that children's communication and social skills were developed in a good way.

Sensitively using cameras always needs to be kept in mind, as The New Zealand Curriculum (2007, p.32) stated, children should be aware of the “ethics, legal requirements, protocols, codes of practice, and the needs of and potential impacts on stakeholders and the environment.” Thus, as teachers, we should be teaching children with the rules of how to safety and properly using cameras, such as no taking pictures in the bathrooms, explain to children why we should have this rules.

Reference:

Google. (n.d.). Image. Retrieved from http://www.digital-camera-center.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/The-reason-why-your-kids-need-a-digital-camera-2.jpg

MacNaughton, G., & Williams, G. (2009). Techniques for teaching young children: Choices in theory and practice (3rd ed.). Frenchs Forrest, NSW, Australia: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki: He whāriki mātauranga mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa : Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.

Ministry of Education. (2007). The New Zealand curriculum. Wellington, New

            Zealand: Learning Media.

O'Hara, M. (2004). ICT in the early years. New York: Continuum.

Santrock, J.W. (2009). Lifespan development. (12^th ed., International). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill.