Safe Sound Indicator in the centre

 Blog 2

 Our centre was given a Safe Sound Indicator (SSI) from the National Foundation for the Deaf (NFD) to monitor the sound level in the room. I thought it would be a good time for me to introduce different ICT to the children. I had a group of children who were showing their eagerness to see how it worked. I asked them about the different coloured lights on this indicator, which was green, amber, and red. I also  explained  to the children that this instrument indicates increasing sound levels, when the sound is soft it will be indicating green, when the sound level is increasing it will be flashing the amber light and  when the sound level is high it will be flashing the red light. Some of the children related that to the traffic lights. One of the children said that “this morning when I was coming my mum stopped when the light was red on the road.” It was good to see children relating this to the people, places, and things around them. They were also making sense of the world through this small instrument. I gave children turns to see how it worked by increasing their voices and looking at the lights flashing. We also showed and talked to children about the importance of this instrument during our mat time. I also showed the children how this instrument operates with batteries and used rechargeable batteries. J wanted to see where was the on/off switch was so that he could do it by himself. 

 I as an educator supported these children’s learning in ICT by providing stimulating resources that encourage and support children’s interest and enthusiasms. This is further supported by Sayeed and Guerin (2000) as cited in O’ Hara (2004) “the adult arouses care, curiosity, and alertness in the child and helps the child to understand the activity so that they can be successful in it” (p. 73). In this experience, children were also encouraged to foster co-operative and collaborative work.

  Furthermore, by providing opportunities like this in the early childhood setting, children became more aware of different technological tools that are available to them in today’s world. Te Whāriki suggests, “Children should experience an environment where they learn strategies for active exploration, thinking, and reasoning. The ability to represent their discoveries, using creative and expressive media and the technology associated with them” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 88). Talay-Ongan & A.Ap (2005) further support by saying that “the use of technology can assist in the development of the rudimentary spatial representational skills of young students” (p. 229).  Since then we have placed this indicator in the classroom and children are being careful of their voices and on some occasions correcting each other that we need to use inside voices.

      

Reference

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki: He Whāriki Mātauranga mō ngā mokopuna o    Aotearoa. Wellington: Learning Media                                                                                                        

Talay- Ongan, A., Ap, E. A. (Eds.). (2005). Child development and teaching young children.           Southbank, Victoria: Thompson Social Science Press.                                                 



disco light

Blog 3

It was ‘show and tell’ day and one of the children had brought a disco light to the centre. During mat time, J with the help of teachers plugs in the disco light in the power point and turns it on. The children were so excited to see the lights rotating and different colours flashing as it rotates. To extend on their interest I turned the room lights off and turned on the music on the CD player. The room was full of different rotating lights and children were dancing, jumping, and were having lots of fun. Those children who did not want to join in were offered the chance to take photographs using digital the camera, supported by another teacher.

Some of the children were pointing to their favourite colours as it lights up and rotates. Some of them were showing curiosity by asking questions such as “how these things works,” “why it is moving.” Children in this experience had opportunity to gain in the knowledge and understanding of the world, for example, operating equipment, what is the use of different equipment such as these disco lights, which are used at night for parties, and children had an opportunity to recognise the everyday uses of technology such as electrical equipment. The incorporation of this equipment into the centre enabled children to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to make effective use of them. Te Whāriki suggests, “children develop the confidence to choose and experiment with materials, to play around with ideas, and to explore actively with all the senses” (p. 88). This is further supported by Ministry of Education, 2005a stating technology equipment “can enhance children’s learning and encourage purposeful and exploratory play, collaboration, cooperation, discussion, creativity, problem- solving, risk taking and flexible thinking” (p. 3).  In this experience children were taught regarding electrical equipment and were able explore their potential and develop their skills and understanding through the provision of meaningful, enjoyable , stimulating, active play experiences. This is further described by Ministry of Education, 2005b encouraging “ICT use to support teaching and learning practice, the integration of ICT into children’s experiences to enhance their learning, and introduce ICT as a resource to support practice (p. 2).   

Reference List



How this works?

Blog 1  

After lunch, a few children were at the writing table doing some drawing and practicing writing their names. I was also there with them talking about the letters and numbers on the old computer keyboard. Enthusiastically, K went and got himself another keyboard that was sitting on the shelf next to the writing table. I noticed that he was writing his name by pressing the letters on the keyboard. Unfortunately, there was no screen for him to see how he had written his name. Then I decided to bring out our centre’s laptop and let K write his name using the keyboard and allowing him to see how it is written. I went and got the laptop and set it up on the table. Seeing the laptop on the table, other children became interested as well and wanted to have a turn at writing in the laptop. Children were watching as the computer was starting up the procedures. M, said, “I know how to turn on the computer because I do it for my mum when she wants to use it.” I replied “wow, that’s great because it is good to know how things work.”

K started writing his name, he first pressed letter K and looks up at the screen. He smiled and pointed to the screen then said, “That’s my name.” I showed him different fonts he can use to write his name and different colours of writing they can choose. I also showed the children where we teachers keep children’s photos and their folders of learning stories.  

J was very eager to have his turn and wanted to try all these different things on the laptop. I gave him a turn and told others who were waiting patiently that they all will have a turn with the laptop. One after the other they all had a turn. I made them write on one page each so that when we print they can have their own work. I asked these children if they wanted to see how these documents come out from the printer. I could hear all saying “YES.” When everyone had finished their turn, we went in the office to see how the printer was printing. I opened the window for printing and asked E to press print when he is ready.

J was very excited when he heard the printer making a noise when it was warming up. He wanted to pick his work from the printer as it came out.HThey all had a turn picking their work up as it came out from the printer. As we came in the classroom, these children were very happy and showed their work to other teachers and children.  

Learning objectives

Ø  Personal and social development- sharing and turn taking.

Ø  Communication, language, and literacy- talking with peers and adults; writing for purpose.

Ø  Knowledge and understanding of the world - operating equipment; performing simple functions, recognising everyday use of ICT.

Opportunities for learning

Introducing this ICT into the classroom has ensured that children became more knowledgeable about information, became increasingly comfortable with new technologies and able to discover and enhance their potential. Some of the other learning opportunities these children had are:

      Enhanced physical development, for example hand-eye coordination and fine motor control

      Children became familiar with new software

      Operate mouse with accuracy

      Print/provide record of their work

      Improved and increased children’s knowledge and understanding of the world around them

      Encountering new language/vocabulary 





According to O’ Hara (2004) encouraging younger children to work in pairs on the computer fosters co-operative and collaborative work as well as communication, language and literacy skills.

I as an educator provided the laptop to extend children’s interest in ICT, which was appropriate to develop the learning environment for children. I introduced the laptop in such a way as to encourage its use and getting involved in this to help children learn new things through technology. Te Whāriki (Ministry of Education, 1996) also outlines aspects of technology within its strands stating, “Children develop experience with some of the technology and resources for mathematics, reading, and writing” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 78).

 The theorist Bruner explained that children’s progress through play and first- hand experience can be scaffolded by adults who are effective at questioning, guiding, and instructing in ways that will extend the challenge and children’s thinking (Wood, 1998). This is reflected in this context of ICT wherein one child is teaching another child how a piece of technology works, resulting in learning for both children. This is supported by Vygotsky’s theory, which elaborates that children learn through social interaction.

Reference List

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki: He Whāriki Mātauranga mō ngā mokopuna o      Aotearoa. Wellington: Learning Media

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