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.