Reflection one: August 2013

Thursday, 22 August 2013

Reflection One – Using ICT for Children Literacy Learning

During my last practicum, I noticed that teachers always used computers to search appropriate educational programmes from the internet to use to interact and to teach the children, such as children songs with animation to attract their attention; songs with movement to stimulate children’s interest in exercise and videos from internet for different learning purposes. Children are welcome to use the computer for their own learning too, such as drawing on computer, stories with sounds and words from touching screen or different kind of literacy learning games.

In the twenty-first century, using computers and other ICT technology in the early year education is for preparing children for their future lives to inhabit in this `Knowledge Society’ (Selwyn, 1999). The role of new technologies in our lives has significantly reshaped our life-world; facilitating communication and information receiving instantaneous replies from anywhere in the world, changing our shopping and working practices, saving time and creating new jobs. In response to these changes, I noticed that it is now increasingly recognised that children should be developing capability in accessing or retrieving information and learning to learn. However, the aim of the use of ICT with children is to teach technological literacy through technological products and process, and to engage children in the practical activity of designing and making things (Siraj-Blatchford & Siraj-Blatchford, 1999). From my point of view, it is important to note that it was not the products that the children made, and it was rather what children learned in the process of making products. Just as literacy in language learning is more than just learning to read so technology literacy is more than just being able to operate or understand technology. Because of children in the process of exploring and applying technology children may develop a structure of facts, concepts, principles, procedures, and phenomena that will provide resources for the `cognitive activities of knowing, understanding and reasoning” (Greeno, 1991, p. 174).

By using appropriately designed and supported computer applications, it enables the ability to learn to recreate and children need to see ICT used in a meaningful context and for real purposes (Siraj-Blatchford & Siraj-Blatchford, 2000). For example, introduce young children to new software tools and applications, and draw upon their interest of adult interactions with ICT at the supermarket checkout to look at the bar-code scanners technology. They can identify the barcodes use in the store and learn about the stock control and price information. By using computer functions which integrate into children’s pretend play, and conduct with suitable software or touch screens in play environment, such as shopping, gardening or cooking. Encourage children to observe and talk about the use of ICT in the environment such as traffic lights, telephones, mobile phones, televisions, washing machines, printer, or copy machines to deepen their understanding.

In accordance to theories of learning that underpin education systems are grounded in the belief that humans learn best when they are engaged and actively constructing meaning (Piaget, 1972 & Vygotsky, 1978). By using both real and pretend play, ICTs may be integrated in support of socio-dramatic play and this kind of play is widely recognised to be of significant cognitive and socio-emotional benefit. I agreed that ICT has also been found to support children in their imitations and simulations of the adult world and human relationships through symbolic representation. A well-designed and appropriate application can provide for a wide variety of possible responses by the children, it allows the child to try things out and, if it does not work, try another options even they made mistake (Smilansky, 1990). ICT assisted instruction processes provide challenges to children, probing them to think and develop creative ideas. However, I realized that the generation of new knowledge and procedures for exploring will rise only when children are encouraged in a supportive environment, in which they are able to feel free to express their opinions and justify their responses in appropriate ways.

References:

Greeno, J. G. (1991). Number sense as situated knowing in a conceptual domain. Journal in Research in Mathematics Education, 22, 170-218.

Piaget, J. (1972). The principles of genetic epistemology. New York: Basic Books.

Selwyn, N. (1999). `Resisting the Technological Imperative: Issues in Researching the `Effectiveness’ of Technology in Education’ from the online journal Compute - Ed, Vol 5 Online 11^th March 2005 at: http://pandora.nla.gov.au/nph-arch/2000/Z2000-Jun-5/http://computed.coe.wayne.edu/Vol5/Selvyns.html

Siraj-Blatchford, I. & Siraj-Blatchford, J. (2000). More than computers: Information and communications Technology in the Early Years, London, Early Education (The British Association for Early Childhood Education).

Siraj-Blatchford, I & Siraj-Blatchford, J. (1999). Supporting Science, Design and Technology in the Early Years. Buckingham, Open University Press.

Smilansky, S. (1990). Sociodramatic play: Its relevance to behaviour and achievement in school. In Klugman, E. & Smilansky, S. (Eds.), Children’s Play and Learning. New York: Teacher’s College.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Reflection Two – Computers and Literacy Learning

There were two children sitting together in front of the computer during the free play time today. Child A was playing on a game with matching different objects from the card he had turned over. When he touched the object on screen, it came up a sound of speaking what the object was. Child B appeared very interesting in the game and kept asking questions of what to do and how to do this and that. After their discussion, child B moved himself on practicing and playing the game through the support from child A.

Play is the foundation of all young children’s experiences, so it is logical that the effects of exposing young children to computer would be revealed through their play. Some searchers found that children use computer for play, they moved through a progression of play behaviours similar to the path they would follow for any other new play materials (Escobedo, 1992; Liang & Johnson, 1999). Of course, you might be concerned with the proliferation of ICT that new technologies considerably influence young children’s lives. These concerns might be result from the mostly incorrect belief that using ICT in tools for the interaction with children, it encourages children to be passive recipients, or solitary computer game players isolated from social interactions in learning and playing (Tsantis, Bewick, & Thornton, 2003). In fact, it provides opportunity for young children to enhance their self-esteem and confidence, engage in collaborative learning and empower their social skills, and contributes in a positive way to children’s emotional development (Crook, 1994). It proves that a positive social contexts and interactions with more knowledgeable others enabled learners to make sense of ideas and create meanings more effectively in achieving the individual child’s independently learning and the zone of proximal development (Vygotsky, 1978).

I agreed that with providing child-oriented activities and sufficient play time at the computer can reach the optimum level of symbolic play that leads the opportunities for their literacy development (Crook, 1994). It is important that as an educator, we need to know how contemporary theories and what practices about learning and development can be linked to ICT use. For example, using the computer as a prop in the centre for children is resulted in expanded children’s symbol uses, keyboard typing empowered children literacy learning, understanding of computer processes, screen functions and searching information through connection with the internet are all supported their Knowledge and Understanding of the World (Ministry of Education, 1996). Computers can also be an increasing element in the mathematical education of children. Its assisted instruction processes provide challenges to children, probing them to think and develop mathematical ideas including special awareness and properties of shapes. This type of play is contextual play and is perhaps practice play (Labbo, McKenna, & Kuhn, 1996), because children are learning a skill and practising it with the actual object. After practicing, they are aware that they need to make connection with the computer by turning on the main control button before reaching the computer and screen; they understand that they have to connect the computer with the printer by choosing the printer mode before their printing (Ministry of Education, 2007). They clicked hypertext items over and over; they moved the mouse across the screen but once they began to transform the computer screen by typing those alphabetic keys on the keyboard, they create their own learning of literacy.

Computers help even young children who `were more able to keep in mind a number of different mental states simultaneously and had more sophisticated theories of mind than those who did not use computers’ (Fletcher-Flinn & suddendorf, 1996, p.229). In Piaget theory states that children learn when they are able to construct meaning from their experiences with the objects that they encounter. Children are capable of learning from their sensory-motor experiences with objects, and become capable of making abstractions and formulating ideas and concepts are based on these initial explorations (Piaget, 1972). This could be reflected from child A who is supporting his own literacy development of what he learned about the programme from one context to another by matching the objects game to learning different vocabularies and different shapes from touching the screen.

References:

Crook, C. (1994). Computers and the Collaborative Experience of Learning, London, Routledge.

Escobedo, T. H. (1992). Play in a new medium: children’s talk and graphics at computer. Play and culture, 5, 120-140.

Fletcher-Flinn, C. & Suddendorf, T. (1996). Do computers affect the mind? Journal of Educational Computing Research, 15 (2), pp. 97-112.

Labbo, L. D., McKenna, M. C. & Kuhn, M. R. (1996). Computer Real and Make-believe: Providing Opportunities for Literacy Development in an Early Childhood Sociodramatic Play Centre. (ERIC Document Instructional Resource No. 26 ED396254).

Liang, P., & Johnson, J. (1999). Using technology toenhance early literacy through play. Computing in the Schools, 15, 55-64.

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki, he Whāriki Mātauranga mo 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.

Piaget, J. (1972). The principles of genetic epistemology. New York: Basic Books.

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.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological.

Reflection Three – ICT based Dramatic play

Today, the children kept asking me to read some story books to them while they were waiting for their parents to pick them up. Young children love to hear, make, and read stories, so I decided to turn on the CD player and put on my favourite CD’s story `Go for a bear hunt’. After the story finished, children kept asking `again, again please!’ Thus, I suggested them to use their imagination to do the actions, encouraged them to express their feelings and to speak out the words by following the story.

Functioning ICTs such as the CD player can be used to integrate into the children’s pretend play perfectly. Its gives children opportunities not only to stimulate their imagination and thinking skills, or release their feeling but build vocabularies which can be used to make and retell for extending their language abilities. The children demonstrated their excitment by listening concentrated and following the lyrics from the story; they stood up and stomped on the floor when they listened to `we go for a bear hunt, we got to the wheat field’. They held up both of their hands like flying in the air when they said `we can’t get over it’; they lowered both of their hands when they said `we can’t get under it’. Sometimes, they pretended rolling the boat, walking in tiptoes, climbing up and down the tree, feeling scary, yelling and having a deep breathe. Children were transforming the message from the CD into make-believe themselves by acting out the actions and expressions of the story (Liang & Johnson, 1999). It has been agreed among some developmental psychologists and educationalists that collaboration is especially important in the early years. When children are share joint attention and joint engaging in activities that provides a significant cognitive challenge in itself (Light & Butterworth, 1992). There is considerable evidence that ICT can be a powerful resource in helping to support the social systems of pre-school learning environment. It proves that the value of ICT in fostering children’s collaborative learning has been demonstrated successfully and it does not occur as just simply by bringing children together to share the story (Crook, 1994).

After this experience, children grew the knowledge and skill of using technology in their play. They check the button on the wall whether it has been turned on and connected with the CD player, putting a CD inside the machine before pressing on the play button. Their experiences and resulting play behaviours illustrate that they internalize the technological concepts and are able to create the events by themselves (Ministry of Education, 2007). In according to Vygotsky’s notion of abstract transformation of objects and roles in play, children use the CD player as a learning medium to transform the story in their behaviours, in which has a direct relationship and can be viewed as facilitating children’s literacy development and supports their social skills and emotional development. (Vygotsky, 1978).

It is becoming clearer that in play and literacy, certain foundational mental processes may be shared. The ability to use and understand symbolic representations in one context can then be transferred to another context. Children can be transformed with this concept of using CD player for learning to the context of computer based learning. Te Whᾱriki advocates children learning through different technologies and recognise the differentiate functions between different technologies in the setting (Ministry of Education, 1996). Therefore, ICT use should be grounded in an understanding of the purposes, practices, and social context of early year education. It also indicates ways that ICT can support children's learning through transforming their play into language and cognitive development (Smori, 1999).