Let’s Explore with Carpentry

Let’s Explore with Carpentry

Young children love the idea of handling

the real tools during the toddler phase.

It is the best time to give them an idea of what

tool is used for the respective purpose.

I found a few boys at the carpentry table

 busy with hammers, small nails, glue, and

lots of different sizes of wood.

As I approached the table, child A insisted that he wanted to make a car. “That’s sounds like fun”, I said. Let’s see, I wonder what we need to build one. Child A said, “This is big wood that we can use” as he picked up a chunky size wood. Suddenly the rest of the boys at the table all wanted to build a car and started following child A. They were also joined by a few girls who showed interest in building their own choice of things.  I picked up a small piece of wood to offer a child who also wanted to build one just like his dad’s car. Child A was quick in response to say that the piece I had chosen is too small. “You need a big piece of wood so that people can sit inside it”, he said. “Good thinking A”, I said. Let’s see what else do you need? “Wheels”, a child said. So they decided to choose the milk bottle caps to use as wheels. Child A said, “These are round just like the tyres on my dad’s red car”.

I observed lots of interactive conversations around the table as the children related their activity to their home talking about the colours of their parent’s car and how they got to school and so on. I mediated the strategy of scaffolding with children which are stated in Arthur, beecher, Death, Dockett and Farmer, (2005), that educators can interact with children to guide their learning. My conversation with the children and their problem solving skills amongst their peers showed a crucial role of an adult interacting with children. This is mentioned in Berk (2001, p. 74) which states that, “through dialogues with children, adults play a formative role in the development of children’s self-conceptions, sensitivity to others, cognition, academic knowledge, morality, social skills, and capacity to use language to gain control over thought and behaviour”.

The carpentry offers a few technological tools of suitable sizes to children such as hammer, nails, saw, glue and much more. As the children were exploring the tools and wood with confidence, trial and error, they were showing cooperation, independence, persistence and craftsmanship.  Although the carpentry can be a challenging area for some children but if we maintain, supervise and provide children with all the technology available to use, this gives them an opportunity to discover many things. This is children’s perception of themselves as “explorers” – competent, confident learners who ask questions and make discoveries Ministry of Education, (1996). Children are likely to be exposed to construction work in some context later in their lives. According to Huber, L. K. (November 1999), providing the non digital and real tools allows children to practice various skills while developing their creativity and imagination.

Regardless of reasons for the lack of woodworking and all the technological tools in centres for young children, it remains one of the most liked and most potentially educational. With the tools used in carpentry, such as measuring tape, hammer, glue, children can easily construct sturdy, three dimensional creations which can actually be used in extending play in other areas. Using tools in carpentry gives children to build what they are interested in and in doing so practice and develop a wide range of skills, The New Zealand Curriculum, (2007). Woodworking may be a challenging play centre to add to an early childhood classroom, however, children develop self-esteem, social skills, creativity, and physical abilities that may not be encouraged elsewhere. For more information see the Ministry of Education, (2009), link:

http://www.lead.ece.govt.nz/ServiceTypes/Playgroups/PlayIdeas/ConstructivePlay/Carpentry.aspx

Another useful link

http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID=181

REFERENCES

Arthur, L., Beecher, B., Death, E., Dockett, S., & Farmer, S. (2008). Programming and planning in early childhood settings (4th ed.). Victoria: Thompson.

Berk, L. (2001). Development through the lifespan (3^rded.).  Boston, Ma: Allyn and Bacon and Pearson Education.

Huber, L. K. (November 1999). Woodworking with young children: You can do it. Young Children, 54 (6), 32-34

Images: Retrieved on 30/03/13 from www.googleimage.com

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki: He whāriki mātauranga mo nga mokopuna

          o Aotearoa .Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.

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

Ipad in the classroom

Ipad in the classroom  

Introduction of the iPad in 2010 marked significant steps in the development of tablet computing and mobile devices in education. Children today live in a world where ICT is a part of everyday life. The iPad’s large size touch screen provides easy access and allows for supported engagement. Young children explore and learn in ways that are natural to them such as touching, repeating and ‘make silly things happen’.  Today, children as young as two years old access play and learn a using touch screen device which is something beyond our imagination when we were growing as children. Touch screen technology and digital Apps offer an accessible and meaningful media platform for children.

Overall, children are enthusiastic about iPads Including ICT into learning opportunities at kindergarten allows teachers to support children connecting with and making sense of the world around them.  At one of my teaching practices in a kindergarten, children had access to an IPad. As the children arrived in the morning, a selected amount of children would rush to the list where they would write their names for their turns on the Ipad. It was the first time for me to experience this amazing technology be available to the children to play, I was captivated by their capabilities.  I would sit beside them and watch as they would turn on the iPad, scroll through the pages, select a game to play; they even found their own pictures and showed them off to their peers.  It was amazing to witness this process and I was very impressed with how these children were able to independently use the iPad, socially interacting and communicating with each other and having a timer available was great as all the children had equal opportunities and turns.

 

I realized that the iPads were educational in many ways,cognitively, linguistically, numeracy, creative art and much more. Some of the applications support learning by providing children the opportunity to see or visualize what would normally be impossible.

Comparing the children’s interaction from other activities throughout the day at the kindergarten, I found that children were interacting cooperatively and socially active. This is highlighted by Kumtepe (2006) who says that the use of technology such as Ipads increase children’s social skills. “Technology makes enterprising use of its own particular knowledge and skills, together with those of other disciplines. Graphics and other forms of visual representation offer important tools for exploration and communication” (Ministry of Education, 2007, p. 32). These interactions between the children showed children sharing their ideas, helping each other to navigate between games and other applications and asking lots of questions. Vygotsky’s social learning theory was visible as children were learning through social interaction and play (Santrock, 2011). As children participate in meaningful experiences, this creates opportunities for children to internalize the language and understanding used, Arthur, Beecher, Death, Docket, Farmer, (2008).

There are social-emotional benefits as well as children have control when using technology. They decide what to do and where to go adding to their confidence, Child Family Development Resource Centre, (2012). Use of Ipads is very educational and this particular technology in my view is definetly enhancing early childhood education which is validated in Ministry of Education (2007). Touch screen technology has introduced a first generation of tools that afford remarkable access and potential for creative use among young children. The educators were adding value to children’s learning by providing the Ipad to children, they were providing opportunities for children to be creative and express their abilities by solving problems, to increase their thinking and independently making decisions through play. This means that they are following the Ministry of Education (1996) early childhood curriculum that suggests “Children us a variety of technologies for different purposes as they explore their world” (p. 98).

Click to the link below to watch a 2 year old child using the Ipad http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGMsT4qNA-c

References

Arthur, L., Beecher, B., Death, E., Dockett, S., & Farmer, S. (2008). Programming and planning in early childhood settings (4th ed.). Victoria: Thompson.

Child Family Development Resource Centre, (2012), Ipads and Preschoolers, retrieved from http://www.easternct.edu/cfdrc/documents/julyaugust2012.pdf

Images: Retrieved on 30/03/13 from www.googleimage.com

Kumtepe, A.T. 2006. “The Effects of Computers on Kindergarten Children’s Social Skills.” The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology 5 (4): 52–57.

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

Ministry of Education. (2007). The New Zealand curriculum for English-medium teaching and learning in years 1-13. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.

Santrock, J.W. (2011). Life-span development. (12th Ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw Hill

Computers as an educational tool

Computers as an educational tool

Technology offers unique experiences and opportunities for young children. Young children of today are naturals with computers and have shown comfort and confidence in using them. Computers are available to the children in my centre with minimum activities available on them and they are not encouraged to use them by the educators. 

A few times children have showed me proudly that they can turn the computer on. As I walked past a couple of boys on the computer, I noticed a boy sitting at the computer who looked a bit confused. “I can’t turn it on”, “the game is not coming” he said. The boy who was already playing a game quickly responded, “I can help you”, and pushed on the correct button which started the computer. I was amazed by the confidence in these children. The next half an hour was spent exploring the different games and activities available. I never imagined these boy’s potentials until I saw them on the computer and will always remember how enlightened they were.

Teachers in general in my preschool don’t interfere or focus much on technology especially with computers with children rather they leave them for self exploration and more hands on activities. Smorty, (1999) highlights that technology is an important area of early childhood curriculum, therefore if educators are to scaffold children’s learning in areas such as mathematics or science or social interaction, they need to extend their knowledge and skills in understanding of technology such as computers. I personally believe that computers are very educational and powerful resource as information and communication technologies are becoming more entwined in the environment around children. As a child growing up and the non existence of computers, it impacted on my interest in using computers now. Up until I needed to use computers for my study, I was reluctant to use it. Now that I am, it makes me realize how dependant I am of using it.

Ministry of Education, (2007) highlights that in early childhood education settings where ICT is enhanced within the learning environment; it impacts on children’s learning and development including cognitive learning such as language development, social interaction, information and literacy. Computers are significantly associated with everyday life in education whether it is with adults or children. Parents are often seen restricting their children from using computers as they don’t see the benefits of them. If teachers and parents embrace technology such as computers it can provide them with more effective and efficient ways to extend and expand on children’s learning and development. It can also provide opportunities to develop successful strategies to motivate, plan, involve families even linking homes with schools. Te Whāriki also states that in order to participate in this world, our children will need confidence to develop their own perspectives as well as the ability to continue gaining new knowledge and skills using technology associated with them.

I think it is beneficial for children to use computers as we are preparing them for future and jobs that don’t exist yet. Children’s activities and experiences with computers will develop over time as they grow and develop. Young children learn through exploration and discovery so if computers are used with children in preschools and child care centres,  the computer should be one of many activity choices they can explore (Bredekamp & Rosegrant, 1994).

See the link below to view a young child using a computer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17EU69coojw

References:

Bredekamp, S., & Rosegrant, T. (1994). Learning and teaching with technology. In J.L. Wright & D.D. Shade (Eds.), Young children: Active learners in a technological age (pp. 53-61). Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children

Images: Retrieved on 22/03/13 from Google Images www.google.co.nz

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

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki, He whāriki matauranga mo nga mokopuna o Āotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.

Smorti, S. (1999, Autumn) Technology in early childhood. Early Education, 19.