Part 3

After doing this activity and receiving reflections and thing to think about my facilitation of this activity I have come to learn and think about a few things. The first being that Sangeeta was correct and it is the educator’s role to ask open ended questions as to prompt the children to think about possible outcomes for the answer which can lead to the children creating their own problems to solve and also to solve their own problems or learn strategies to assist them in solving their own problems over time.

As Jenny pointed out this activity was quite teacher lead so when doing future extension on this provocation I will allow the children to make the decisions about the activity and will make any planned provocation I do based on children’s suggestions or questions as to allow the children to come up with their own questions, solutions an problems they wish to solve. 

Sangeeta asked me what other forms of technology in the sandpit I could use with the children. Some of the technology for future technology use in the sandpit to extend on this activity of making sandcastles could be bringing the blocks out to the sandpit or I would provide some newspaper and paste and see what the children do. 

I would use them with the children by bringing them out and asking the children what they would like to do with them. If required I would provoke the children by asking what happens when you mix the paste and paper. I could show the children a YouTube video for provocation about making paper mache and see where that leads to but I will keep in mind that this needs to be child lead so if the children do not wish to make paper mache then they can so what they want to.

Losa got me thinking about different types of buildings we could make and how we could transfer this provocation out of the sandpit and use some of the same technology and introduce more technology to see where the children take the activity and what they can discover about different types of structures and buildings and the types of people who live in and create those structures as to introduce more social science in the sense of learning about the world around them and the people in it and also about historic events and buildings.  This would also provide opportunities for the children to ask questions and solve problems.

Losa encourage me to think about weather I truly believe the quote from (ref) that technology is an “extension of human capabilities” and I really do truly believe this. As humans in modern times we rely on technology so much both everyday technology and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) like computers, phones and cameras. These technologies allow us to extend on our current capabilities and without this the possibilities for learning and development and extension would be very limited and simplified.

I have learned a lot from doing this planned provocation and having everyone comment and make suggestions for improvements. 

I look forward to more planned provocations with technology and my new strategies for being more child lead and introducing more technology and using everyday technologies in different ways with the children.

Part 2

My response to Sangeeta's reflection can be found here:http://mitlatc10.blogspot.co.nz/2015/09/part-one-entry-five.html?showComment=1443344353121#c2453309001893091339

My response to Losalini's reflection can be found here: http://blogprojectlosa.blogspot.co.nz/2015/09/part-one-entry-five.html?showComment=1443390988101#c576405123232665407

Part 1- Entry 5

It all started with a child saying “I want to make a sand castle, Big as me”. The children were piling the sand making sand castles. They were building them individually and trying to make it a competition. For this activity on this day I asked the children about what kind of sand castles they would like to make.

For provocation I took the ideas the children and I discussed about the sand castles and printed off some pictures of other sand castles and some pictures of real castles to provoke inspiration for the children to work towards. I used the pictures of the castles so we could have a discussion about history and how people used to live in castles and had horses in them. Learning about the past is important for children’s social studies development so they can learn how different the past was to how it is now and then children can begin to think about the future. (MOE). I also bought some containers of different sizes and shape to use as moulds for sand castles. I also suggested that the children work together to make their sand castles because they might be able to make them higher and bigger if they all work together. I also suggested the children work together because part of social sciences is creating relationships with others (MOE). The children then began making some very cool sand castles and we took pictures of the sand castles. The children he quickly learned how to pile the sand from the buckets softly were teaching their friends how to do it softly which was great relationship creating. 

This included technology in the sense that technology is something that helps you or makes your life easier. UNESCO (n.d.) states technology is something that extends on the capabilities of humans. The buckets and spades were the technology that helped the children. Also the pictures were technology because having the pictures visually there for the children to look at was extending upon any description of a castle I could tell the children. 

I work with children who are under three so I used the teaching techniques positioning people, suggesting and facilitating. (MacNaughton & Williams, 2009) I positioned myself so that the children could all fit around the sand castle without me in the way but I was still close enough to be available and fully engaged but still leave the experimenting up to the children. I used suggesting when the children were using dry sand to try and make the sand castle I suggested “what happens if you get some water from the water play and put it in the sand”.  Also when the children were losing interest in the castle building I suggested taking pictures to look at them next time. I facilitated for the children by providing the resources and water play for the children to discover and master the skill of sand castle building as well as learning history through the discussion about the castles and facilitating opportunities to create relationship bonds with their classmates.

References

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

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

UNESCO (n.d.). What is technology? Retrieved from: http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/file_download.php/e4a401dc5db3bafdb675cdab775cd305Technology+Guide+Unit+1.pdf

Part 1- Entry 4

We do not use a lot of technology in our centre so I took in my son’s tablet which is designed for children with security locks on it. When I first gave the tablet to the children they found the games. One of the children was holding the tablet up to me and said “say cheese”. I figured that the children wanted to take some photos. I took the tablet back to the main home screen where the little boy saw the camera icon. He clicked on the camera button with no prior knowledge of using a tablet, which took him to the picture taking screen. He then started pressing all the buttons on the screen, clearly trying to figure out how to take a picture. This was his way of solving a problem; he was pressing all the buttons on the screen because he knew one of them would take the picture. What he ended up doing was making a 2 second video. He then saw the play button appear on the screen to watch the video he made. “ooohhh movies” he said as he clicked play. The children then decided they wanted to make a movie, so two children had the tablet and videoed other children movie around and dancing. The children enjoyed watching the ‘movies’ and figured out the red dot meant you were making a movie and the play triangle meant you could watch the movie. After a while a different pair of children found the button which changed the video section back to taking pictures. The children then enjoyed taking photos and scrolling through the photos talking about the photos.

Belshaw (2011) suggests that digital literacy is having the ability to access media and understand it and evaluate the different aspects of it as to create communications in a lot of different contexts. It also talks about digital literacy being about learning the basics knowledge and discussion of the digital world.

Futurelab (n.d.) suggests that digital literacy is about engaging critically with technology and in turn learning how different things can influence the ways we use technology and to transfer information and its meaning. It also states it is having the ability to communicate knowledge to other people in different ways.

The digital literacy I noticed was the children making the connection and talking about the triangle that showed up on the screen meant it was the play button and that if they wanted to watch the movie they had made that they needed to press the play button. Other digital literacy I noticed was that most of the children knew how to swipe the screen to move to the next photo or video. While they were swiping they would say “no, no, no” then when they found the photo they wanted they would say “look there is you Vicki, you look silly face”. The children saying no to the photo’s showed me that even though these children were approximately between one and three years of age they knew which photo they were looking for and kept swiping until they found it.

If I was to do this again I would set up an activity where the children can make up stories or tell stories through the photo’s they have taken and they can share the stories with the rest of their friends at mat time to improve their social skill because some of our children can get quite shy when talking at mat time. I would also print off some of the pictures so we could re-visit the activity and see where the children would take the activity with some scissors and other technology to extend the activity. 

References

Belshaw. D. (2011). What is ‘digital literacy’? Retrieved from: http://dmlcentral.net/wp-content/uploads/files/doug-belshaw-edd-thesis-final.pdf

Futurelab (n.d.). Digital literacy across the curriculum. Retrieved from: http://www2.futurelab.org.uk/resources/documents/handbooks/digital_literacy.pdf

Part 1- Entry 3

The impact of technology on children’s lives is phenomenal. Technology is everywhere these days. Children are often allowed access to technology including Information and communication technology (ICT) from a very young age. Hatch 2011 states that one of the effects of the use of technology is we are lessening the ability to multi-task. It carries on talking about how people get so many notifications to check emails and things that they can become to forget things in real life. I have also seen in children when they are engrossed in ICT that they zone out and it is very hard to grasp their attention even if they are just watching a video and not interacting with the technology.

Recently introduced technological items influence children by making the devices easier to use which means children do not have to problem solve because the new and updated technology tells the children how to fix their problems and children can find themselves in situations above their comprehension. This is why supervision of ICT is so important. Stephen & Plowman (2013) backs up this idea of supervision by talking about how in a study children who had free roam of their ICT had less understanding of the things they were seeing and doing on the technology than other children who had, had adult input and had discussed issues and questions that arose. This article carries on discussing how the children with more adult input generally have a better attitude towards the use of the technologies.

Archard (2013) talks about how in their study they found that the most effective form of interaction with ICT was child initiated interactions. They also found that the children with the best understanding of how to find information through ICT were in centres where the teachers have a great understanding of the technology themselves and they support the children in gaining their own understanding of the ICT and how to use it effectively. From this study you can see than an un-educated teacher in ICT can be detrimental to children because they cannot teach the children how to use the ICT effectively for optimal learning outcomes. We all know that what children learn from a young age they can take with them for life. That is why positive and effective technology experiences is vital.

I have a six year old son and I have recently we have introduced the use of a small computer with some games we thought were educational. After a while of being allowed what we discovered was too long on the computer all he wanted to do it sit on the computer and tablet all day long. Sometimes when he has been on too long he seems like he has forgotten how to communicate and is virtually impossible to reason with. We have had to limit his technology use daily with a timer and we have a much more adjusted and calmer son now who will happily play for a little while on the technology and then go and play somewhere else with toys or outside, knowing he will get another 20 minutes later in the afternoon if he is well behaved. Using the technology as a privilege instead of a right means he works towards getting to go on the technology again. This is why I am firmly a believer in restricted time on technology and ensuring children get time away from the technology to run around and get creative and take risks

References

Archard, S. (2013). Democracy in early childhood education: How information and communication technology contributes to democratic pedagogy and practices. Early Childhood Folio, 17(2), 27-32. 

Hatch. K. (2011). Determining the Effects of Technology in Children. Retrieved from: http://digitalcommons.uri.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1212&context=srhonorsprog

Stephen, C. & Plowman, L. (2013).Digital technologies, play, and learning. Early Childhood Folio, 17(2), 3-8.