Recently, I approached two brothers as they were discussing a noise they could hear. M (aged 3) had his hand to his ear. "What is that sound?" he said I've heard it before. " I know!" Said N his 4 year old brother "it's a cricket... dad told me?" "is it?" said M "I thought it was something else?" "what do you think it is M?" I asked but he wasn't sure.
At my centre I am very lucky to have access to two laptops that teachers generally use for documentation, that I can connect to a flat screen TV in the play area. I suggested to the boys that they could look up some ideas on YouTube which they were delighted to do.
The first YouTube site I tried was this one. The cricket that N suggested.
The boys raced outside listened and then came back in again "No not that one" they stated. Some other children had seen what the boys were doing and came over to investigate. I now had a group of 10 children moving from the computer to outside, all chatting and discussing with each other.
"OK what about this one?" as I put up a cicada
The energy in the room was a joy to watch as they ran out the door and back to me "put the other one on again." ..."Yes Yes... that's it what is it?"
This lead onto more questions of "What's a cicada?" "What does it eat?" "Does it sting?" There was such energy from the children. We even found out as we listened to different clips that cicadas can sound different and we made the theory together that this must be because they live in different countries. There is no way that I could have planned for such energy in the learning if I had decided that the children were going to learn about insects but by following their lead and motivations this took us on the most wonderful journey that morning. As a teacher you have to be flexible.
| What the children found |
What I loved about this is that technology had helped me to answer the boys' own questions. Or as the New Zealand National Curriculum would suggested expand human possibilities by realising opportunities (Ministry of Education, 2007). As a teacher I love the opportunity to develop children's curiosity about the world and support them to question the world around them, technology is about people and solving problems (Scholl, 2005). What happened in this episode clearly links to the exploration goal in our early childhood curriculum: Te Whāriki when it states that "children develop the ability to enquire, research, and modify their own working theories about the natural, social, physical, and material worlds" (Ministry of Education, 1996, p.90).
Fleer and Jane (2011) stated that how teachers feel about technology reflects the opportunities that we give children to use it (p.19). This is relatively new technology for me but I am open and flexible to look at new ideas and different ways to teach, I remember the days when your only option was to look up in a book; no sound or motion. Technology has allowed me to capture this teachable moment in ways that I would never have thought possible as a young person myself. Computers have allowed us to readily look up information (Scholl, 2005).
I think one of my concerns when I started this course is that technology could reduce social interaction. Just like this experience Tsantis & Berwick (2003) highlight that for many children the computer is a catalyst for sharing information, communication and decision making. For me I think in my philosophy on technology it is about getting the balance right and listening to children.
But with all this stated I did have concerns when I used to go on YouTube or the internet, there have been times when I have been shocked by what has come up on my screen, due to my poor spelling. I'm always worried that these same images might come up when I'm with children at my centre. So with this in my head I found the talk from NetSafe in class so beneficial. I just need to go back to kindergarten and put the security setting on our laptop. This experience has really made me think about cybersafety and I came across an interesting article during my refecting by Grey (2011) which gave me more to think about on my role in collaboration with parents and how maybe my role was to share my professional learning on internet safety with them.
I also captured this moment before the blog talk last Friday. This has really made me think about how I share the wonderful learning that has happened. What I have done is written a learning story for both brothers folders but how amazing for parents if I could have captured them running in and out of the building testing their theories or posted the YouTube videos on a blog so that the learning in centre could flow home and back again.
References
Fleer, M., & Jane, B. (2011). Design and technology
for children. Frenchs Forest, Australia: Pearson Australia.
Grey, A. (2011). Cybersafety in early childhood education. Australasian
Journal Of Early Childhood, 36(2), 77-81.
Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki: He whāriki mātauranga mō 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.
Scholl,
M. (2005). Social studies in action. Young
Children, 62(4), 1-5.
Tsantis, L. A., Bewick, C. J., & Thouvenelle, S. (2003).
Examining some common myths about computer use in the early years. Young Children, 58(1), 1-9.
All movie clips and images from YouTube and Google image
All movie clips and images from YouTube and Google image
Donna what an eye opener for me in regards to the seemingly fluid response you gave in regards to the use of the laptop and white board. I wish our centre had this type of technology for children to gain the confidence and knowledge and skills in use of high technology (Ministry of Education, 1996; Fleer& Jane, 2011). Had you thought of videoing this type of investigative enquiry?,some camera's have filming capacity and you may have been able to run this through the laptop for all the children and families, when it came for pick up time. We would certainly be creating a community of practice maybe not in cyberspace but in your centre space (Yang, 2009).
ReplyDeletePlanning in advance can have a advantage in the use of technology such as computers. If it had been possible to plan a high technology response, then I agree the children would have had the freeedom safely to 'surf the net' and create their own community of learners. This would indeed support their social relationships and develop a realistic understanding of what they can and cannot do (Ministry of Education, 1996).By you being a responsive practitioner and supporting this experience the children are begining to understand that learning and social interactions are entwined. This is an effective pedagogy that will help you to identify the differing cultural needs of learner's (Ministry of Edcation, 2007, p. 34.)Thank you for sharing your refelction I look forward to your next.
Donna, this blog is awesome!! so well written, i loved hearing the children's voices throughout your blog and the way that you wrote it helped me to envision exactly what was going on, you painted a great picture of this experience in my imagination!The way that you used technology with the children to investigate what type of bug was making the noise was a great teaching technique and almost quite similar to the action research we'll be doing in class..where you are 'planning in action'. Spontaneous experiences really are the best and often they are the topics or interests that extend on the longest, educators need to be tuned in to children's interests and notice the learning opportunities that arise (Arthur, Beecher, Death, Dockett & Farmer, 2007), which you clearly did in this instance, well done! awesome stuff :)
ReplyDeleteReferences:
Arthur, L., Beecher, B., Dockett, S., Farmer, S., & Death, E. (2008). Programming and planning in early childhood settings (4th ed.). Victoria, South Australia: Thomson.
Donna thank you so much for this blog entry, I loved that even though I was not present for the experience I was able to see the learning for the children as well as your own personal learning experience and growth through this spontaneous activity. Te Whāriki states that “Children experience an environment where they learn strategies for active exploration, thinking, and reasoning” (Minisrty of education, 1996) and it is very clear through your blog entry that you have facilitated an experience which promotes this. I really enjoyed that this was a child generated experience as children “learn or build knowledge by finding meaning in their experience instead of passively receiving information from their teachers” (Gonzalez-Mena, 2008). I love that although you state that this technology is new to you, you are still open to learning and exploring this technology alongside the children, this says a lot about who you are as a teacher and it’s exciting for me to seeing this Ako pedagogy present. I look forward to reading your future post!
ReplyDeleteGreat to see our video on Safe Searching in YouTube reaching a wider audience. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteStuart Lennie
Falkirk Council Education Services
Scotland
Hi Donna,
ReplyDeleteWow after reading your blog I found it very enlightening about you first thought of technology. To be honest I feel the same way. That's why I think that we haven't introduced to much technology to our room within our centre. Thank you for sharing this wonderful story between these two boys it has been a pleasure to read.
As I read your blog I have seen a theme of listening skills and I think its fantastic. Without even knowing it during your encounter with this exercise you have used a teaching strategy. Mac Naughton and Williams (2009) states that "When you listen to someone you attend to them. You concentrate on what is said and what is not said; you note what they are saying and not saying and think about it carefully" (p.116). Donna this is a great teaching experience as you have build upon the relationships with the children in your centre by listening to the children and taking in account what they have said instead of just brushing it off. You have created an interest for these children and it is wonderful to see.
I really enjoyed this Donna.
Thank you for sharing it.