Blog 2
Phones are fun… J
Telephones and mobile phones have become an essential part of the world
today. In today’s world, its getting more advanced and modernized by the day.
Phones have become an important means of communication. Phones are vital tools in
today’s world, which encourages communication, and this can often come in handy
in emergencies.
Relating it to early childhood settings, phones are the most common and
efficient way for teachers to communicate with parents about their children.
When children get sick or are not feeling well at the Centre, the teachers use
the phones to contact parents about it. Parents are also welcome to call the
Centre to check on their children
At my Centre, teachers have brought in dummy phones for our technology area.
I personally feel its good for children to get exposed to these things, as it
has become a vital part of our everyday lives. Children are learning about
things, which they will eventually have to use or deal with in their future. Children see phones everyday; they see the
adults around them using it, especially their parents and siblings. So at the
Centre, they pretend they are having a conversation using the dummy phones,
they imitate how they have seen their parents or other people using it. I once came
across a child pretending to be on the phone and saying, “ Hello Mummy, I just
finished having my lunch. Did you have yours too mummy”. Children are usually
influenced by what they see in their everyday lives and in this case, it is
beneficial for them as it is improving their communication skills and helping
them interact. Te Whariki tells us that” during these early years, children are
learning to communicate their experience in many ways, and they are also
learning to interpret the ways in which others communicate and represent
experience” (Ministry of Education, 1996).
Technology provides children with advanced ways to learn about the
things they will be exposed to in their near future. These include the use of
phone and the educational apps, which are available to download straight to
your phone.” Technology is also a creative and purposeful activity aimed at
meeting needs and opportunities through the development of products, systems or
environment” (Smorti, 1999).
Technology has advanced so much today that we can now use the smart
phones for a number things like recording sounds, videos, camera for photos
which they can view instantly. It also does the work of radios and cd players
as it can play music, which our children really love. I have noticed that the
children really enjoy using the touch screen on the phones, as it’s easier than
pressing the buttons. One day at my Centre, I joined a group of children at the
technology table. They were using the dummy phones to talk to each other and
one of the child called out, “my brother has a phone in which I can use my
finger to touch the games I wanna play” he added that he really enjoys using
it. I thought this was really amazing and discussed it with my associate
teacher asking her if it was appropriate to allow our children to some
experience using touch screens on a smartphone. When she agreed, I got an
opportunity to show all the other children how it works and gave them a chance
to try it as well during the mat time. Many children yelled out that they had
seen phone like that from their parents or siblings.
Overall I believe that technology plays an imperative role in the early
childhood sector as we and the people around are using it very commonly. Our
children are learning the same and are profiting from it.
References
Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki: He whāriki mātauranga mō ngā
mokopuna o Aotearoa : Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand:
Learning Media.
Smorti, S. (1999) Technology in early childhood. Early Education, 1,
5-10.
Digital technology is so much part of our lives that we barely notice it is there. It is a technological world in which children are often more comfortable than their parents and teachers. Yes I agree with you,phones are part of our lives. I find it the easiest way of communication especially in times of emergency. Your reflection reminded me of one of the incidents just recently happen in New Zealand. A 3year old son saved his mum’s life by calling an ambulance through the mobile phone when he noticed that his mum has collapsed and there was no one at home. When asked how he did it, He told the news that he has been taught about the emergency numbers and use of technology in his day care. According to Ministry of Education (2005) “Children having plentiful opportunities to generate, remix, critique, and communicate ideas with a purpose in mind. This knowledge-building skill develops when children are supported by educators who value this approach as part of their pedagogy”. Technology will continue to develop, changing the nature of our world.
ReplyDeleteMinistry of Education (2005). Foundations for Discovery: Supporting learning in early childhood education through information and communication technologies: A framework for development. Wellington: Ministry of Education.
Hi Shamiza, I liked the way you initiated to take your touch phone to the centre. This was a great opportunity for the children to learn touch technique to operate the phone and go about playing games. Children were lucky to even see this phone in the centre and gain knowledge about this technology because I never got any opportunity to even see one in my school and the kindergarten that I went to. So I think that these children are twice as fast as me to move their finger and communicate the numbers on the keypad. The Ministry of Education (2007) even elaborates on this further that the “graphics and others forms of visual representation offer important tools for exploration and communication” (Ministry of Education, 2007, p. 32). The introduction of this technology brought forward communication opportunities for the children to be engaged in like the two girls you mentioned were dramatising to talk to their mother on the phone. This type of technology did enhanced children’s abilities to remember what it does and thus brought their interests forward as they acted it out. So indeed it is beneficial for the children to have this opportunity to experience this new phone that you brought in the centre.
ReplyDeleteMinistry of Education. (2007). The New Zealand curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media Limited
Hi Shamiza. Shamiza, call me old-fashioned but I have never used a smart phone. I don’t even know what functionalities they got. It is nice to know what is a trend in technology from a younger generation. Probably we have at least a 15 year age gap, don’t we? LOL! See, these kind of new technology words are for me as a migrant to technology knowledge that I learnt from younger generations. I think that technology in that sense is especially related to AKO pedagogy (Tamati, 2005). Teachers and students can learn and teach each other, just as I would learn from my children or the younger generation about new technology. I also like Priya’s point that a three year old boy saved his mum by calling an ambulance on his own by using the phone. In that sense, your activity really relates to social studies for children. I believe that how to use phone and to get familiar with new technology from the early years creates an easier life for the new generation and provides more opportunities. As Bhavna commented, young children from birth to five years of age are already surrounded with media-rich digital environments.
ReplyDeleteReference
Tamati, A. (2005). ‘Mā tōu rourou, Mā tōku rourou’: the concept of AKO: co-construction of knowledge from a Kaupapa Māori perspective. Early Education, 37, 23–32.