Final Reflective Blog

This blogging experience has provided me with a deep insight of the uses and forms of various technology used daily within our Centre’s. I had keen interest in reading my group member’s blogs as they enhanced my knowledge on how technology can be found in the simplest of things and how they have rapidly become and essential part of our everyday lives whether it is at home or the Centre. Our children are exposed to technologies very frequently in their homes and in the Centre’s and they enjoy and find ways of using it to create meaningful and valued learning experiences. Through the blogs, I have found that Technology helps foster children’s learning and development in various ways. It was very fascinating to read my group member’s blogs on tools such as whisk’s and peelers can be considered as technology and how it reduces human effort to make our work simpler than before. According to The New Zealand Curriculum (2007), “through the technological Knowledge strand, children develop knowledge particular to technological enterprises and environments and understandings of how and why things work”.

I greatly acknowledge how my group member took their precious time to comment on my blogs and to put out their views on technology and its usage. One comment in particular captivated my thought, which was how ‘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’.

This taught me the importance of incorporating Technology in our curriculum as a teacher as apart from enhancing the children’s learning, it can be helpful for the people around them. According to Te Whariki, “growing experience in solving problems together develops children’s understanding of how technologies can help them and others”. (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 96) it was also very thought provoking knowing that technology can mean different things to different people. Where some teachers find technology very useful and incorporate it in their daily practice, there are some teachers who limit the use of these technologies. There are different mindsets linked to technology and I agree that there are many advantages and at the same time, many disadvantages associated with the use of technology. I believe that teacher’s should use technology in ways that fosters and enhance children’s learning and development and ensure a proper balance between the use of technology and other activities that are also a very significant part of their learning and growth, for example, physical activities. While reading one of the blogs, I found one statement very evident and inspiring that “no matter what we think of technology, it is here to stay”, therefore, we should learn to acknowledge and accept these changes as we go.

References:

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. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.