It was interesting to
have most of the members agreeing to my views about the significance of
technology like in my first blog, upon reflecting on the importance of
Television students agreed that the use of Television in the centre is
important. Some good examples were posted to me that by the use of Television
children can view the things they can’t see in real life in the centre like the
wild animals, watching geographic, history and educational channels. In this
way we all agreed that Television promotes children cognitive skills by
watching the animals on screen and thinking about it and developing their
social skills, watching with other children and communicating about it. Also
the benefit of Television that it can be helpful to children when used in rainy
days (Smorti, 1999). In these ways we agreed to the benefits of technology but then
again I had some feedbacks on screen time in the centre, that when engaged in
watching Television for a long time children can have disadvantages, as they
are not moving, or exercising their bodies like they would do outdoors,
jumping, running, walking and so on. Therefore I do agree to the solution for
this to have a balance approach of the use of technology for the children’s
holistic development (The Ministry of Education, 1996).
In my second blog I also had students strongly agreeing
with the benefits of the CD player in the centre where children get this
opportunity to listen to variety of music in the centre. Which helped them to
work in groups and continue their singing and dancing experiences with other
children. It was interesting to see that students were also concerned about the
children’s safety when turning the CD player on and advised me that there are
certain factors in the technology which can harmful. So I do and will always
check or set up the environment that can promote their physical and emotional
safety before having a music session with children (The Ministry of Education,
1996). It is interesting to hear this useful advice about the negative effect
of CD player on children, if inappropriate language is used in the songs and
played loudly. So with regards to this I always check the songs or the CD that
I m going to use in the centre and listen to the songs that first before
sharing it with the children. Then again I have learnt about all these factors
that can affect children’s learning and have gained specific knowledge about
how to trigger it by checking the CD’s first and examining the area for safety
always (The Ministry of Education, 1996) to enable children to continue their
learning and development through the use of CD player.
In my last blog, I received some interesting comments where the
students agreed with me about the benefits of scissors. As we all agreed that
it helps children develop their fine motor skills, hand and eye coordination as
they practice moving their finger to cut the paper. It was good to know that
the strategy of modelling was a good technique emphasised by students as well.
As this would prevent the chances of children getting hurt because of having a
teacher beside the child. These again reiterate the safety concern that the use
of this technology might end up with. Therefore close supervision or is
essential when children are using scissors but facilitating is a good strategy
to enable their learning to continue (Gonzalez Mena, 2009). Thus during the use
of technology educator must ensure to keep the children safe from harm (The
Ministry of Education, 1996).
Through these comments I have learnt that technology is
essential for the learning and development in children’s lives. But has both
advantages and disadvantages so we as educators must bear this in mind and wise to use a have a balance approach in the use of technology. However, at the end of the day technology is here to stay so must give this opportunity
for the children to experience, learn and engage with these new technologies. As The Ministry of Education (1996) also suggest that “Children develop familiarity
with the character of the materials and technology” (p. 80).
Gonzalez-Mena,
J., & Eyer, D. W. (2009). Infants,
toddlers, and caregivers: A curriculum of respectful, responsive care and
education (8th ed.). Boston, MA: McGrawHill Higher Education.
Ministry
of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki: He Whāriki Mātauranga mō ngā Mokopuna o
Aotearoa. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media Limited.
Smorti,
S. (1999) Technology in early childhood. Early
Education, 1, 5-10
