Really seeing what there is to see. (More than ICT.)

During the early classes of this course I was interested in and a little uneasy about the general assumption that technology in early childhood education means the use of cameras and computers. While I concede that these are certainly the most obvious examples and can be of great benefit in children’s learning I had a feeling and hope that technology should be something more. As the classes unfolded I learned about other types of technology that are involved in our everyday lives. Once I realised my own working definition of technology involved tools and process which make our tasks easier I began to recognise technology everywhere in the centre. It was at the writing table with scissors, pens, the art area with paint, brushes, an easel and bulldog clips to hold the paper. In the play dough area with shape cutters, cutlery and even the play dough itself. In the outdoor environment in our garden, bikes, sandpit tools and other equipment. It’s everywhere.

The use of these tools has been particularly evident in the children’s own creative play and exploration.

One day last week I was working with some children on the deck when I noticed another group of children wanted to paint their wood work creations. This posed a bit of a challenge as the paint brushes were mysteriously missing from the pottles at the time.

So these children were quite resourceful and decided to try using alternative tools to spread the paint onto the timber. Some found ice cream sticks from the collage area and others returned with plastic knives from the nearly play dough area. They tried their new tools out and swapped or changed things as they needed to achieve their desired result in decorating their timber creations.

I found this experience was quite heartening for me as it was nice to have my initial suspicions confirmed and extended on the greatest experts in early childhood; the children themselves. Perhaps part of why I found myself looking for something more than the surface value of ICT types of technology is due to my own frustration that I don’t really understand how ICT works. I know that it does work and I use if regularly but truly understanding how it works seem out of reach to me. Somehow this shallow understanding does not seem enough, not if we are to empower children are to generate, research and modify their own working theories and a variety of strategies for exploring and making sense of their world (Ministry Of Education, 1996).

ICT may be the area of technology that has the most novelty value due to its new and cutting edge developments, but I don’t believe that necessarily means that it is the most valuable resource we have at our disposal to enhance and support children’s learning & development. As Smorti (1999) explains the simplest definition of technology is about solving problems and helping people. Both of which are important dispositions to encourage and enhance in children.

I believe that there are many simple technologies that are of great value in teaching children about technology and that in fact teaching these simple technologies first will lay the foundations for children’s understanding of the more complex types of technology that  permeate our everyday lives. I have realised that it’s about getting back to basics, acknowledging our technological pioneers that developed or invent simple tools such as the telephone, grater, toaster pulley systems that make our everyday lives easier or better. It would be great to learn about the motivation behind and benefits of these inventions.

I would hope to support children in developing a thorough understanding of these simple tools through a variety of fun and meaningful experiences such as those I have seen used in a primary learning and teaching environment. Through repeated experiences with simple tools children can begin to build upon their theories, to complicate their thinking and this would empower them to devise their own tools and inventions.

At times it may be fun to omit one of the basic ingredients, equipment or tools in a task of activity to see how the children improvise and develop their resourcefulness and creative thinking further. By using open ended questions as prompts to trigger their imagination and creativity maybe we can continue to invent new tools and processes.

References:

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki: He whāriki mātauranga mo nga mokopuna o Aotearoa .Wellington: Learning Media.

Smorti, S. (1999) Technology in Early Childhood. Early Education, No.19 Autumn 1999.