Camera play- digital technology
Today in my centre while I was taking photos of the children building in the sandpit I noticed a couple of children seemed very interested in what I was doing. I then decided to invite these children to come and sit down with me while I talked about and showed them the photos I had taken. I then began to show and talk to the children about what a camera does and how to properly use it. I also showed them how to use the buttons on the camera. While I was showing the children all the buttons on the camera one child asked me “what’s this button called and what does it do” I then proceed to show and talk to the children about the camera as I thought that this would be a good opportunity to enhance and further develop the children’s interests within camera technology. Technology can be described as “methods and tools that a society has developed in order to facilitate the solution of its practical problems” (The Free Dictionary.com, 2012).Through this activity I believe that the children also began to further develop their verbal language skills as they started to learn how to pronounce and name the proper parts and buttons on the camera. In Te Whāriki it states that “children use a variety of technologies for different purposes as they explore their world” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 98). This is relevant because while the children were using the camera I noticed that it gave them the opportunity to develop, explore and have meaningful interactions with the surrounding centre environment.
I believe that using technology within the centre is very important for children as it helps “children develop the ability to represent their discoveries, using creative and expressive media and use technology associated with them” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 88). While doing this activity with the children I noticed that they began to gain confidence in their abilities within understanding how to properly use and where they could use the camera. In The Zealand Curriculum it states that children gain “an understanding of material properties, uses, and development is essential to understanding how and why products work the way they do” (Ministry of Education, 1993, p. 34). I also noticed that while playing with the camera the children began to enhance and further develop their hand eye coordination skills as they had to work out how they were going to hold the camera while pushing the button and looking through the screen at the object they wanted to take a picture of.
I personally feel that by encouraging and allowing the children to use the camera within the centre has given them the opportunity to gain and “develop valuable technological skills that will be beneficial for future learning” (Talay- Ongan, 2005, p. 226). From doing this activity with the children I have now gained a deeper understanding of why it is important for teachers to use as “the use of technology in early childhood settings enables teachers to easily tailor the curriculum to meet individual child needs” (Talay- Ongan, 2005, p. 227).
Overall I personally feel that it is important to introduce and include digital technology within the centre environment as it gives the children the opportunity to explore, express themselves through technology and helps with developing and further enhancing their interest within technology.
References
Ministry of Education. (1993). The New Zaland Curriculum.Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.
Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki He Whāriki Mātauranga mō ngā Mokopuna o Aotearoa Early Childhood Curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.
Talay-Ongan, A. (2005). Child Development and Teaching Young Children. Victoria, Australia: Gengage Learning.
The Free Dictionary.com. (2012). Technology Retrieved
from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/technology
from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/technology
Better parenting. (2012). See the world from your child’s eyes with digital photography. Retrieved from http://www.betterparenting.com/see-the-world-from-your-childs-eyes- with-digital-photography/
Buzzle.com. (2000). Best digital cameras for kids. Retrieved from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/best-digital-cameras-for-kids.html
ICT in the Early Years. (2008). Using digital cameras and scanners. Retrieved from http://ictearlyyears.e2bn.org/resources_65.html
My baby photos. (2008). Kids being real digital cameras to Fridays show and tell. Retrieved from http://mybabyphotos.net/kids-bring-real-digital-cameras-to-fridays-show-and- tell/
Tuscarawas County Public Library. (n.d). Children’s programming highlight: summer reading photography contest. Retrieved from http://www.tusclibrary.org/content/childrens-programming-highlight-summer- reading-photography-contest
Kia Ora Jessica.
ReplyDeleteI applaud you on your excellent analysis of all of the learning that was involved in this experience and the most important factors that the children were discovering. It is a great skill to have to be able to notice and reflect on what has been done and how you could differentiate between what the child already knew and what learning they were gaining through the experience. It was good to see you furthering your own personal understanding of technology, as you were able to link your practice to the NZ Curriculum. I wonder what else you have discovered from this experience? Perhaps you could broaden your knowledge and focus on cameras in general within your centre to further your own knowledge as a teacher. You may find it a good idea to also reflect on the technology aspect in general and see if you can discover any things that did not work for you or anything you might like to change. Good work Jessica!
Hi there Jessica, reading your reflection i can see clearly you noticed and recognised the children’s and your learning gained from using the cameras in the centre. your pictures were clear and the links to literature you used backs up your ideas and theory. Though reading the start of you reflection you have written a clear description on how the experience took place and what you did with the children, which was great don’t get me wrong but remember this is a reflection on you. So what you have learnt, maybe try and focus less on the actual experiment and let us know more about what you have learnt from the technology that is being used in your centre. As we love to hear what learning you are gaining in the centre as well as the children. I enjoyed reading your progress in this experience Jessica :)
ReplyDeleteJessica, it is good to see in your reflection that you can notice what the children are learning from this important piece of digital technology. Did you let the children have a turn with the camera to see if they knew how to use it and to further extend their knowledge on cameras? If you did, this could be a good opportunity to observe the children to see if they knew how to operate the camera. You could then extend on your own reflection of what you learnt from the observing the children. I think you could write more about what you have learnt through children using the camera; instead of what you have noticed the children learning. Although, you made some good valid points about why you think cameras are important to use in the early childhood setting. Keep it up Jessica
ReplyDeleteKia Ora Jessica,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading about your experience with the children and how much of an interest they took in the digital camera. I agree that children should have many occurrences, not only cameras but other technology for their future. Children of today have a life full of changing technology and should have opportunities to develop these skills just like you have done. I see you have demonstrated your knowledge to the children; another way to further their learning is to see what they know before showing them how to operate the camera. I would have loved to hear what you could have done with the photos such as downloading, displaying them on the wall or seeing what the child wants to do. You showed great depth in analysing what the children learnt for the duration of this activity. Ka pai Jessica, look forward to reading your next blog.
Megan