1st Reflective blog

I was thinking about my blog page and what to write for the significance of use of technology on children's learning and development this morning while I was looking after A. I started being aware of the resources that we were using at the centre. Looking around, I realized that all most everything in our setting was the product of the andanced technology. For example, a ballpoint pen, brick, racehorse, clothes peg, radio and books, etc.

Technology is everywhere and we are living in a world that we have created and changed through technology (Smorti, 1999).

I was just thinking by myself and when I turned around, I saw A was having a good look at the phone which was another product of technology. He pulled the phone right in front of his face so that he could have a close look. He was looking at the numbers and also tried to press them. Then he looked up at me and smiled. I dailed the numbers and at the same time I was reading them out loudly: "1, 2, 3...". He was very cheerful and tried to use his little figer to press again.

Then he felt that it could be moved around so he started pushing it backward and forward. He was giggling so much and was so pleased by his new discovery. He kept pushing it forward and then grabbbed it and was completely in his own zone. He was having so much fun and I was wondering what he was thinking about.

It was just a normal learning experience which we could see and is happening everyday in our centre. I reflected on the whole learning process and was amazed that how much A was gaining through this simple learning experience. He was feeling the texture of the phone and using his own working theories to make sense of the world. He was having a visual familarity with the numbers, which could be linked to mathmatics. He was also gaining the confidence to control this body part (fingers) and functioning them properly. He was also exploring the resource as well as the environment (Ministry of Education, 1996). In a word, he was getting so much out of this learning experience.

Te Whariki (MOE, 1996) stated that in order to participate in this world, our children will need the confidence to develop their own perspectives as well as the capacity to continue acquiring new knowledge and skills. Technology is thus an important area of the early childhood curriculum along with and it can definitely provide the opportunity for our children to continue acquiring new knowledge.

As technology plays such a vital role in children's learning and development, we educators need to raise our awareness and appreciate the importance (Smorti, 1999). When we scaffold children's learning in this area, we need to broaden our understanding of technology and continue to extend our own knowledge and skill base.

References:

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whariki: He Whariki matauranga mo nga mokopuna o Aotearoa. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.

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