Final Reflection

I really enjoyed reading the comments on my blog as it made me think and reflect on children’s learning and technology that I otherwise might not have thought about. A few people in my group brought up a good point about the stereo and the music we play at preschool. We always play children songs and never have the radio on as we are not in control of what is played and it might not be appropriate.

 There is always variety we even have pop songs but is a children’s version so no inappropriate words. By playing children songs is making the experience more meaning and relevant to them (Ministry of Education, 1996).Marisa brought up a good point about the iPod in conjunction with the stereo and whether the children use the iPod. No they don’t use the iPod and I think that is because it is a new technology in the centre they are still a bit precious over it.

The comment about my balance bike blog and whether I thought it was a good to go from no pedals to pedals. I feel this is good as children already have their balance and steering so they just have to contend with learning how to pedal and I have seen this first-hand how children find it easier. This relates to scaffolding a child as a balance bike is used to support a child in riding a bike and is the first component in mastering o ride a bike. Once they have reached this skill they are then able to move on to a bike with pedals (MacNaughten & Williams, 2009). In regards to a comment about whether I thought wooden bikes were better. I don’t necessary see them as better but the use of wood is showing the children how natural products can be used in technology.

My digital camera blog was my favourite technology experience that I wrote about as I had a lot of fun seeing child E exploring and making discoveries with the digital camera which is associated with technology (Ministry of Education, 1999).  I like the idea about showing her the photos on the computer as this will bring in more technology and E could see the process of printing the photos out. The age of the children at my centre are 2-5 years and I find that the children all learn off each other and the mixture is good.

I felt that all members had lots of useful questions and information that they shared with me and I hope I did the same for them. 

I have  a new perspective on technology, I always looked at technology as being a computer, camera, stereo but I never thought about a bike, skateboard, hammer, pen, digger being technology. I now understand a bit more about technology and how technology is about helping people do things easier or solving problems (Smorti, 1999). Technology is about material things and understanding how and why products work the way they do (Ministry of Education, 2007).

 I have come away from this experience with a different outlook on technology and the benefits for children and adults. Ministry of Education (1999) states that children use a variety of technologies for different purposes as they explore their world (p.98).and look forward to sharing these with staff, children and the people around me.

Reference List

MacNaughton, G., & Williams, G. (2009). Techniques for teaching young children: Choices in theory and practice (3rd ed.). Frenchs Forrest, NSW, Australia: Pearson Prentice Hall

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te whāriki, he whāriki mātauranga mo nga mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media

Ministry of Education. (2007) Technology. Retrieved from: http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/Curriculum-documents/The-New-Zealand-Curriculum/Learning-areas/Technology.

Smorti, S. (1999) Technology in Early Childhood. Early Education, 19, 5-10.