Blog post 5: Final Reflective Blog

Blogging has been a personal learning skill for me, although I had heard about blogs before. At first I panicked as I didn’t know how I would do this assignment, because I had no idea how to go about blogging. To reach to the stage I am on now, my learning journey had been filled with frustration, as I was spending a lot of time on this assignment than any other assignments. I’m very grateful for the suggestions and feedback I received from the lecture and my fellow students. In certain instances I had to make phone calls to seek help. Getting feedback on how to blog gave me an opportunity to give it a go. Although I can now publish   an article, upload photos and send comments to others without any problem, I still need to learn few more things.

Blogs have affected the course of modern history. Through this assignment, the use of blogs as a platform was a quick and effective way of creating dialogue amongst ourselves, getting feedback, answering to questions, receiving help, making significant comments and so on. For instance, my class peers gave comments and discussions on my blog board that enabled me to get few ideas on how to provocate and extend children’s learning.  I was also asked questions regarding the activities children did, and the way the use of technology in early childhood centres has been educative to both children and teachers, in terms of how technological tools were used. Scaffolding amongst children was amazing, the children who had skills in certain technological tools, offered to scaffold the ones who lacked skills.

By having children use technology in their activities, I come to acknowledge that as adults we can learn a lot from children’s creative ideas. For instance, on one of the blogs I published explains how three four year old children got ideas from a book and came up with their own different invention of a bird feeder. This was a child directed project, teachers only facilitated with the provision of required materials and technological tools. In certain cases teachers demonstrated how to use and operate technological tools children had difficulties to operate. This is in line with what the New Zealand curriculum for early childhood education, Te Whāriki ,says about empowering children to “understand their own individual ways of learning and being creative” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p.40).

By observing children use technology in their activities, I learnt that smallest things have a bit of technology in them, as simple as pressing on the keyboard, switching on a microwave, and pressing on a remote control and so on. I believe the whole experience had a great impact on children, in that they gained confidence in their abilities to decision making about technology development, took calculated risks in some project and activities they did, evaluated their own choices and developed ways of addressing real problems (Smorti,1999).

Technology can change the way children think, what they learn, and how they interact with peers and adults (Yang, 2009). For instance, environmentally children gained opportunities to explore the impact of technology by using materials and tools around the centre. Economically children learnt creative ways of generating ideas; how to cooperate in working with other children, teachers, parents/whānau in order to translate their ideas into action. Therefore technology pulled together several of the most recommended pedagogies from practical learning, scaffolding, child-centered learning, incorporation of multiple perspectives, and the use of learning communities. This practice supports Te Whāriki’s guidelines of building respectful relationships with people, places, living and non-living things (Ministry of Education, 1996).

References

Ministry of Education. (1996).Te Whāriki: He Whāriki mātauranga mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.

Smorti, S. (1999). Technology in Early Childhood. Early Education, N0. 19 Autumn.

Yang, S. H. (2009). Using blogs to enhance critical reflection and community of practice. Educational Technology and Society, 12 (2), 11- 21.

Ref

Blogs I have commented on

http://hestersmitspot.blogspot.com/2011/04/buttons-buttons-everywhere.html

http://ladybug-veronica.blogspot.com/2011/04/e-is-mowing-lawn.html

http://rainmit.blogspot.com/2011/04/self-portrait-from-mirror.html

http://libyjose.blogspot.com/2011/04/blog-1-tech-kids.html

http://laudebra.blogspot.com/2011/04/what-is-sharpener.html

Blog post 4: Treasured gifts for Easter

One Monday morning, I noticed teacher P and four year old girls, C and K doing something in the art area. On the table they had sticks, shells, different types of chocolate wrappers, very soft coloured papers, plastic flowers, dried leaves and a number of bottle tops. In addition they had paper glue, three pairs of scissors and a glue gun. I was very curious to find out what was going on, because they had very interesting items on the table.

Miriam: “I wonder what is happening here.”

C: “I am making something to give to my nana on Easter. My nana lives in Taupo”.

K: “I’m making a card for my mom”

Miriam: “Those are wonderful ideas. How are you going to make them?”

C: “I will use sticks, shells and the soft papers”

Miriam: “how are you going to attach all the materials?”

K: “we shall glue them”

C: “I will use a glue gun”

Teacher P then explained how the two girls had approached and told her that they wanted to make treasured gifts for Easter, instead of Easter eggs which most of the children were making.

I identified C and K as caring and thoughtful young children. As they made their Easter presents, the girls were excited and spoke about what they will do on Easter holiday. Teacher P did not interfere with children’s work; instead she supported their creative thoughts and encouraged their self – expression. (Isenberg & Jalongo, 2006). Great thoughts went into the making of Easter presents, and the two girls explored their ideas and materials through art.

Under the close supervision of teacher P, C glued the craft sticks with a low-temperature hot glue gun. The glue held pieces of plastic flowers, dried leaves and shells to the sticks very securely. Few beads were stuck to the sticks by thin wires.

Unlike C, K used regular paper glue to stick chocolate wrappers, soft and hard coloured papers to a big white paper, she was transforming to a card. Glitter and glue were used in the final finishing touches of the card. I asked K how her mother was to receive the card. “I will put it in the post” she responded. I suggested that she addresses the card to her mother, by putting her name, house number, name of the area and town she lives in. She smiled shyly and sat down, using a pen she addressed the card by scribbling some words on the back of the card. The point I was putting across was to educate K about the importance of addressing gifts, letters or cards to be posted very carefully, so that the right person can receive it.  A field trip to a local post office would be an added advantage, because K and other children can learn more about mailing and receiving letters at their level of understanding. Such as were the letters go when they are dropped in the slot, and how they are transported to faraway places, and then delivered by the mail carrier.

I asked the two girls some questions as I wanted to find out what they knew about Easter. The girls had some vague understanding about the meaning of Easter, they believed that it was a good time to visit family members, go to the beach, eat chocolate eggs, people go to church, and mummies and daddies don’t go for work. To broaden their knowledge about Easter, I   explained to them the meaning and background of the occasion.

Technology is a creative and purposeful activity (Smorti, 1999), that gave the two girls the technological experiences to use different types of tools such as a glue gun, scissors, wire, a pen. The girls also used their imagination in using unique materials such as chocolate wrappers, dried leaves and plastic flowers. Furthermore, one of the learning outcomes stated in Te Whãriki, says “Children develop: familiarity with the properties and character of the materials and technology used in the creative and expressive arts” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p.80).

REFERENCES

Isenberg, J. P., & Jalongo, M. R. (2006). Creative thinking and arts-based learning: Preschool through fourth grade. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.

Ministry of Education. (1996).Te Whāriki: He Whāriki mātauranga mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.

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

Blog post 3: Think and learn

Technological experience through the use of a computer has become an everyday routine programme for most of the children at my sustained practicum centre. Children have shown comfort and confidence in using the computer, they can turn it on, follow pictorial directions and use situational and visual cues to understand and reason about the activity. The computer is installed with educational soft wares that presents tasks to children, asks them for a response, and provides feedback. For example, a week ago as i got to the kindergarten i saw two  boys T and P, and a girl E, all aged four playing ‘Thinking things’ activity on the computer.

Moving a mouse in her hand E was to find a ‘Fripple’ with “small eyes and straight hair, but not purple”. When she posed at a purple fripple, P said “Not purple!” Then she moved to a green striped fripple and said “I think this one? “No it has no hair” argued P. After another search, she hovered over to a correct choice, “is it this one? Yes! I will click on it." The activity is very simple, all of the instructions and requests in the Fripple shop are spoken; some of them are accompanied by visual cues. The child with a mouse begins by clicking at a customer standing on the door. The customer asks the child to find a "fripple" with certain attributes amongst the twelve fripples. If the child clicks on a fripple without those attributes, an announcer intones says "That fripple is not exactly the one the customer wants!" If the fripple is correct, it bounces through the door, and another customer appears on the door.

Through this activity the children E, T and P  were not only learning about analysing the fripples, but also developing thinking strategies of identifying one fripple from multiple fripples. For example the children learned the difference between a fripple that had "spots and big eyes" from the one that had "spots and big eyes, but not curly hair and purple. Various researches say that computers are a valuable activity for children’s learning if they are used in a developmentally appropriate ways that are beneficial to children (Clements, 2002; Ministry of Education, 2009; Theodotou, 2010). Research has also shown that three and four year old children, who use computers with supporting activities that reinforce the major objectives of the programs, have significantly greater developmental gains  in problem solving, critical thinking, including verbal and motor skills (Haugland, 1999).

I gave enough guidance, and minimal help. However I asked probing questions and proposed problems in order to enhance and expand children’s computer experiences (Haugland, 1999)   If I had intervened too much or at the wrong time, I could have decreased peer tutoring and collaboration. One of the learning outcomes from this activity was that children would develop “an ability to take another’s point of view and to empathise with others” (Ministry of education, 1996, p.70).

Having one computer for children to explore with can be very challenging, because it is very difficult to integrate computer use when there is a high demand of children wanting to use it. On the other hand, one computer has its own advantages. Such as, children sharing ideas and strategies (Yelland, 2002). Utilising computer technology in ways that children can interact, communicate and cooperate with each other promotes positive outcomes to their learning (Donaldson, 1999, as cited in Theodotou, 2010).

References

Clements, D. H. (1999). Effective use of computers with young children. In J. V. Copley (Ed.), Mathematics in the Early Years (pp.119 - 128). Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

Haugland, S.W. (1999). What role should technology play in young children’s learning?” Young Children, 54(6), 26-31.

Ministry of Education. (1996).Te Whāriki: He Whāriki mātauranga mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.

Ministry of Education. (2009). Kei Tua o te Pae/Assessment for Learning: Early Childhood Exemplars. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media Limited.

Theodotou, E. (2010). Using computers in early years education: What are the effects on children’s development? Some suggestions concerning beneficial computer practice [International Scientific Conference] Hellenic Educational society, (pp.1-5).

Yelland, N. J. (2002). Playing with ideas and games in early mathematics. Melbourne, Australia:  Early childhood, 3 (2), 197-215.

Blog post 2: Yummy Peppermint creams

Cooking and making food is a technological activity adopted at my sustained practicum centre, due to children’s growing interest in playing cooking. To extend their interest, a cooking activity is organized each week by either teachers or parent(s).

A week ago, one of the staff teachers, six children and me made peppermint creams. There was a lot of excitement as children sat around the table, I engaged in their talk by asking questions; “How are pepper mint creams made? Interesting ideas come up. For instance, L a boy aged three and half said “when you are all done doing everything, you cook in the oven”. C a girl aged four, unsure about the difference between melting and cooling said “you put everything in the bowl, and you mix, and make small balls and put them in the refrigerator to melt”. All children were talking and contributing ideas and thoughts about their prior experiences. However some children did not have an idea how peppermint creams were made, nor did they understand the various terms used to describe peppermint creams.

Different technological tools were used to measure the ingredients which included the use of a food scale to weigh the required grams of butter; a cup was used to measure sweetened condensed milk and icing sugar. And a table spoon was used to measure peppermint essence and green food colouring. Another tool used was a wooden spoon for mixing and stirring the ingredients. Therefore the leaning outcome of using technology was met by the provision of tools and equipment, which enabled “children to recognize that different technologies may be used in various places and settings” ((Ministry of Education, 1996, p.95).

Children took turns in putting and stirring the ingredients in a big bowl. Those confident in stirring, offered to scaffold the ones who lacked the skill. After the ingredients were mixed, the children made small balls of peppermint creams, which were put on a baking tray covered with foil paper. The purpose of a foil paper was to prevent peppermint creams from sticking whilst they dried.

The second stage involved melting the chocolate chips in a microwave for few minutes. Some of the peppermint creams were dipped in the melted chocolate with the use of spoons, while the rest were left uncoated.  Before proceeding with putting the peppermint balls in the refrigerator to cool and harden the chocolate, I asked some questions because I wanted to find out what children knew about the technology behind the concepts of cooling and heating.  

Miriam: “I wonder what would happen if we put these creams in the refrigerator? 

G: “They get cold”.

“No they will be hard” argued C.

Miriam: “What if we took them outdoors”

K: “they will melt”

A: “They will get dirty and we can’t eat them,

Miriam: “why can’t we eat them?”

A: “because we can get sick” expressing sadness on his face.

E: “Outside the birds will eat them” strongly rejecting the idea of taking the cream balls outdoors. According to MacNaughton and Williams (2004), open ended questions broadens the knowledge and understanding of an experience being put across.

Furthermore, making of peppermint creams allowed a lot of informal learning to take place, such as the exploration of technological tools. And scientific facts were generated from children’s experiences (Bosse, Jacobs & Anderson, 2009).  For instance, children observed the change in matter from chocolate chips to liquid chocolate through the use of a microwave, as well as the use of a refrigerator to cool and harden the peppermint creams. Finally, children proved that they can make peppermint creams, as long as basic technological tools and equipment are available.
The interest from parents/whãnau has been immense that a receipe book for cooking is currently being made. This gives an opportunity to engage families/whãnau in their children’s learning through a shared and meaningful way (Ministry of Education, 1996). To build on this teachable moment, each child was given a receipe copy to take home. These yummy peppermint creams would make a great special Easter gifts to children’s families/whãnau and friends.  We all enjoyed eating the peppermint creams with everybody at kindergarten that day, YUMMY!

REFERENCES

Bosse, S., Jacobs, G. & Anderson, T. I. (2009). Science in the air. Young Children. 64 (6). 10-15

MacNaughton, G., & Williams, G. (2004). Techniques for teaching young children: (2^nd ed.). Frenchs Forest, NSW, Australia: Pearson Prentice Hall.

 Choices in Theory and Practice

Ministry of Education. (1996).Te Whāriki: He Whāriki mātauranga mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.

Blog post !: Invention of a bird feeder

There is a bird feeder at my sustained practicum centre, which was invented by two boys and a girl all aged four years. The bird feeder has two natural coloured seashells, three different shapes of soft wood and a cord of beads hanging from a tree branch.

The inspiration of inventing a bird feeder come about when B, noticed that the two bird feeders purchased by the centre and placed on the ground were constantly tempered by children playing near them, therefore was defeating the purpose of having them. This prompted B, with the support of two other children to make their own design, and to look for a suitable place for their invention. With full support and encouragement from the teachers the three children began their task. 

To get some ideas, the children used the design of a bird feeder from a book. After a lot of planning and consultation from teachers, books and magazines, a decision to use soft wood; seashells, finishing nails, a screw hook, and a wire covered with beads and pieces of round wood formed a cord, was finalized, by the children. The technological tools used were; a tape measure, pencil, hand jigsaws, both hand and electrical drills, and hammers.

Technology, stimulate children’s creativity (Smorti, 1999). Children’s technological experience was to design and make a bird feeder, and the technological tools were the underlying principle. The selected pieces of wood was measured with a measuring tape, and cut to required and desired sizes with the use of a hand jigsaw. Both hand and electrical drills were used to make pilot holes. The drills required more force than the four year olds could provide, therefore one of the teachers helped by using G- clamps to hold the wood firm while drilling, at the same time children were learning how to make pilot holes. The pilot holes made it easier for the screws to fit in. Some parts of wood was nailed together using a hammer. The shells were obtained from the centre’s resource room. It was easy to nail the shells to the piece of wood, because the type of shells used have natural holes. And a hook was used to connect a cord of beads to the bird feeder.

The activity was sustained by the shared interest of children supported by us teachers. Dunkin (2001) says, children’s interest are extended when teachers participate in their activities. The minimum help children received was helpful in achieving their goal of exploring the concept of making a bird feeder, through the combination of knowledge, skills and resources. For instance, children used manipulative skills associated with carpentry, therefore helped to enhance children’s hand-eye co-ordination and strengthening of their small and large muscles (Ministry of Education, 1996), in terms of fitting and placing. Both new and familiar tools were used, and children were taught names of the tools, and how to use them correctly and appropriately. Children preferred adult sized hammers and electrical drill, despite the tools being heavy children did cope well with them,

For safety reasons, the carpentry area was supervised at all time by a teacher. Te Whãriki, the early childhood curriculum, stresses the importance of providing a safe environment for all children (Ministry of Education, 1996). With new set of skills developed, through this technological success story, not only the three but more other children are now thinking of new project. This is in line with enhancing Te Whãriki’s guidelines of building respectful relationships with people, places, living and non-living things (Ministry of Education, 1996).

REFERENCES

Dunkin, D., & Hanna, P. 92001). Thinking together: Quality adult child interactions. Wellington, New Zealand: New Zealand Council for Educational Research.

Ministry of Education. (1996).Te Whāriki: He Whāriki mātauranga mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.

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

hi

i am learnimg to use blogs again!