Information and Communication Technology

We are living in the information and communication age, our children are growing up in a world of rapidly developing technology.  Information and communication technology (ICT) is for all kinds of technologies which enable users to create, access and manipulate information.  ICT uses scientific knowledge to work out ways to spread information widely and quickly (Fleer & Jane, 2011).  This has involved the creation of the internet and email and file-sharing technologies.  ICT has become a very important part in our daily lives, culture and society.  Today, mobile phones, computers, notebooks are everywhere, and everyone is so familiar with the use of emails and internet.  ICT has become like our daily meals which we can’t live without.

Therefore, ICT is an important aspect of children’s learning and development in the Te Whaariki curriculum (Smorti, 1999).  “The Te Whaariki perspective is that children will participate in the symbol systems and technologies of ICT for personal, social, and cultural purposes: for becoming confident and competent in culturally valued enterprises, expressing emotion, making connections across place and time, contributing their own abilities and viewpoints to the community, communicating with others (including appreciating the ways in which the available cultures communicate and represent), and making sense of their worlds” (Ministry of Education, 2004, p4).

Today, T in my centre was into taking photos.  He grabbed a play camera from the basket, pulled out the flash light and started to take photos of another boy.  While clicking the button on the camera, he said to the boy, “Say cheese!”  Of course the camera did not show up his picture because it was broken.  I said to him as I handed him my camera, “Here T, you can use my camera.”  He was so happy; I can see that his face was all lighting up with excitement.  He took my camera and could not wait to start.  Firstly, he did not know how to position the camera to make it focused; he even put his finger on the lens.  After some verbal direction and his own experiences with the camera, he finally got some nice shots of his friend, me, mum and the white board.  He had some great experiences with the camera and learnt some valuable skills today. 

The picture with his finger in the way



A picture of the white board




A picture of his friend's chin



Obviously, T has not had much experience taking photos with a ‘real’ camera before or maybe never (Adults normally do not trust children with their camera, because they are easy to break and most of them are very expensive).  But he obviously imitated some of the knowledge and skills by observing the adults taking photos.  Children take an interest and learn new knowledge and skills by imitating things happening around them (McNaughton & Williams, 2009).  I could not believe how confident he was, and how fast he learnt to use it and mastered the skills.  I strongly believe children are marvellous fast learners if we provide them the opportunities, time, and space to observe and explore with the technology tools and equipment and the environment around them.

In our centre, we do facilitate our children’s curiosity and interests by lending them our own camera, but not often.  I believe we should have a camera for the children’s use only at kindy, so that they can take turns on exploring the environment and people around them and make cool stories of their discovery.  That would be awesome.

We as teachers can further his learning and deepen his experiences of ICT by downloading the photos he took onto the computer, print them out or make them into slide show for all the other children to see. We can even type a few words and email them to parents (McNaughton & Williams, 2009).  In that way, he will become more familiar with the ICT, how it works and what we can do with them.  Hence, it helps him to develop a sense of wonder of this technological (magical) world.  Children learn best by being actively involved (McNaughton & Williams, 2009). 

It is a pity that we have limited access to our computers now, because we are short of teachers to supervise the computer room (We can only access for rainy days).  Also, we hardly use any of the other functions of the computers other than games.  As we all know the combine of technology equipment is a precious valuable learning experience for children.  It will greatly increase children’s interest in their learning and development of ICT.  Hence they can build a firm foundation for their future learning and development in these areas. 

In the future, technology may become even more part of our lives, with the development of robots and artificial intelligence for use in business, in the home and in science.  Therefore, we as educators need to start develop our ICT skills and knowledge, so that we can plan and implement more meaningful learning activities and experiences for our children.  Even though some of us are not technology fans, like me, we can start by learning alongside our children.   We do not need to be experts, but as educators we do need to have a positive attitude towards it (Tsantis, Bewick, & Thouvenelle, 2003). 

         References

Fleer, M., & Jane, B. (2011). Design and technology for children. Frenchs Forest, NSW, Australia: Pearson Prentice Hall.

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 .Wellington: Learning Media.

Ministry of Education. (2004). Kei tua o te pae assessment for learning:
     Early childhood exemplars. Wellington: Learning Media.

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

      1999.

Tsantis, L. A., Bewick, C. J., & Thouvenelle, S. (2003).  Examining some common

      about computer use in the early years. Young Children. Vol 58 (1), pp. 1-9.