Laptops

The interests of the children in our centre range and their interests change every day. The children often have a lot of discussions about what their interests are and ways of finding out answers to questions they may have. Our centre believes in child-initiated approaches so I constantly support children by asking questions to direct and extend their thinking on their current interests (McNaughton & Williams, 2009). I often encourage the children to think of what we can use to find the information we need. The children often come to the conclusion that a laptop is the best way to get the information we need (Ministry of Education, 1996). The children learn to recall on previous experiences when they have found information on the laptop at home or in the centre (Gonzalez-Mena, 2008). Through discussions the children learn about how to use the laptop, mouse and the keyboard and why we need to look after it so it doesn’t get broken. Through these experiences with laptops children develop operational skills and develop the ability to follow instructions. We discuss with children how to be safe on the internet and how a laptop is similar to a computer (Smorti, 1999). The learning experiences children have with using the laptops encourage a lot of discussions and children feel empowered and develop confidence in expressing their feelings and ideas “The curriculum enables all children to develop an enhanced sense of self-worth, identity, confidence and enjoyment” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p.40).

Children learn to work their way around the laptop to find out what they want to know. The children are able to develop and extend on their researching skills by doing so children develop self confidence in knowing that if they want to find out and answer to a question they are quite capable in doing so (Ministry of Education, 1996). From having the opportunity to research on the laptop the children are able to nurture their inquisitiveness about what they want to know (Ministry of Education, 2004).

I feel it is important for children to have the time using laptops and developing further computer skills as these skills are becoming essential for getting by in our everyday lives as more technology is being developed for our use (Smorti, 1999). However I find that children are very knowledgeable already in using the laptop and become more and more confident every time they experiment with them. Ministry of Education (2007) states that “Our vision is for young people: who will be creative, energetic, and enterprising...........who will be confident, connected, actively involved, and lifelong learners”.

Our centre sees laptops as great learning tools to use with children as they are very mobile and we can use them in any area of the centre (Tsantis, Bewick, Thornton, 2003). I understand that most children in our centre have computers or laptops that they have access to at home (Gonzalez-Mena, 2008). Ministry of Education, (1996) discusses how The New Zealand early childhood curriculum discusses the importance of educators ensuring routines, learning experiences and environments link children with their home to their centre. By providing these valuable learning experiences for children with using laptops we are able to meet these needs of children so children learn to feel secure and comfortable in their surroundings. However we understand that there are children who don’t have a laptop or a computer at home so it is important for all children to be given the opportunity to learn and develop using these technologies Ministry of Education, 2007).

Reference List:

Arthur, L., Beecher, B., Death, E., Dockett, S., & Farmer, S. (2007). Programming and planning in early childhood settings (4^th ed.). South Melbourne, Australia: CENGAGE Learning.

Gonzalez-Mena, J. (2009). Foundations of early childhood education: Teaching children in a diverse society (4^th ed.). Boston, Ma: McGraw Hill.

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

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. (2004). Kei tua o te pae assessment for learning: Early childhood exemplars. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.

Ministry of Education. (2007). The New Zealand curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.

Smorti, S. (1999) Technology in early childhood. Early Education, 1, 5-10.

Tsantis, L., Bewick, C., & Thornton, S. (2003). Examining some common myths about computers in the early years. Young Children on the Web, November 2003, 1-9.