Final Reflection

I am absolutely a non-technological person. I have never tried the latest technology such as iPhone and iPad yet but I realised that I use many digital technologies in everyday life. For instance, I use my laptop and my mobile phone everyday. The microwave and the fridge are necessary for my life. I use lifts and vehicles. I guess I could live without these digital technologies just for a few days for camping but even then I have to use a torch and a portable stove.

For young children, I believed using computers and too much watching TV can be a bad influence on children and these are not necessary for them. I noticed that the New Zealand government encourages young children to get involved with such digital technologies. When I visited the primary school for my transition assignment, the school encouraged the children to be technological people, and we now are studying technology in ECE. I had no idea why. I had experience building wikis and blogs as part of our assignments but I did not realise why I needed to study these things. However, through this group project I have learnt how valuable for young children to adapt technologies in early childhood settings. Things have been changing in our lives. When I was young, a mobile phone did not exist. Computers might exist but only for specialists. Nevertheless, young children are now living in the technological world thus they need to know about technology and take advantage of it. Te Whāriki clearly states in exploration goal 3 that “children develop the ability to represent their discoveries, using creative and expressive media and the technology associated with them” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p.88).

Teachers in early childhood services can use technology as teaching tools in many ways. The common devices are a computer, a CD player, a digital camera, and the internet. I easily identified there were technologies; however, the concept of the non digital technology world was very new to me. I did not realise that a pen is a technology until I read the article “Technology in Early Childhood”. Smorti states that “technology is about helping people and solving problems” (Smorti, 1999, p.5). Thus technologies are actually everywhere in early childhood settings, for example, gardening, climbing, painting, and so on. I identified an hourglass was technology and talked about it in my reflection. An hourglass can be used as a measuring and problem solving tool. The comment on my reflection from Judy, she suggests me to search for sundial. Varsha also suggests me to explore and link between science and technology with children how they are different yet closely related.

I had a great experience with building a blog in the group, because we see our peers’ reflections and scaffold our learning about technology with each other. I was able to get some new ideas from my group members. I have become more aware of the technological world surrounding young children in the centre.  

I still believe that teachers do not need to encourage digital technology education for under 2s unless they are interested in it. I had an experience of working with a girl aged just 12 months, she was keen on digital technologies such as the iPod, the iPhone, and the digital camera which people had around her. She insisted on playing with them. In this case, adults should give her the opportunity to provide a more stimulative learning environment about technology. For pre-schoolers in early childhood services, I now believe that they need to gain basic technology knowledge and to be familiar with it for school readiness. Adults have responsibility to control children to be not addicted and teach them about cybersafety. On the other hand, I also believe that young children should spend time outside in nature. Balance is the key to success for their healthy development both physically and mentally.     

Reference list

 Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki: He whāriki matauranga mo nga mokopuna o

            Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media

            Limited.

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

ASSESSMENT ONE MARKING SHEET

Group blog – project 50%              8^th April

STUDENT ID NO.: _11019220_______ NAME:  __Miyuki Takayama_______________

Criteria	“A” pass  (42-50 marks)	“B” pass  (35-41 marks)	“C” pass (25-35 marks)	Fail (0-24 marks)
Three reflective blogs post on personal blog (21 marks)	Comprehensive evaluation of the significance of technology on children’s learning and development supported by an extensive range of relevant readings	Sound evaluation of the significance of technology on children’s learning and development supported by a range of relevant readings.	Adequate evaluation of the significance of technology on children’s learning and development supported by some relevant readings.	Poor evaluation of the significance of technology on children’s learning and development with few or no relevant references.
Comments:
Photos and/or video clips (2 marks)	Relevant photos and / or video clips are clearly linked to the posts	Relevant photos and / or video clips are linked to the posts	Some photos and / or video clips are linked to the posts	No photos and / or video clips linked to the posts
Comments:
Contribution to other students’ blogs and the course blog (12 marks)	Excellent comments and critical feedback  on other group members (4) blogs	Good feedback and comments on other group members (4) blogs	Adequate feedback and/or comments on  other group member’s (4)  blogs	No or limited feedback and/or comments on other group members (4) blogs
Comments:
Final reflective blog post (7 marks)	Excellent reflection on the learning from feedback and overall evaluation	Good reflection on the learning from feedback and overall evaluation	Adequate reflection on the learning from feedback and overall evaluation	Poor reflection on the learning from feedback and overall evaluation
Comments:
Referencing (8 marks)	Accurately follows APA (6th ed.) guidelines, including a reference list that shows extensive range of appropriate reading. No or few grammar and spelling errors	Follows APA (6th ed.) guidelines with few minor errors, including a reference list that provides a range of appropriate references. Minor grammar and spelling errors	Follows APA (6th ed.) guidelines with several errors, including a reference list that provides some appropriate references. Several minor grammar and spelling errors	Does not follow APA (6th ed.) guidelines or provide a reference list or appropriate references. Serious grammar and spelling errors
Comments:

Marks:           /50

Lecturer’s comments:                                                                                                     Date:

Comments Link

Judy
http://judymathewvaniapurakal.blogspot.co.nz/2013/03/hurryhurry-drive-fire-truck-m-isalways.html
http://judymathewvaniapurakal.blogspot.co.nz/2013/03/food-technology.html
http://judymathewvaniapurakal.blogspot.co.nz/2013/03/astronaut-forthe-past-few-weeks.html

Varsha
http://rainyvarsha.blogspot.co.nz/2013/03/reflection-one.html
http://rainyvarsha.blogspot.co.nz/2013/03/reflection-two.html
http://rainyvarsha.blogspot.co.nz/2013/03/experimentingtoddler-21-st-march-2013.html

Grace
http://gracetapaleao.blogspot.co.nz/2013/03/our-love-for-books.html
http://gracetapaleao.blogspot.co.nz/2013/03/reflection-two-digital-camera.html
http://gracetapaleao.blogspot.co.nz/2013/03/reflection-three-computers-in-early.html

Fatima
http://fatimal0pez.blogspot.co.nz/2013/03/baking-cookies.html
http://fatimal0pez.blogspot.co.nz/2013/03/reflection-two.html
http://fatimal0pez.blogspot.co.nz/2013/03/reflection-3.html

Reflection 3: An hourglass

When I was in the preschooler’s room, I noticed that 2 boys aged 3 and 4 brought hourglasses and shapes to the table and were looking at them. The hourglasses looked beautiful as there were all different colours, shapes, and materials inside the hourglasses. I came to the boys and asked them, pointing to one of the hourglasses, if they know what it was and what it was for. The 3 year old boy said it was an object and the 4 year old boy said that it was a timer. I think both of the boys’ views were quite right. I asked them how many minutes to go until all the sand goes to the bottom when you turn it over. They did not know about that so we decided to measure the time with a wall clock. We did this experiment with the smallest one. We looked at the second hand in the clock on the wall, and turned the hourglass over. The boys were so excited to see how long it went. We counted together following the second hand in the clock. We discovered it was a just minute to go.        

I was wondering when actually a human being invented an hourglass. I went to Google it. I found out that it is unclear but it already existed in 14^th century because I found a depiction of one. Measuring times are essential for our everyday lives. An hourglass is a measuring tool. A sand glass can be used as a kitchen egg timer. It helps us to measure an accurate time for cooking an egg or whatever, otherwise we might miss it and it can be overcooked. Technology is about “helping people and solving problems” (Smorti, 1999, p.5). An hourglass is thus technology.

Another example of this is a way of turn taking for young children. In my teaching practicum last year, a teacher encouraged the children to use a sand timer for turn taking when they were using an iPad. It is because the teacher had just bought the iPad for children for their learning so the children were extremely excited to play with it and conflict occurred all the time. The behaviour of the children had become much better since using a sand glass.

Links with essential skills for contribution in Te Whāriki states that “growing experience in solving problems together develops children’s understanding of how technologies can help them and others” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p.96). In this experience some of the children actually became keen on looking at the dropping sand. They also learned a mathematical concept from the sand timer. It is linked to the outcome for communication which is “children develop experience with some of the technology and resources for mathematics, reading, and writing” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p.78). 

In the modern world, we now have a stopwatch or a digital egg timer to measure time. They are quite useful; however, I strongly recommend using an hourglass for young children to develop their mathematical skill and problem solving skill. Children can easily recognise the time concept by seeing dropping materials. Nowadays we use hourglasses as ornaments because they are beautiful. Therefore I believe that it can foster children's sense of aesthetics as well.
    

Reference list 

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

Limited.

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