Digital Camera
The digital camera is
strongly evident within most Early Childhood centres, sometimes as a learning
tool and often as a way of documentation. In Arthur & Beecher they state
there have been a major social, economic and technological changes in the late
twenty and early twenty-first centuries in many parts of the world, resulting
in changing experiences of childhoods.(Arthur & Beecher, 2007)The digital
camera is convenient and has the ability of storing photographs and making easy
transfers onto computers, laptops etc. Within my centre we have 2 digital
cameras between five teachers and it would be fair to say that at times we need
one camera each. Digital cameras are a
way of documentation, recording and capturing moments that can be forever
memorable. Personally I include a photo or a series of photos towards my
learning stories for the children as I feel it helps to tell the story and
capture the exact goings on.
I encouraged the
children to take photos of things outside. As we only had two cameras I had to
really encourage turn taking and limited it to 5 photos each. It was awesome as
I followed the children around observing and talking about what they were
taking photos of. Sometimes I thought the child was taking a photo of one thing
and then once I had asked I realised it was something completely different. I
talked to them about the zoom and how it can make it look a lot bigger then
what our eyes can see it. The children were quite impressed with this and began
taking super close photos of me and there mates. I encouraged the children to
hold their hand steady and made sure they held there finger down on the
‘special’ button to take the photo for two seconds. I showed the children how
to review the photo that they had just taken and each time all the children
would crowd around and admire the photo.
After this experience it
really encouraged me to give the children the opportunity to do this more
often. I was surprised with how quickly they developed the skills and I learnt
not to assume what they were taking photos of. At a later date It was great to reflect and
have such a nice discussion about that day and as Bruce (2006) states
“the use of a digital cameras can encourage children to reflect on past
experiences, observe details, share personal likes/dislikes, sequence events,
record and share a significant event” (p.22).
Holistically I don’t
think any element of technology is going to 100% fulfil nor hinder a child’s growth
and development although I do feel that cognitively, emotionally, spiritually and
physically it is beneficial for a child to be introduced to this area of
technology to broaden their experience and allow for exploration whether it be
through individual play or as a group. This
experience gave each child a huge sense of belonging and they were really proud
of their photos. The children were able to develop skills such as sharing,
patience, concentration, hand-eye co-ordination and also for some children
having a goal of getting the picture of what they were wanting. The children
learnt the dynamics of how to take a photo and review it and became quite
confident towards their second set of 5 photos.
Reference List
L.,
Beecher, B., Death, E., Dockett, S., & Farmer, S. (2007). Programming and planning in early childhood
settings (4th ed.). South Melbourne, Australia: CENGAGE
Learning.
Bruce, T. (2006). Early Childhood: A guide for students. SAGE Publications Ltd, London.
Hi Sam,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading about your experiences of using the digital camera with the children, and how you talked them through the process of operating it. I liked how the children experimented with using the zoom button, which allowed the children to analyse their photos in detail. I noticed how you said that “Sometimes I thought the child was taking a photo of one thing and then once I had asked I realised it was something completely different”, I have also done this as well, and it was interesting to see what the children had actually focused on in their photos, and being able to see their point of view.
I found a great activity that I thought you may like, which is based on your experience. Using the photos that the children took around the centre, you could upload them to the laptop, and then zoom into a small part of the picture. The children can then guess what the picture is of, and where in the centre it was taken. http://www.ehow.com/list_5996913_digital-camera-activities-kids.html
Tino pai!
Talofa Sam, I like how you say at times you feel the teachers need a camera each! I strongly agree with this. I believe having a camera around is a great tool to capture the learning of children and the more you have the more you can capture! I also find in our centre that 2 cameras are not enough: Especially when children enjoy using the cameras to capture and extend on their own learning. I like how you use photos in your learning stories as I personally feel that parents really enjoy being able to see the learning of children through visual aids. I enjoyed reading about the learning experience the children had with you using the different functions of the camera. It is great to see how children were able to sit and have discussions with you about their day. I also like how your blog describes all the learning that children had from using digital cameras in your setting. I think a way you could further children’s learning would be maybe by getting children to pick the pictures they want to put in their learning story.
ReplyDeleteHi Sam
ReplyDeleteI love your honesty right into it, I love how you said it would be nice to have one digital camera per teacher I can fully relate to this as our centre only has one camera in the toddler room to 3 teachers and it can be hard when you want to catch that special moment but somebody else has the camera and then moment lost.
Sam it is great to see you allowing your children to have a go with the camera, I have seen in a lot of centres that this does not happen and that the teachers are in full control of the camera. It is also great to read that you talked to them about using the camera and how to use it the right way so that they could learn how to use it in their own way. We need to remember that some children may find it hard to learn from a set of instructions and that it is a lot easier for children to have a go and make a mistake, this way they learn themselves.
Great blog Sam really enjoyed reading it.
Kia Ora Sam, I like the way you use photos within your learning stories. I also use this tool as it allows children to look at the pictures and recall what they were doing within each story. As most of the children aren’t able to read the story yet they are able to see the series of photos and often retell the story.
ReplyDeleteI really like the way you encourage the children to use the camera and involve the aspect of turn taking. An I idea that we sometimes use at our centre is an egg timer and the children are allowed 3 minutes each where they can take as much photos as they like but when the timer goes off they return the camera to the next person. I think by doing this, children are able to have more time to explore the camera and it also adds another piece of technology within the experience.