The iPad
Apple recently designed
a slim and more appealing computer to suit the needs of a range of people. Its has a slim
appearance and is easy to use. The iPad is able
to download a variety of ‘apps’ which can cater for many purposes. It is noted
that the iPad holds more than 20,000 educational apps for a wide range of
learners and has the ability to be a primary teaching too.
Within my centre we have
recently introduced two iPads to our learning tools within our ECE setting covered with fisher and price hard covers exactly like the one pictured here. Our
centre is licensed for 2 -5 year olds which allows me the opportunity to
introduce it at different levels. Over
the last two weeks I have been observing the children’s first experiences with
the iPad. We have downloaded 5 applications from the 20,000 that is available which
will assist in the child’s holistic development. Throughout their first
experiences I have only used one app which is called alligator. I have written
down and photo documented every child’s strengths and areas in which they find
challenging in order to see how fast the children are able to grasp the aim of the
app. I have recognised that within this new generation many of the children are
aware of the touch screen due to their families and whānau already having introduced
them to the iPhone or iPads. I have noticed that the children have all
responded well and feel as if it is a game when they are actually tracing
letters and numbers. As I often sit with children for 15 -30 minute games within
that time they gain a better understanding of the rules in which they are
finding challenging such as to stay in the shaded area around the letters, to
follow the objects around the letter, to use only one finger, to not press to
hard or it won’t work, what object to start on and turn taking. 
I feel that these iPads
have been an attribute to technology within our ECE setting and that the pros
outweigh the cons for the children’s holistic development. The children have
become aware of the wider world with the introduction of this technology and it
has helped make connections from the home as for some children it is commonly
seen within their home setting. For
some children it is a completely new concept but seem to be confident in
learning about it. I have watched some of the children whom have no past
experience with this kind of technology advance to confidently completing the
writing of letters and numbers. This app does not allow the children to ‘loose’
or fail it instead encourages them to problem solve and to concentrate. When
the child completes the letter or number the great sense of achievement and
pride is priceless. Every time we use the iPad it is always done within a group
of at least 3 this is too encourage the social skills of turn taking, patience
and team encouragement. Children should have “an understanding of material
properties, uses, and development is essential to understanding to how and why
products work the way they do” (Ministry of Education, 2007 p.32). With the
variety of strengths within the groups it makes me so proud to see the positive
social interactions being made such as children giving other children verbal
encouragement and praise and reminding their friends to do such things as not
leaning on the iPad.Reference list
Ministry
of Education. (2007). The New Zealand
curriculum. Wellington, New
Zealand: Learning Media.
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ReplyDeleteKia ora Sam,
ReplyDeleteWow you are so lucky that your centre has provided an Ipad, for both the staff and the children, to enjoy. I have personally not used an Ipad yet, so it is interesting to learn how educational and fun the Ipad can be, and the amount of applications that you are able to download! It is amazing how fast technology had advanced, and how quickly children are able to adapt and pick up the necessary skills to operate it.
I think it is great that you are using the ipad with a group of three children at time, as they have to work together as a team, helping to develop their social skills. One thing that I thought was lovely, was that not only are the apps designed to encourage children to problem solve, but the children are also encouraging and praising each other throughout the process, building positive relationships. It would be interesting to observe how well the children are able to teach their peers how to use their favourite apps.
Great work !
Kia ora Sam, First of all I would like to say how lucky your children are to get the opportunity to use these ipads. They are such a great learning tool for children. I didn’t realise just how many applications there are and I’m sure a big majority of them cater to children and this is something I’m interested in finding out after reading through your blog. It great to see the children developing those operational skills needed to operate the ipad itself then furthering their developing using these skills to use the different games. It’s awesome to see you actually give the children the opportunity themselves to work out how these games worked as this will help their problem solving and confidence skills. It is obvious throughput your blog that children are able to use these ipads to make connections between their home and centre life as Ministry of Education, (1996) discusses the importance of this. I feel that your centre could download apps that would support children’s particular interests to further their learning and development.
ReplyDeleteHi Sam
ReplyDeleteThis is a very cool blog as I love reading about how centres allow new technology in and for the children to experience this, a lot of centres don’t have this kind of technology I feel it is because teachers are worried about how the children will look after it. A good pointer we learnt last week from our guest speaker from Botany downs kindergarten is that you don’t always have to make a game or an app on there for the children to be learn or developing skills that on an ipad there is apps that come pre downloaded and that if you just allow children to pick up the ipad and explore it without the teacher already getting them into a game you will also be able to see how much knowledge they have.
Sam another tip to remember is that sometimes it is important for a child to fail as this is a great learning experience for them and they are able to build knowledge on not doing the same thing again if they don’t want to fail. We as teachers need to be able to explain to a child when they do fail that it is ok that we need to learn from this and then try again, this can be a good way to teach children it is ok to be wrong.
Kia Ora Sam, WOW its just so awesome that you have ipads in your centre! Its such a shock to me as we have only just introduced using digital cameras with the children and it was such a struggle to convince the manager for them… I wonder what she would say if we asked for ipads?!?
ReplyDeleteYour centre is really lucky and obviously holds value to new technology which in this world is great. I like the way you have encouraged this resource within the centre and have taken note of the children’s strengths and weaknesses to see how much their knowledge and skills grows over time. As I haven’t used ipad’s with children it would be really interesting for me to see them turn taking and interacting with each other in groups. I think the teachers at my centre would have a hard time trusting the children with such an expensive piece of equipment.