I saw the girl ‘G’ (two and a half years) was holding the toy camera and she was taking picture with her friend ‘L’. When they were finish, I asked ‘G’ and said, “Can you take a picture of me?” “It does not work!” ‘G’ replied. I understood ‘G’’s meaning was to say her camera was not real so that she could not take a picture for me.
I recognise ‘G’ has interest in using the camera. Therefore, I went to get my own digital camera to ‘G’. “Can you use my camera to take a picture for me?” I asked ‘G’. ‘G’ nodded her head. And then I showed her how to control my camera. “Here is LCD screen. You can see everything from here that you want to capture, and then you press this button……” After the simple explanation, I gave my camera to her to take a picture of me. But ‘G’’s little finger is too small. It was hard for her to press the shutter button down. At the same time, ‘G’’s other hand would always cover the lens all the time when she was holding the camera. I decided went to help her. I stayed behind her to assist her. When she wanted to capture her images, I would give her some help. After she took some pictures, I showed her what she took on my camera LCD screen. She felt very happy that she did.
I found that the other toddlers also were interested in use of my camera. Therefore, I gave turns for them to use it. Actually, toddlers watch adults use the camera at all the time. I understand that they want to try it by themselves as well. Because of Erikson ‘autonomy vs. shame and doubt’ stage analysed one to three years children developing their sense of independence, they trust that they can do it (Santrock, 2009). In fact, I also believe they have capability to do it. I think that we never give them a chance to try; they never know how the camera works.
In my point of view, the camera is not too complicated for toddlers to use. Compare with the computer, camera is easier to control. When I saw girl ‘G’’s she was appreciated what she had done and the boy ‘S’ used the camera to take his video. I understand that this experience was valuable for them. Toddlers have ‘empowerment’ to control and take responsibility of the camera. The experience helps them to develop the sense of self-worth, confidence, identity and enjoyment (Ministry of Education, 1996). Children’s social/ emotional development is one of the important elements to nurture as a ‘whole child’ (Good, 2009). Therefore, I think digital camera is one of the best technology tools for toddlers to develop their technology skills. Unfortunately, digital camera has seen as valuable things. It is not recommend as resource for toddlers to use anyway.
Digital camera becomes the most popular and convenient technological tool used in early childhood settings. In fact, toddlers should have the right to use the digital camera to document their learning experiences as well. Toddlers using the digital camera can help them have more meaningful reflections on their own work. All the children love to see their images appear in the camera, computer and documentation. By showing and asking of the digital photos to the children, children can describe what is happening in the pictures, as a result the children can revisit their learning experiences again.
Actually, children will have many opportunities to use the digital camera in their future learning. The Ministry of Education promote ‘Technology’ in ‘The New Zealand Curriculum’ since the student at year one studies. ‘Technology’ learning area is use a range of practical and intellectual resources to develop the technological outcomes (Ministry of Education, 1993). Therefore, I think that is a good opportunity for toddlers to get experience of using the digital camera so that they have foundation concept to help for their future learning.
Reference
Good, L. (2009). Teaching and learning with digital photography: Tips and tools for early childhood classrooms. California, CA: Corwin Press.
Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki, he whāriki mātauranga mo nga mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.
Ministry of Education. (1993). The New Zealand curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.
Santrock, J. W. (2009). Life-Span Development (12th edition, International). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Comments
ReplyDeleteWow, Pion this is such a wonderful entry.
What a nice blog! It was good to see you encouraging G’s interest. I was amazed how competent G was in using camera! It is really amazing how children learn quickly, sometimes more quickly than us. The Ministry of Education (1995) writes that the aim of technology education is to assist our children to become confident in its use and for them to embrace the diverse range of technological resources available in society today. I agree that children are much more capable than we think they are, and they should be given opportunities to try new things out. I agree with you that we sometimes value objects more than children’s experiences, because sometimes I feel like stopping them touching objects that are a bit expensive. I believe that children’s learning is much more important and that sometimes we need to sit down and re-value our priorities. Thank you for a very interesting article, it has made me think of my own principles too!
Ministry of Education. (1995). Technology in the New Zealand Curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media.
Hi Peon, I really enjoy reading this entry. Because this entry not only about how you view the modern technology in children’s learning, but it also makes me to re-think my own teaching practice. It was so great to see that you were aware of the children’s interests and responded the children’s needs through providing your own camera for child to experience it. I agree with your idea that digital camera is a very good tool to support and extend children’s learning. It is also a very good teaching tool as it is very handy tool for teachers to capture children’s learning moments and analyse and document children’s learning. However, we often think about the value of the resources and ignore the worth of children’s learning. Yes, digital camera is a quite expensive resource which is compared with other resources at early childhood centres. However, when we think about the benefit of children’s learning and future focus issue, it is very important and valuable for us to start letting children experience the new technology.
ReplyDeleteKa Pai Peon, with your efforts in guiding and supporting the child’s interest in using the digital camera, as well as the other children who had grown an interest in your camera! I liked how you facilitated turn-taking for the children, allowing them to get their opportunity to use the digital camera by taking turns, as well as enabling them the chance to gain hands-on experience with the tool. I found your comment interesting, about cameras being seen as valuable, although not a tool for toddlers, as I personally think that cameras are an effective tool for toddlers to see the world at a different view within their own manipulation and control over it. I feel that it is our role as educators to help children experience different ways in which they could make sense of the world, where I believe that in using a camera, this would enable them to do just that and more, such as taking photos of what they would consider of interest to themselves. On the other hand, I agree on your comment about educators showing the children the digital photos again, where this is a perfect opportunity for children to reflect and revisit their past experiences in the photos. Awesome work Peon, keep it up!
ReplyDeleteHi Ki! Thanks for sharing your ideas and experiences with us because we really enjoy them. I like this blog because it clearly showed how we often underestimate children and their learning like this toddler with the camera. We thought that they are young but this toddler proved that she is as capable as the next child. This toddler is ready to learn just about anything because she managed to use the camera right from when it was introduced to her. This piece of technology is allowing the toddler to follow instructions and to learn how to use the camera to take pictures. The toddler is responding very well to you Ki which showed how confident she is around you.
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate the fact that you responded to the toddler’s learning needs and you use different teaching strategies to enhance the learning of the child like scaffolding and asking of challenging questions to stimulate the toddlers’ thinking. I like the fact that you offered your own camera to be used by the toddler showing how much you valued the child’s learning and development because “young children need environments that provide resources, challenges, and support for their widening interests and problem-solving capacities” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 26). Therefore, the camera is an important tool for teaching, supporting and extending children’s learning and development. Thanks Ki!
References
Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki: He whārikimātaurangamo ngamokopunao Aotearoa. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.
Well done Peon on supporting the toddlers taking pictures. I know they are too young to understand the concept of the device, but you are modelling how to persevere with the unfamiliarity of technology. This is a strategy to guide young children to behave in an appropriate manner. Without doubt the young child will copy what an adult do and in this scenario, the toddler will learn quick (MacNaughton & Williams, 2009). This can also be an opportunity for the toddler to take time to solve problem through trial and error as suggested in Clark (2004). I really admired when you attuned to the toddlers needs by providing the real camera to use, your own one. You make the child feel a sense of belonging and a feeling of ownership (Ministry of Education, 1996). Technology such as camera seems to be the life essence in the early childhood setting. Teachers use camera every day for children’s learning such as taking photos of the activities they perform and display in their portfolios. This concept will assist in connecting the child to a wider world for example, uploading child’s photos and e-mail them to families. Technology is our everyday basic need.
ReplyDeleteReference List.
Clark, A. (2004) Changing classroom practice to include the Project Approach.
Early Childhood Research and Practice, 8(2). Retrieved from
http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v8n2/clark.html
MacNaughton, G., & Williams, G. (2009). Techniques for teaching young
NSW, Australia: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki: He whāriki matauranga mō ngā
mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New
Zealand: Learning Media
Camera
ReplyDeleteWell done Peon on supporting the toddlers taking pictures. I know they are too young to understand the concept of the device, but you are modelling how to persevere with the unfamiliarity of technology. This is a strategy to guide young children to behave in an appropriate manner. Without doubt the young child will copy what an adult do and in this scenario, the toddler will learn quick (MacNaughton & Williams, 2009). This can also be an opportunity for the toddler to take time to solve problem through trial and error as suggested in Clark (2004). I really admired when you attuned to the toddlers needs by providing the real camera to use, your own one. You make the child feel a sense of belonging and a feeling of ownership (Ministry of Education, 1996). Technology such as camera seems to be the life essence in the early childhood setting. Teachers use camera every day for children’s learning such as taking photos of the activities they perform and display in their portfolios. This concept will assist in connecting the child to a wider world for example, uploading child’s photos and e-mail them to families. Technology is our everyday basic need.
Reference List.
Clark, A. (2004) Changing classroom practice to include the Project Approach.
Early Childhood Research and Practice, 8(2). Retrieved from
http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v8n2/clark.html
MacNaughton, G., & Williams, G. (2009). Techniques for teaching young
NSW, Australia: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki: He whāriki matauranga mō ngā
mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New
Zealand: Learning Media