Eye On Early Education

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Children of the Net Generation

Children today are technologically oriented. They are the net generation,and their growth, development, and learning are intimately tied to large doses of television,videos,electronic games,and computers in the home and shopping centers. Today, more and more students have laptop and handheld computers that easily carry back and forth between home and school. Technology is growing part of the world of young children.It has a great deal to offer, and there is much that young children can learn via technology in all domains-cognitive, social, emotional, and linguistic. Software is designed for children as young as nine months; it’s often referred as lapware because children are held in their parents’ laps to use it, and it is intended to be used by parents and children together.

You will find many software programs for the very young such as the Reader Rabbit Playtime.it is a game that allows children to explore colors, shapes ,songs, animals….Moreover, as a future teacher ,I think I should integrate technology in my program. Integrating technology into educational curriculum provides students with additional tools to enhance their learning .I think technology in the classroom can help students become capable users, information seekers, problem solvers and decision makers. But the question is how to integrate technology into your instructional activities? Here are some examples:

1-In kindergarten, students can use multimedia software to create a slide show that demonstrates their knowledge of any subject. The students may choose pictures from a gallery to match the sound that the teacher assigns and then creates a slide show either as a group or individual project. Children save the slide show as a podcast to post to the teacher’s website.

2-Second grade students can use a digital video camera to record their participation in a science class. The children can also save the video to classroom computers for later review.

3- I can make use of the interactive SMART board which is one of the most valuable teaching and learning tools in the early childhood classroom.

4-Using iPods in the classroom can help students to increase fluency with English language learners…

5-Student Response Systems , also known as Classroom Performance Systems, and clickers are an ideal way to get students actively involved in their learning!

At last, preparing students to participate in the digital world is an important educational goal. Finding ways to achieve this goal is the challenge of all educators. Children , teachers, and schools all over the country are in different stages of using technology to facilitate and support teaching and learning.