DVD

Our centre organized a BBQ for families to attend to celebrate father’s day. A week before the event the children were told that anyone who wanted to could sing a song or perform a dance that they could do individually, with a friend, or as a group. The majority of children were keen to have a go and practiced their songs and actions at the centre. A small group with an adult help constructed a low stage. The video camera was set up to film the performances and microphone was also set up for the singers. On the day of the BBQ one of the staff members operated the CD player, and two of the children with a teacher were responsible to operate the video camera. Three of the parents performed their cultural songs accompanied by their guitar. In this activity children engaged in using different ICT tools and understood how they worked and how to take care of them. They strengthened their friendships by sharing their information or helping their peers with no or little knowledge of using the tools or performing their tasks, children are engaged in more conversation during this activity which resulted in gaining more confident in language, and also experienced different cultures to their culture. Later that day children and staff played back the video on the TV monitor. Children were excited to see themselves on TV and a lot of dialog was going among the children. Two days later, the video was shown on parents evening as an example of the work of their children. It was extremely popular and copies were requested.

ICT potentially enhances communication between ECE services and the wider community. Educators and children can use ICT resources such as audio or video recorders, to record children experiences when visiting people and places in their communities. These can then be reviewed by the educators and use as a resource for further learning (Ministry of Education, 2004).

Creating opportunities where parents can sit down with children and share the children’s music and songs and enjoyments which has been captured on both a DVD and a CD in an unhurried environment with the aim to enable parents and whānau to share with the centre the joy, the information about their child’s learning or needs (Arthur…). Recording projects, events, and trips on the video has been a way to share with families the learning taken place. This is an important tool for staff in reflecting on both their practices but also of the children (MacNaughton, & Williams, (2004, p. 392).

ICT can also be used as a way of bringing children’s home culture and experiences in to the early childhood education centre, where parents are able to borrow the centre’s video camera to film children’s experiences at home. These could then be viewed and discussed between parents and early childhood educators, as a way of supporting parent’s involvement in their children’s learning (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 42).

Vygotsky believes that children’s progress through play and first-hand experience can be scaffolded and instructing in ways that will extend and challenge children’s thinking (Docket & Fleer, 1999, cited in Arthur, Beecher, Death, Dockett, & Farmer, 2008, p. 101). Vygotskey’s concept of zone of proximal development (ZPD) which represented the gap between what children can do with and without assistance from more knowledgeable individuals was another attempt to signal the importance of language and social interaction in cognitive development (Arthu…p. 102). Working collaboratively and co-operatively in a sociocultural environment constitute an important learning mechanism.     

In the context of ICT for example this could include:

       ·         One child teaching another child how a piece of technology works.

·         Coping with things going wrong, looking for possible solutions.

·         Acquiring new skills.

·         Joining in and enjoying working with others.

As play constitutes a central pillar of learning in the early years it seems that a play-based approach to ICT will be an important feature of efforts to improve young children’s skills and confidence in this area (Fleer & Jane, 2004, cited in Talay-Ongan & A. AP, 2004, p. 226). 

References:

Arthur, L., Beecher, B., Death, E., Dockett, S., & Farmer, S. (2008). Programming &  Planing in early childhood settings (4^th ed.). Melbourne, Australia: Thompson.   

MacNaughton, G., & Williams, G. (2004). Techniques for teaching young children: Choices in theory     and practice (2^nd ed.). Melbourne, Australia: Addison Wesley Longman.

Ministry of Education (1996). Te Whāriki, He Whāriki Mātauranga mo ngā Mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.

Ministry of Education, (2004), Kei tua o te pae assessment for learning: Early Childhood exemplars.

Talay-Ongan, A., & Ap, E. A. (Eds.). (2005). Child development and teaching young children. Southbank, Victoria, Australia: Thompson Social Science Press.