I just read Rethinking Learning in the Early Childhood Education by Nicola Yelland, Libby Lee, Maureen O'Rourke and Cathie Harrison. This book has changed the way I think about technology in the early childhood classroom.
As a Principal, I have been biased by the negative influence of technology on children's behaviour. In particular I have noticed children who exhibit very aggressive and violent behaviours at school and on the playground, often indicate (or their parents indicate) they spend excessive amounts of time playing violent video games. These children also often have difficulty differentiating between reality and game situations, which frequently leads to injury. However, this bias, based on a relatively small number of children has not allowed me to look at the capacity of technology, when used properly, to support learning for young children.
This book has allowed me to take another look at the potential of a variety of technologies and how they can be used in early childhood. The book is the result of a study completed over three years in Australian early learning settings. The term "multi literate" is used to describe a changed view of literacy which includes print, visual, spatial and gestural, aural and mixed mode. Too often in schools we focus on the literacy skills of reading and writing. We need to consider all of the other forms of literacy which occur in our daily lives.
The authors talk about the "fund of knowledge" that children bring with them from home and how we should be using these as starting points for educating children. When we use this and also carefully observe and document the child's learning preferences in school, teachers can create quality learning experiences for young children. Some examples used in the book include teaching children to use digital cameras to make stories, filming their version of a Star Wars episode and then teaching them how to add special effects, recording children's sounds and making music, and many more wonderful examples. Careful observation and collaboration between teachers can also assist as children transition from one class to the next.
This book builds on the knowledge base that we have been working on at our school. It references the work of the Reggio Emilia Schools as well as project based learning. As well, the idea of careful observation and documentation of children's learning styles and preferences fits in perfectly with our work developing student learning profiles.
If you are working with young children and wondering how technology fits in the mix, I would highly recommend this book.
