Ben Ten in the Camera

Blog Two

Date: 04.04.11

Children are surrounded by technology in their immediate environments and ICT now impacts on so many aspects of our daily lives. I feel that it is essential for our children to learn about technology and its role in the world in which they live. “The use of the digital camera as a teaching tool in early childhood education is gaining momentum” (Good, 2009, p.3).  For better or worse, technology has changed the way we support and enhance children’s learning.

Today we received a new set of toy cameras and children began their exploration journey. I noticed L and N taking photos of Ben Ten from a story book using the toy camera.

 After taking the photos I saw L trying to scroll the toy camera buttons and he looked quite confused. Look N I cannot see the photos. Yes ‘where is our Ben Ten?’ said N. When L saw me having a camera in my hand he came running to me and said “Monika we cannot see Ben Ten in this camera”. I explained to them that it is a toy camera and is not real. N then said “teacher can we use your camera please”. Sure, as I thought allowing children to actually use a digital camera themselves would be a wonderful learning experience. So I explained to them on how to operate digital camera and demonstrated how they could wear a wrist strap to keep the camera attached safely to them. I instructed that the camera is a tool, not a toy, and needs to be taken care of. As Good (2009) explains that “when teachers model the appropriate use of digital cameras to work with those digital images, young children can begin the process of gaining similar skills” ( p. 18).

 The children started taking photos of Ben Ten from a book. I could see that L and N were very confident in taking photos. I was surprised at just how steady the children could hold a camera. It was obvious that they have used cameras at home. “Digital imagery is one of the most exciting technologies applications for the early childhood classrooms” (Murphy, DePasquale, and McNamara, 2003 as cited in Good, 2009, p. 3). Once they took enough photos they came to me and said “teacher can you show us our photos please?”. When they saw their photos they became so excited, hence we see that technology has the power to enhance children’s learning. “One of the advantages of using digital imagery is its immediacy: images can be seen within seconds on the LCD screen and can be downloaded to computers and printed within minutes” (Browne, 2005/2006 as cited in Good, 2009, p. 18).  N and L then asked me if I could print those photos as they wanted to put it in their portfolio and show it to their parents.

 So we made our way to the computer, N helped me to connect the camera to the CPU and I down loaded their photo’s.  

 The children had taken many photographs and they looked through the thumbnails to decide what they would like to print. “There is an increasing awareness of the technological world that we live in: a world that people have created and changed through technology” ( Smorti, 1999, p.5). They could choose the photo they wanted to print and delete the ones they did not like.

They were amazed to see Ben Ten photos appear on the computer

I then scrolled the mouse to print and told P clicked on it. Then we made our way down to the printer to retrieve their printings. They got really thrilled and were beamed with pride when they saw Ben Ten photos coming through the printer. N says “Wow! This is so good”. P says “how did the photo come here?”. I told P because you had clicked on print and tried to explain him what a printer does. They took their photos, showed it to their friends and later had put it in their portfolio.

Through this activity children have worked cooperatively and collaboratively with others using technology in their own room. The children also showed good turn taking skills. L and N showed their portfolio to their parents when they came to pick them. They developed language and new words as they tried to explain the process of getting those photos. “When children have access to cameras and take photos of their experiences, the photos can be used to enhance language development as children discuss the photos with their parents” (DeMarie and Ethridge, 2006 as cited in Good, 2009, p. 19). During this technology exploration children had an exciting journey of seeing their Ben Ten photos using different technologies at different stages for example, from the story book to the camera screen then to the computer screen and lastly to the printer. Te Whāriki, He Whaariki Mātauranga mo nga Mokopuna o Aotearoa (Ministry of Education, 1996) “states that “using many materials for different purposes enable children to recognize that different technologies may be used in various places and settings” ( p. 95).

Perhaps next time I can experiment with children about the other distinctive features of the camera. For example, they could record video and I could upload it to our computer. I would also teach them about the delete buttons and zoom in and out buttons, as there are unlimited possibilities when it comes to using a technology like a camera.

References:

Good, L. (2009). Teaching and Learning with Digital Photography: Tips and
                Tools for Early Childhood Classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA:
                 Corwin Press.

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki: He Whāriki mātauranga  mō ngā
                mokopuna o Aotearoa. Wellington: Learning Media.


Smorti, S.(1999). Technology in Early Childhood. Early Education, No 19 
               Autumn 1999.

Food Technology - Why did the colour change?

Blog One

Date: 28.03.11

Introducing food technology to the children is always a pleasure; it is a creative and fun way to teach children many lifelong skills that can only enhance their growth and development (Smorti, 1999).

Today I was with a group of children at the playdough table where I observed R using playdough to make roti (Indian bread). He rolled the playdough into a small dough and used the rolling pin to make it bigger. He then showed it to his friends and said “ this is how my mum makes roti”. S who was listening quickly turned around and said ‘Monika what is roti?’. I explained to S that it is an Indian bread made using flour.  S continues ‘can we make it today’.Te Whāriki, He Whaariki Mātauranga mo nga Mokopuna o Aotearoa (Ministry of Education, 1996) “children develop interest and pleasure in discovering an unfamiliar wider world where the people, images , objects, languages, smells, and tastes are different from those at home” ( p. 56).

After a little discussion we decided that we would make roti for our lunch. The children washed their hands and came to the table. I read the receipe to them and we gathered our ingredients and measured 5 cups of flour, 2 cup warm water and 2 tbsp cooking oil.  Each child participated and had turns at adding spoonfuls of flour into the cup. The warm water was added to the flour to make a dough. I reminded children about the safety precautions since the water was warm. The children had turns mixing and stirring the flour . While looking at this L said "this is how we make playdough”.  That is true L but we are not going to use the colour in making roti. The children took turns to knead the dough well and then added the cooking oil to give a smooth look. Then we divided the big dough into many small doughs for everyone. On a lightly floured surface, the children flattened their dough using their hands. After that the children used the rolling pin to roll out the dough into a thin round patty. I demonstrated them how we use rolling pin to make the dough bigger. P calls out “I got a big circle”. 

Then I turned on the fry pan. I adjusted the knob to 180 degrees celcius. K was watching me and said “I use fry pan at home and mum said that when we use big numbers the pan is going to be hotter”. This shows that the children are exposed to technology at home. I again remined everyone that the fry pan is going to be hot. The children learnt about the safety precautions while being near to hot objects. Each child had a turn in turning their roti using a spatula. As accoring to Te Whāriki  “children develop confidence that they can participate and take risks without fear of harm” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 52).

While they were making their roti K asked me ‘Monika the roti was white when I put it in the fry pan but when I turned it why did it change colour?’. B was listening and said the fry pan is hot  K and our roti is cooking. It is true that technology can amaze children. The New Zealand Curriculum Framework states that technology is the “transformation of energy, information and materials” and that food is one of the area covered within the area of technology ( Ministry of Education, 2007). When it was done we made a roti wrap with chicken, tuna, carrot and cheese . All the children enjoyed eating healthy lunch.

 Smorti (1999) states that “process cooking” is a purposeful, technological activity which meets children’s learning needs (p.6). Cooking with children encourages creativity, responsibility and invlovement. It requires hands on use of maths concepts ,planning and thinking. In this roti making experience children were problem solving as to how things change through various processes like heating thus learning science. Children learnt that applying heat can make food more edible. They learnt that mixing water to flour together makes a dough and this dough when rolled is cooked and can be eaten. The children also learnt about shapes (circle), fine and gross motor skills as the children stirred the mixture.

This learning can be enhanced by using other food processing equipments . For example, using a food processor or grinder and I would also ask receipes from parents of different cultures so that next time we could try something else.

References:     

 Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki: He whāriki mātauranga mo ngā
mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early  childhood curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media.


Ministry of Education, (2007). The New Zealand curriculum for English-medium
and learning in years 1-13. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media. 

   Smorti, S., (1999). Technology in Early Childhood. Early Education, No 19 Autumn.