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.