Reflection One : Children watching musical video on laptop

Reflection one

10 August 2012

"Technology is about helping people and solving problem"(Smorti 1999, pg.5).  Computer is very popular not only among the adults but the little children also enjoy its uses.  It is a means of communication.

At my home centre the children are really interested in music and movement.  As soon as I play music on the compact disk player the toddlers will start dancing to the beat.  Today I came on the floor after my non contact.  The children noticed the laptop in my hand.  They came up to me and started to touch the laptop.  I wonder the children watch their parents working on the laptops as they were calling out by saying "jeeta (Sanjeeta), ook (look).  As I stated earlier the toddlers are very interested in music I decided to watch a musical video with the toddlers.  I played the song head, shoulders, knees, and toes.  The children started to recognize the body parts and they started to touch their head and shoulders which they every time do when I play the song on compact disk player. 

(Somerset, 2000) suggests that “music skills can be developed in young children if the opportunities for regular listening and performance are available” (pg.47). The children and I was using the body language such as touching the photos and using the words to describe what was happening.  By watching and listening the children began to imitate what was happening in the video. 

The children seemed more excited as they were touching the buttons on the laptop as they were watching the video. By pressing the buttons on the key board helps the children build their fine motor skills.   As the children were watching the video one child turned the computer off by pressing the off button.  I assumed that he noticed the blue light on the button and he just pressed it.   Later I realized that what if he must be used to turning the buttons of the television or computers on and off at home.  I was surprised that the children knew exactly what button they needed to press in order to turn on and off the laptop.  I explained to the children by showing them that we do not press the button on and off just like that.  We have to follow the instructions on the screen that is, how we turn the laptop off.  I was so amazed after when I showed the children the procedure to turn the laptop off after that they did not touch the off button again.  I believe at this age the toddlers will not be able to follow the procedure to turn the laptop on or off.  However, we can guide the children as they grow older where they will be able to understand about the rules and procedure more.   I also believe that children come to the centre with their knowledge from home.  We as teachers should guide the children's learning by supporting them by demonstrating and also as a role model how we problem solve as I did today by showing them how we turn the lap topoff using the right procedure.  The children were all involved and were paying attention for a sustained period of time they also doing the problem solving by pressing the buttons on the laptop if they press it once and if it did not work they try and press it again to make it work. Te Whāriki, He Whāriki Mātauranga mō ngā Mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early Childhood Curriculum  "Children experience an environment where they gain confidenece in and control their bodies" (Ministry of Education, 1996, pg.86).  In the afternoon when the parents came to pick the children.  I shared our music video experience with the parents.  The parents were overwhlemed and they shared with me what the children do at home when they watch television.  That is, they are able to turn the buttons on the remote control in order to turn the television on and off.



In today's modern world ICT is very important part of our lives. Children at very young age need to learn and understand about the cyber safety.  I believe that at school teachers should set time boundaries for the children for using the computer and the teachers should get involved with children when browsing the internet.  I used music video to motivate the children about music and dance.  (Somerset, 2000) suggests that “music skills can be developed in young children if the opportunities for regular listening and performance are available” (pg.47). The children and I was using the body language such as touching the photos and using the words to describe what was happening.  By watching and listening the children began to imitate what was happening in the video.   I offered the children opportunity to explore the sounds through technology by watching and listening.   (Bruce, 2004) explains that “creativity in babies begins through relationships with particular people and through non-verbal communication” (pg.73).

This experience had made me sit back and think how enjoyable ICT can be when working with young children.  I am going to use this experience with the older two children at my centre by making this experience interesting by asking the children many open ended questions which the children are able to contribute together and come up with the different answers which interest them.    By doing this with the children I can encourage children to be more imaginative and also let the children explore more.  I have learnt that when we use technology I will use unhurried interaction with the children and allow the children more time to think and understand what is happening around.  After doing this I have become wiser that if an adults takes a lot of time to learn we should also allow the children the same too.   I can also encourage the children problem solve if the children are facing difficulty when doing something.  Toddlers develop understandings through discovery and exploration (Ministry of Education, 1996).   They are benefiting from interactions that extend their thinking and vocabulary as the toddlers are beginning to use words.“Children develop the knowledge that trying things out, exploration, and curiosity are important and valued ways of learning” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p.84).

I believe that technology is a very useful tool in today’s modern world this helps people to solve problem, get the information very easily that, is if they want to do research or enquire about anything which they are interested in. (Ministry of Education, 1996) states that “technology enhance problem solving that is children enquire, carry out research, and develop and test ideas and solutions as they explore and make sense of the their world (pg.98)”.   It also helps the people communicate with each other very quickly no matter what part of the world the live in.  On the other hand I also believe that technology has some disadvantages too.  This is when the children are addicted to the television, cell phones or the computer games.  This stops the children from getting involved in critical thinking and this might affect the children development as well.  We as teacher need to guide the children and encourage the children not to be very dependent on the technology. Instead we can involve the children to do some hands-on activities which make the children more active and explore around using natural environment rather than just sitting down and watching television or playing computer games.

Reference List:

Bruce, T. (2004). Including evryone: The beginnings of creativity Cultivating creativity in babies, toddlers and young children (pp. 72-83). London: Hodder and Stoughton.

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te whāriki, he whāriki mātauranga mo nga mokopuna o  Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.

Somerset, G. (2000). Work and play in the early years (5^th  ed.). Auckland, New Zealand: New Zealand Playcentre Publications.

Smorti, S. (1999) Technology in early childhood. Early Education, 1, 5-10.