Journal #4

"Technology in the Early Childhood Classroom"
By Elizabeth Ross Hubbell
Learning & Leading with Technology
March 2007

This article focuses on the appropriate use of technology with early elementary students. The author mentioned that there are conflicting views on the subject, however, she is a proponent of its use and encourages using it as a tool alongside a variety of other learning experiences.

She talks about the need to “model” the use of technology at a young age. Young children see adults using technology as a part of their everyday lives and she draws the comparison to the acquisition of language and how we expose children to books and words long before they are expected to read. The same applies to technology

In “Classroom Instruction that Works, authors Marzano, Pickering, and Pollack identified 9 categories of instructional strategies that have a significant impact on student achievement.

She expands on 4 of the strategies- identifying similarities and differences, homework and practice, nonlinquistic representation, and generating and testing hypothesis.

The “Identifying Similarities and Differences” category appeared to have the most impact on learning according to Marzano’s study. This involves sorting information into various categories and building on this knowledge by making connections to background knowledge. The author gives the example of Kidspiration and how this application can help sort and categorize information into visual displays. This application offers templates that the students can save and they can go back and select “outline” mode, which will automatically put the information into an outline form. Now they have an organizer to help them retain information and perhaps help them organize their thoughts when writing about the topic area. It can also help beginning and emergent readers by assigning sounds to words and pictures complete with voiceovers. Many of the icons are similar to word processing software that they will be using later on.

Other advantages include immediate feedback, the ability to accommodate various levels for differentiated instruction, the use of multimedia to represent ideas through pictures and graphs, and the opportunities to generate and test hypothesis

If technology is used early on as a tool from a practical sense, students will be better equipped to begin using these tools independently as they advance through their education.

Questions:
2. How would you handle limited computer resources in the classroom?
Children can work in teams, independent computer usage can be spread throughout the day/week at noncritical times. They can work with older students to help speed up the process as long as they don't do it for them. Home or library use can also be encouraged.

2. How would you deal with a parent who feels that the computer is an expensive toy and does not want his child using the computer? I know that some people feel that way and it is understandable. I would point out the positive aspects of early exposure as referenced in this article and suggest supervision or find a way to work it out to meet that individual's needs.