The Curriculum Framework for children aged 3 to 5 encourages practitioners
to use a wide range of ICT resources to support all areas of learning.
Technology plays such a huge part in everyday life that young children
become aware of and interact with technology from a very early age.
They soon understand that the press of a button on the television
enables them to watch something appear on the screen and that you
have use a button on the washing machine to wash clothes. If a telephone
rings they see someone respond by picking it up and speaking to another
person.
Within an early learning environment it is possible to include learning
experiences that will use of ICT within most play situations. Everyday
objects such as telephones, cash registers, computers and programmable
toys, and even the creative use of video clips, cassette recorders
and digital cameras can greatly enhance a play environment.
The key to the successful use of ICT within the early years settings
is the training and knowledge of the practitioners who need to be
familiar and confident both with the hardware and the software available
to them. They should also allow for the ongoing cost of consumables,
particularly for colour printing!
This article gives you an overview of some of the key resources
available to Early Years practitioners.
Establish cause and effect with switches
Cause and effect scenarios can be a good introduction
to the use of technology. Understanding cause and effect is a pre-requisite
to understanding the function of a mouse. If
a child has physical or learning disabilities then they will
need more practice in making this connection. Battery-operated
toys can be useful in order to reinforce this process.
Where young
children have a difficulty manipulating the on/off button,
it is possible to make these toys accessible by means of a switch.
A pressure adjustable switch can enable young children who
are heavy handed to access the toy without breaking it. They similarly
allow a children with a very light touch to control the toy.
A switch is attached to a battery-operated toy using a battery adaptor.
It enables a child to control the toy with ease. The child is in
total control, needing only to click the switch once to turn on the
toy, then again to turn it off. Devices are available that link to
a switch in order to control the amount of time the toy is switched
on.
Ensure ICT is accessible to all
Computers should be made accessible to all learners within the
classroom and it is important to ensure that the height of the
computer and chairs are compatible and enable the child to see
the monitor clearly. A wide range of access devices is available
which can help if the standard computer furniture is not suitable.
The placement of the computer within the learning environment is
also very important. If it is hidden away in a far corner, then some
children may be reluctant to use it. Integration within a particular
environment, e.g. a vet’s, café or travel agent could
allow children to collaborate with different tasks around the computer,
both sustaining their interest in the tasks set and encouraging their
acceptance of ICT as part of everyday life. The computer could serve
a different purpose in each of these settings, printing off prescriptions
within the vet setting, choosing a menu at the café and displaying
pictures of holiday destinations for the travel agent.
If a child has great difficulty accessing a computer via a mouse
then a touch screen is invaluable, providing the child with a direct
response from whatever is on screen. Similarly, an interactive whiteboard
can be a very useful tool in enabling children to interact with the
images or activities it displays.
An optical mouse can also make life easier as there is no ball underneath
to get clogged with sand or other substances found in classrooms.
Where a standard mouse is too small or difficult to operate, there
are alternatives. A tracker ball is really a large upside down mouse,
enabling the child to control the direction of the cursor by manoeuvring
the ball, whilst selecting on-screen by pressing a button.
Labelling and correctly naming ICT resources will help young children
to become familiar with the correct vocabulary. Ideally use a lower
case keyboard; there are a number of lower case keyboards that come
in a range of sizes and colours, some have protective covers for
sticky or wet fingers. You can also use stickers to identify important
keys or buttons.
Get children involved with communication devices
Where young children are reluctant to communicate or take part
in group activities, a Big Mack is a simple communication device
which records a message at the press of a button. The child can
operate this simply by pressing the button again to hear the
message. This could be particularly useful during story telling
or play when turn taking is important. The device could have
e.g. part of nursery rhyme or sound relevant to the rhyme/story
so that the child has to activate it at the correct moment. Young
children with learning or physical difficulties can also use
a Big Mack to join in activities they may otherwise be excluded
from.
For larger scale recording and playback, cassette recorders can
be used to tape young children talking and singing, as well as to
play recorded tapes for children to listen to. Staff could tell stories
on tape for children to listen to at home as well as at school.
Perhaps the most valuable tool within the Early Years setting is
a digital camera. What better way to record events as they happen?
Why not capture the first time a child has climbed onto the climbing
frame on their own, or reassure parents who may be anxious that their
child does not eat away from home, by showing them a photo of lunchtime?
The uses of a digital camera are endless and provide a rewarding
record of activities and experiences and a means to create relevant
and immediate resources for learning. Photographs will always generate
a great deal of language even with the most reluctant child. Activities
include sequencing pictures in the correct order, then encouraging
the children to tell the ‘picture story’; taking photographs
of the day’s activities to help the children recall and talk
about events before they go home; creating picture books of events
and projects and storing them within the room so that the children
can browse through them; taking photographs of the environment around
the school, shops, traffic etc; bringing photographs from home to
talk about in school. Children can take pictures of objects of the
same shape or colour within their environment, both indoor and out.
Using a digital camera promotes the use of a computer to select,
edit and print the images and enables children to observe the end
result within minutes of taking a picture. Digital photos can be
used as screen savers, used to produce illustrations for leaflets,
cards or school events. It can also be useful to have a disposable
camera available for use by the children who can take it home to
bring back a photo of the people they live with.
Software
The range of software available for Early Years is
growing. There are many CD-Roms and websites specifically designed
to focus on early learning skills. These encourage young children
to become independent learners and take ownership of their learning.
It is worth remembering that some software works best with different
screen settings and that staff should consult the software handbook
to check this and any other requirements.
Experiences on the computer should allow young children opportunities
to explore for themselves. They should also encounter activities
that develop their ICT skills as well as activities that enhance
learning across the curriculum. There should be opportunities for
children to work collaboratively in groups on computer activities,
as well as in pairs and individually. These should include both adult
directed and child-initiated activities.
Further reading and resources
It is only recently that Early Learning settings have
been able to benefit from NGFL resources. The commitment and enthusiasm
to enable young children to benefit from different technologies
is evident at the Gamesley
Early Excellence Centre who, in 2003
received the British Education and Communication Technology Agency
(BECTA) award for its work with information and communications
technology. The website shows examples
of the incorporation of technology throughout all learning environments
and demonstrates how access to ICT is now achievable, practical
and constructive enabling children to function effectively in
our technological environment from a very early age.
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