Reflection Five - Final Last Words!

Technology in Early Childhood

"Technology is a creative and purposeful activity aimed at meeting needs and opportunities through the development of products, systems or environments"

(Smorti, 1999, p.5)

Well I started off this blogging experience a little bit confused, a little bit frustrated and a lot more lost! I had never blogged before so this was a very new subject for me and found the actual setting up of the blog account more difficult than the actual adding of the reflections.  So now I am glad that I am near completion and have successfully completed my blog and can add 'Blogging' to my CV!

In this reflection I will firstly talk about the learning I gained from the feedback to my blogs and then I will discuss and evaluate my overall experience.  So, the feedback was quite a tricky task.  To give critical feedback to classmates blogs was rather difficult and new to me.  I tried to give suggestions on what will happen next and how the writer was going to extend on this experience.  When reading the feedback on my blogs, they were very positive and affirming but feel that the comments didn't really critique my reflections.  Sorry guys, but I would have liked some suggestions on what I could do next to extend the experiences I provided for the children.  I know that there are many different directions I could take but some inspiration to be able to take it in a direction I may not have thought of before was what I was hoping for.  The only real learning I believe I gained from the comments was realising how hard it was to critically analyse my classmates work!

Moving on to discussing my overall experience.  As in my first paragraph I started out rather nervous about the task ahead but nearing the end I have really enjoyed the actual feeling of satisfaction I have felt by learning how to blog.  I am sure this is how the children feel when they laminate or take pictures with the camera and see their finished product.  I also now understand what technology actually is.  I once thought technology was everything that was electrical based, I didn't realise or really think about that technology was everything that made our lives easier eg pegs, measuring cups,  hammers, nails etc and the different areas these types of things are grouped into.  Biotechnology, Electronics and Control, Food, Information and Communication, Materials, Production and Process, Structures and Mechanisms are the technological areas developed for school curriculum (Manukau Institute of Technology, 2010).  The significance of people, places, things and events in children's learning is huge as early exposure to technology
     "influences the way children acquire and represent informal notions of mathematics
      and science.  It is a tool, a medium, for providing possibilities and opportunities
      for children and is viewed as a resource for encouraging children to make meaning
      and to engage in life-enhancing relationships" (Talay-Ongan & Ap, 2005, p. 226).
The world we live in is a "world that people have created and changed through technology" (Smorti, 1999, p.5).  Te Whaariki states that in order to participate in this world, our children will need confidence to develop their own perspectives as well as the capacity to continue acquiring new knowledge and skills.  Technology is very important and it is our job as teachers to make sure we are adequately equipping our children for their future.