Research and ideas of using technology in the Early Childhood Education classroom.

1. Technology and Early
Childhood Education
The importance of using all kinds of technology in an early
childhood education classroom
By: Amber Christensen

2. Technology is Crucial
Technology is important because:
-It ties in with the curriculum and is therefore easily
integrated
-It attends to a variety of child learning styles and
predispositions
-It reaches to all developmental dimensions:
-Social and Emotional Development
-Language Development
-Physical Well-Being and Motor Development
-Cognition and General Knowledge

3. TECHNOLOGY
AND
CURRICULUM
AREAS

4. Technology and Curriculum Areas
Technology Connects to a Variety of Curriculum Areas
Technology can help with emergent literacy skills by:
-Increasing their motivation to write: This is due to the increased
confidence in their writing. When writing with pen and pencil
some students get frustrated with the materials and scribble or
erase frantically. But using a computer program to write makes
it easier for the students to have fewer mistakes which make
them feel safer.
-Showing that there is a tie to words and pictures: Just like index cards
that label pictures, or just labeled pictures in a book- various
technology programs or internet activities can show, and even say
aloud audibly, what that picture is and how it is said.
- Enhancing their writing skills: quot;Studies indicate that word-processing
software encourages writing, and leads to increased
motivation and improvement in writing skillsquot; 2
-Assisting in creating their own stories: quot;[A writing program] Allows children
to compose longer and more complex stories and worry less about
mistakesquot; 2

5. Technology and Curriculum Areas
Technology Connects to a Variety of Curriculum Areas
Technology can help with emergent math skills by:
-quot;Showing patterning
-Showing classification
-Showing seriation
-Showing numerical relationshipsquot; 1

6. TECHNOLOGY
AND
DIFFERENT
LEARNING
STYLES

7. Technology and Different Learning Styles
Technology attends to a variety of child learning styles and
predispositions by:
-Showing that those students who think they have no strengths
may have some as revealed by different technologies
-Allows students to take a variety of paths to achieve the goal:
shows that many methods could work
-Enhancing concentration and interest of content that would
otherwise bore some students 2
-quot;Increase attention and build memory and visualization skills.
Children need time to develop memory and imagery before
the images are provided for them.quot; 1

8. TECHNOLOGY
AND
DEVELOPMENTAL
DOMAINS

9. Technology and Developmental Domains
Technology and Social and Emotional Development
Through collaboration with other students, a child can learn more about the
content and their fellow peers views on the content. quot;…computers and
software can serve as catalysts for social interaction and conversations
related to children's workquot; 2. Young students can talk about their work
with each other and share their ideas through technological
collaboration activities.
Research shows:
-quot;Children demonstrate increased levels of spoken communication
and cooperation during computer usequot; 2
-quot;Children share leadership roles on the computer, and initiate
interactions more frequentlyquot; 2

10. Technology and Developmental Domains
Technology and Language Development
Young students can draw, paint, and create their
own stories using technology- all of which
increases their language skills. Visual
manipulatives of mathematical/alphabetical/etc.
content can enhance the quality of conversation
surrounding these ideas.

11. Technology and Developmental Domains
Technology and Physical Well-Being and Motor Development
Sometimes the physical aspect of writing can get in the way of students
wanting or doing writing. Word processors can assist students in writing
when holding a pencil can be tedious and uncomfortable.
Large and fine motor skills are key for a child to fully develop. Computers
can help with the fine motor skills and connecting the mental aspect
to the physical aspect.
It is important to remember to take frequent breaks from the computer
so as not to hurt your eyes or cause any other physical damage for
sitting in one position for an extended period of time.

12. Technology and Developmental Domains
Technology and General Knowledge
Ideas or concepts that seem too far away (like studying cultures
or geography of faraway country) are brought to the
students and brought to life. These unique experiences they
could not obtain otherwise unless they actually went there.
Through teacher interaction while the students work with
technology, different ideas about sharing and cooperating
and how technology may work, can bring about deeper
thinking and abstract thinking.

13. USING
TECHNOLOGY
IN
AN
EARLY
CHILDHOOD
EDUCATION
CLASSROOM

14. Using Technology in an Early
Childhood Education Classroom
One idea for using Technology
in the classroom would be
to use the internet resource
“Lanolin‟s Greenhouse.”
This lesson will focus on orally
manipulating phonemes
which can help
children recognize (orally) that the pieces of words can be
taken away and other pieces can be added and you can
have a new word. Here a friendly sheep holds up a picture of
a simple word (man, cat, boy, etc.) and orally asks you to
take off either the first or last sound and replace it with a new
sound. They have 2 plants: one with a picture (instead of a
„flower‟) of the correct answer, and another with an incorrect
but slightly close answer. The student can pick either one
and it will tell them if they are right or wrong and sound them
out again so they understand why they are right or wrong.

15. Using Technology in an Early
Childhood Education Classroom
Another idea for using Technology in the classroom would be through
the use of virtual manipulatives. These tools do a great job of
solidifying concepts taught and allowing students to test their own
hypotheses.
Under the MathTools website you will find a manipulative for Fractions
called “Fractions-Comparing” under the Math 2 section.
This allows students to play
around with fractions. They are
to find the equivalences to
certain fractions. They are given
the red and blue already shaded
in and they can increase or
decrease the pieces that make
up the whole. It shows that the
shaded area can be 1/2 or 3/6's,
and so on.

16. REFERENCES
1- http://www.netc.org/earlyconnections/preschool/technology.html
2- http://www.nwrel.org/request/june01/child.html#research
Fraction virtual Manipulative: http://mathforum.org/mathtools/
Source to Lanolin‟s Greenhouse:
http://www.internet4classrooms.com/kindergarten_links.htm
Lanolin‟s Greenhouse:
http://www.professorgarfield.org/Phonemics/greenhouse/greenhouse.ht
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