Reflecting on a visit to a local primary school 2

Reflecting upon a visit to local Primary School (working with children).

This blog will continue to discuss reflections regarding the use of technology and media within a local primary school drawing on observations made when actually having the chance to explore children’s understanding of ICT through active participation.

During the second visit to the school, we were given the task to facilitate the creation of a digital ‘talking book’ in groups of five year one pupils, drawing on a chosen article regarding Rights of the Child (UNICEF, 1989). 

The group decided to incorporate article 29-(Goals of education) into their talking book.  We chose this as we passionately felt that education should encourage children to fulfil their potential. However, when presenting this idea to the pupils it was apparent that some of the vocabulary in the article was too complex. Therefore, we agreed to portray the article as ‘being the best that you can be’.

It was interesting to note how competent children were when using the iPads. However, it would be reasonable to argue that ICT is becoming increasingly prominent in today’s society, with more children having access to a wide range of media devices (Ofcom, 2012). Furthermore, Prensky (2001) supports this by claiming that today’s generation are ‘digital natives’, and that growing up in a digital age has meant they possess considerable knowledge regarding technology.

An initial challenge presented to us as students, was the fact that we had a child who spoke very little English within the group. However, as the morning progressed, it was evident that she was quite capable with using an iPad. This was something the other children in the group acknowledged, often communicating by pointing at certain aspects of the software and saying key phrases that she could understand. In this case, it could be argued that the technology provided addressed this challenge, as she was still able to participate and appear to have an understanding of the purpose involved.

When creating their talking books, the children responded well to having the freedom to choose what they felt worked well, as well as experimenting with the iPads. Heinrich (2012) supports this, suggesting that iPads and other forms of digital media are a valuable resource due to do their increasing flexibility with applications that encourage children to employ skills that printed texts may not. This was evident with the children’s decision to use ‘telegami’, an application that combined voice recording with a visual avatar to communicate information. In doing so, children were able to overcome difficulties with spelling and punctuation whilst still incorporating a good use of vocabulary and expression.

Overall, this was an enjoyable and informative experience. I was amazed to see how competent the younger children were with interacting with advanced technology, as well as some of the opportunities that using ICT presented. In my future practices, I hope to foster a similar level of enthusiasm towards technology to support learning.

Bibliography

Heinrich, P. (2012) The iPad as a Tool for Education: A study of the introduction of iPads, Winchester: Naace. 

Ofcom (2012) Children and Parents: Media use and attitudes report. Ofcom

Prensky, M. (2001) ‘Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, Part II: Do They Really Think Differently?’ On the Horizon 9 (6) pp.1-9

UNICEF (1989) The United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child, London: UNICEF UK.