Learning & Technology

Children require social and physical experiences to move from the concrete learning stage. They gain the skills/ability to understand symbolic and abstract levels by these experiences. Technology can be used to support children's developmental needs, if the computer use does not replace time spent on the important foundation skills of the early years.

Social and Emotional Development

• Arrange the space to allow for social interactions, easy access, and good visibility at the computers
• Plan activities that require need 2 or 3 students to work together, or require the help of peers
• Have extra chairs at the computer
• Ask open-ended questions about children's work and talk with them about what they are doing
• Display children's work around the classroom
• Encourage parents to ask questions of their children, to work or explore programs together, and to share their experiences with one another

Approaches Toward Learning

• Plan for children to use all the senses when working on the computer.
  • Select software that provides spoken words and music as well as pictures on the screen.
  • Let children have experiences in the "real world" as well as in the "electronic world."
  • If they create an imaginary place on the computer, let them build a model of the place with blocks and boxes, modeling clay, and other materials.
• Allow lots of time for children to interact with things in their environment. Make sure that computer time is balanced by greater time with physical objects.
  • Children need time to develop memory and imagery before the images are provided for them.
  • Increase attention and build memory and visualization skills by limiting screen time. Young children's attention naturally jumps around, but flashing images and constantly moving graphics may make it harder for children to attend to activities for sustained periods.
• A total of one hour per day of all screen time combined -- television, computer and video--is a good target.

Language Development

• Connect letters and numbers with concepts in the real world. To teach the letter A show things that begin with that letter, have children write the letter, and find it in written text or on the screen. Link the number 4 with four objects.
• Alphabet or number software programs should be used sparingly. Most are "drill and practice" and do not develop the connection between the symbol and its meaning. (See Software Selection for more information.)

Cognition and General Knowledge

• Provide information to young children to help them understand the "if-then" sequences of computer programs.
• Talk with children while they are working and explain what is happening. "If you move the mouse like this, the arrow on the screen will move like this." "If you click on this word, the computer will say it out loud."
• Pay attention to social interactions, and use social situations in software programs to help teach social-causal reasoning. Ask questions such as, "Do you understand why Grandma was sad in the story when she found that all the children were gone?"

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