Within a mixed stage school, I observed the class teacher
plugging an iPad into the interactive white board to share with children an app
that allowed the user to generate their own stories. The teacher demonstrated
how to choose and apply a narrative setting, characters and captions to
sequence a chosen plot. The English learning was apparent in ‘developing
enjoyment and understanding of stories’ (DfE, 2013; p.33). This was indicated
by the level of enthusiasm amongst the year three and four children, with
several commenting ‘I’m going to download this when I get home!’ Their response
parallels research studies evidencing the benefit of using children’s interests
in popular media to increase learning and motivation (Bromley, 2002 cited in
Lambrith, 2003).This incident highlights how technology can be empowering for
children by allowing autonomy in learning. The teacher’s challenge is
equalising the opportunities that children have to explore new technologies.
Inevitably children will want to use new technologies when
they witness their peers using technology to achieve a certain means. Within
the classroom we should incorporate children in using technology to learn, as
long as technology usage is explicitly linked to positive outcomes for
children. The personal challenges of this module will be using new technology
introduced to me and writing concisely the content for each weekly blog post.
(248 words)
Bibliography
DfE.
(2013) The National Curriculum in England.
Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-primary-curriculum (Accessed: 26 September 2014), p.33
Lambirth, A. (2003) ‘”They
get enough of that at home”: Understanding aversion to popular cultures in
schools’ Reading 37(1) p.9
I am really interested in how you observed the iPad being incorporated into class practice. This is a technology that I would like to use when in school, so it has given me some idea of where to start (as mentioned in my blog post) . What was the app called that the teacher shared with the class? Did the school have the facilities for the children to use this technology or was it just something they needed to access in their own time?
ReplyDeleteI personally feel that I would worry when discussing iPads if they weren't available in the school as although some of the children will have access to these at home, others would not. Did you find this an issue in the class when this was demonstrated?
I really enjoyed reading your observation of an iPad being used in schools. I too have seen iPads used in school and believe that they are highly useful to engage children in their learning, whilst also educating them in using new technologies.
ReplyDelete