Computers have found their way into the preschool setting, taking their place beside the finger paints, play dough, books, and other media found within the early learning environment. Computer programs have been developed for young children that allow them to produce colorful graphics, music, and animated graphics.
Children of the twenty-first century will use computers as an integral part of their daily life. Yet, children who are plugged into computers to do drill and practice engage in convergent thinking. It is important to realize that using computers with young children is a process of exploration and discovery for both you and the children. How you use computers the first year in your classroom will probably be very different from how you use them five years later.
Based on research, some general conclusions about the value of computers with preschool and other children in early childhood education may be made:
- Computers can be used effectively with young children. Researchers have consistently observed high levels of spoken communication and cooperation as young children interact at the computer. Compared with more traditional activities, such as puzzle assembly or block building, the computer elicits both more social interaction and different types of interaction.
- Computers can be interactive. The term interactive here means that the computer used with young children provides a vehicle for two types of interaction: child-to-computer and child-to-child. Child-to-computer interaction depends to a great extent on the software. Some software requires children to choose one response, which is then corrected. Other programs have been developed that allow children to use information on the screen to make more than one response.
Child-to-child interaction at the computer depends on the arrangement of the environment. When children work near each other by the computer, they discuss what they are doing and assist each other as they work. Some software is also designed for, or lends itself better to, participation by more than one child.
- Placement of computers can encourage children’s learning. The ideal placement of the computer center is in a visible location. The monitors are situated so that they can be seen from throughout the classroom. Children are interested in what’s happening in the computer center, although they may be working in another center. All of this stimulates peer mentoring, social interaction, language development, and cooperative play.
- Age and computer use. Age doesn’t appear to be a limiting factor in computer use. Even two-year-old children can work proficiently on the computer using age-appropriate software that requires only simple keypresses or pointing with a mouse. Preschoolers can easily start the computer, load disks, type on the keyboard, and understand pictorial cues.
- Children prefer action. Just as in other aspects of their play, children like action with computers, and they do not necessarily choose to follow the rules of games. They watch what happens when they press new keys, and they purposely may try to squash all the keys at one time. One of the strengths young children bring to computer use is their fearless experimentation!
A good environment for young children includes many experiences that involve the senses, adult-child and child-child conversation, and a host of other age-appropriate activities. Computers can supplement, but do not substitute for, experiences in which children can discover with all their senses.
By: Charito R. Malibiran | Teacher I | Salian Elementary School | Abucay, Bataan
