Technology and Early Childhood Education

I remember the time when a parent asked me to continue tutoring her seven-year-old son even it was already his summer vacation. I was not able to respond immediately to her request but answered her back by just raising a question. I was thinking that it might be too much for his son to study instead of enjoying his vacation, playing his favorite game, and not minding of any lectures and tests. I was once a kid and I admit, I always look forward for a vacation after a school year. I believe that every kid deserves a break every after ten months of dealing with books, papers and pens. So I asked her why. She firmly replied that he does not want his son to be drown using his iPad. She knew that he will be if there will be no other things that he has to do. She wanted her son to do something more beneficial than just earning points in his favorite online game. She wanted her son to have a direct instruction over the joy in tapping and swiping his gadget.

As a teacher, I have always been looking for the main ingredient that will solve all the pedagogical problems in the classroom. Now that we have already entered the information age where we embrace the use of technology, we see that digital technology can be that main ingredient. In fact, the Department of Education has been implementing series of regional (ICT) summits towards intensifying the use Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) effective delivery of teaching and learning, and in the provision of efficient governance and operations directly to learners, teachers and relevant stakeholders in the field of education since 2017. But how can ICT be beneficial specifically in early childhood?

According to the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) to promote the prime development of the learner, all of the teaching strategies and activities have to be Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP). Moreover the use of technology in learning has to align its positon statement. But first, we need to gauge the needs of young learners. Children over three years old are in Piaget’s preoperational stage.

At this stage, they are eager to use newly acquired symbolic representations. They are remarkably active, in addition, sitting still is typically an impediment for them. They do not want a monotonous learning styles and a recurrent physical movements. This is also the stage where they have difficulty understanding the viewpoint of others. Therefore, the use of technology in this stage is crucial because the developmental needs might not be achieved.