Effective Technology Integration
Module 6 Final Project
Effective Technology Integration within a preschool or kindergarten classroom can be challenging. At this age, children are not reading, they are not doing research for projects, and they are not doing much “real” writing – on paper or on the computer. What children this age are doing is learning how to turn the computer on and off, manipulate the mouse, and navigate through simple programs. In other words, children of this age are playing games. One might wonder how playing games on the computer could possibly be educational. For this age group, playing is how they learn. While it is not a good thing for a child to spend hours and hours glued to a computer, having a child use/learn to use a computer is beneficial. Today’s world is fast paced and driven by technology that changes every day. Children in today’s world are exposed to more and more technology than ever, and need the skills to keep up.
Using an educational website allows access to a wealth of games and activities geared toward young children to practice not only their computer skills, but their learning skills as well. For most children, playing computer “games” are fun. These children do not realize that while having fun, they are also learning to recognize numbers, letters, and shapes, counting, sequencing, patterning, listening, making choices, following directions, exploring cause and effect, and so much more.
For this project, I have chosen to focus on the educational website http://abcya.com/, which I discovered through the blog http://www.freetech4teachers.com/, by Richard Byrne. This particular website (http://abcya.com/) is divided into grade levels from kindergarten to 5th grade. My focus is on the link to the kindergarten level. For this level, sound or headphones are necessary because all of the directions, reinforcements, and icons (back arrows, exit, etc….) are “spoken”, as most children at this age are not reading. An example of games available at this level include: How Many Fish?, Connect the Dots – Numbers 1-10, Make a Pizza, Yum!, Monkey Number Order, Make a Pattern – Moon Rock Make A Pattern, and Shapes – Geometry Practice. Each day students would have computer time where they could explore the many games available on this website, and practice the skills they need to master by the end of their kindergarten year.
TPACK
According to Koehler & Mishra in www.tpck.org, in order to have a strong TPACK approach, the three areas of content, pedagogy, and technology must be interconnected. A strong TPACK approach in a kindergarten classroom would be very hands-on. Most young children learn best through being shown how to do things rather than by being told how to do things. A teacher must have a good understand of the technology that is being used, she must be very knowledgeable in the subject area that is being taught, and she must be able to effectively transfer that knowledge to her students to help her students learn.
Indiana State Standards
For this project, I focused on Kindergarten Math, and chose these standards:
K.1.1 Match sets of objects one-to-one.
For this standard, I would use the game “Counting Fish” http://abcya.com/counting_fish.htm
K.4.1 Identify and describe common geometric objects: circle, triangle, square, rectangle, and cube.
For this standard, I would use the game “Shapes! Geometry Practice” http://abcya.com/shapes_geometry_game.htm
Rubric
There is a built in immediate correction system in these educational games. If a student makes an incorrect choice, he is told that it is wrong, and to try again. When the student completes the game successfully, he is told “good job”, and can move on.
Learning Point Associates, North Central Regional Educational Laboratory has published NETS for Students:Extended Rubric for Grades PK–2 (2004), a rubric which looks at competency in using the computer and related components for this age level and can be found here:
http://www.sites4teachers.com/links/redirect.php?url=http://www.ncrel.org/tech/nets/netsrubricp2.pdf
Resources
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