Week 9: Reading / One Laptop Per Child / Digital Cameras

READING:
I read the article(s) on the website "Early Connections: Technology in Early Childhood Education". I really liked how they tied technology with many other developmental aspects, such as: language skills, social development, and cognition. There really is a strong connection between all these things and technology. I also liked how they gave health tips on using technology (such as what to do when you are sitting at a computer for too long). They also gave a small list of informative sites that can help a teacher find the right software for her class. This is great to have because there are so many computer games that claim to help children and these sites help you find the ones that actually do.
ONE LAPTOP PER CHILD:
I really enjoyed learning about these amazing machines. It was neat to see a laptop that a child can completely run on their own. For a child to use just a regular computer, they usually need help starting it up, opening certain programs, or fixing errors or problems. This laptop looked and seem so simple that the child could operate it all by themselves and I find that amazing. At this price, I really think I could afford to have a few in my classroom. In the video they mentioned that introducing these impoverished children to laptops can help them to later gain jobs that they might not have because of the skills taught through using a laptop. I found this to be very true and important- to stand out from the rest of your community, you can have computer skills which can make you that much more marketable.
DIGITAL CAMERAS:
For my intended activity using digital cameras, I would draw from the 2nd grade curriculum, Content Core, Standard 3, Objective 3, Indicator B, which states, "Sort rocks based upon color, hardness, texture, layering, and particle size". I would separate the class into small groups of 3 or 4 and allow each group to have one digital camera. We would then go outside and they would take pictures of all the different types of rocks they see. They would be encouraged to get a wide variety and to try and not take pictures of the same 2 types of rocks. This would be all previous to the explicit rock instruction. They would then come inside and I would print off their pictures (around 15-20 of them). I would then give instruction on the different classifications of rocks and all their different uses. After this instruction I would give them their pictures that their group took and a poster board and it would be their task to separate them by color, hardness, texture and/or uses. This will allow for inquiry based thinking and independent learning because there is no exact right or wrong answer- they can classify them how they wish. They would glue all their pictures down and label their classification groups and present it to the class.