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Technology and Young Children
July 22, 2011
Each of us must confront our own fears, must come face to face with them. How we handle our fears will determine where we go with the rest of our lives. To experience adventure or to be limited by the fear of it.
-Judy Blume, American writer

Much controversy arose around the recent ExchangeEveryDay, "Families and Technology," which reported Sesame Street study findings.  Today, we provide an alternative point of view from David Elkind, in his article "Societal Change and the Growing Divide between knowing and understanding," from the special 200th issue of Exchange...


"...What technology has done, particularly for young people, is to widen the gap between what they know and what they can understand....

"Today, children fly radio-controlled planes, or sail radio-controlled boats, which they know how to operate but do not really understand how radio controls work....  And this is true not only for children’s toys, but for all facets of children’s worlds, from television to computers, to cell phones, microwaves, and much more.

"There are, I believe several possible negative consequences to this growing divide between what children know and what they understand.  One of these consequences is that it can discourage, if not kill, curiosity.  When it is really impossible to understand how something works, this discourages any sense of wonder at what is happening or any questioning of why it is happening....

"A second related concern is children’s willingness to accept things on faith and without questioning them.  Jean Piaget once wrote that the aim of education was to create children 'who think for themselves and do not accept the first idea that is presented to them.'

"Yet children today have to accept that much of their world, which is in large measure technological, is beyond their understanding. They know how to watch television, use a computer, and play on a computer or talk and text on a cell phone.  Yet they have little, if any, understanding of the "Yet children today have to accept that much of their world, which is in large measure technological, is beyond their understanding. They know how to watch television, use a computer, and play on a computer or talk and text on a cell phone.  Yet they have little, if any, understanding of the technology that makes what they are doing possible.  This is bad enough for those of us who have not grown up with this technology, but it poses a threat of intellectual passivity in those who have."





Teaching Young Children Tool Kit

Exchange has packaged seven of its teaching resources into a single "Teaching Young Children Tool Kit" and is offering the entire set at a discount.  Separately these resources would cost $194.00, but we are offering the entire Tool Kit for only $154.

Resources in the kit include:

  • Beginnings Workshops Book #3 - Child Development
  • Beginnings Workshops Book #7 - Child Development II
  • Places for Childhoods: Making Quality Happen in the Real World
  • Teaching Four-Year-Olds: A Personal Journey
  • The Intentional Teacher
  • Voices DVD: Caring for Infants and Young Toddlers

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Comments (17)

Displaying 5 of 17 Comments   [ View all ]
mary-G · August 18, 2011
Zeekoevlei, Cape town, South Africa


Dear Child care exchange.

I co edit a small non profit early childhood journal in South Africa. - Please would you grant us permission to reprint the small article by David Elkind on Technology and Young Children July 22, 2011.
I look forward to hearing from.

Kind Regards
Mary-G

Nanci Weinberger · July 28, 2011
Bryant University
Smithfield , RI, United States


Based on our small study of family child care providers and center-based providers, technology can be thoughtfully used. It seems that providers adjust their rules and involvement in developmentally appropriate ways across the two setting types.

For more information see the article below:
Young children’s access and use of computers in family child care and child care centers
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563208001477



chaya zaetz · July 25, 2011
mosdoth day care
Brooklyn, new york, United States


we basically all experienced that feeling i did not know how the radio worked or the refregerator or toilet or anything else that i used as a child chidren still have the ability to figure what they can understand and what they cannot and they follow that lead

Vicki Kearney · July 22, 2011
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia


There are many things in my life I do not understand and yet I have been using them all my life - electricity, for example is a big one, the telephone, my car.
I tend to agree with Debra Riek - appropriate exposure. A child's curiosity is instantly engaged if we as adults spend the time to expose the child to experiences other than the computer, the television, the mobile phone. I feel the teacher/educator needs to think deeply on how much they expose the child to technology during their day at school/childcare as they may already be overexposed at home. It would be wonderful to think that the school/childcare setting for children could be a very healing and nurturing experience for the child instead of a stressful one.

gregory uba · July 22, 2011
bcaeyc
los angeles, ca, United States


recently the national association for the education of young children released a draft of a new position paper on the use of technology for young children for members to comment on... the draft had the disturbing new language that expanded the conversation from preschool-aged to now include 0-2... a number of ece professionals in our community have expressed our concerns about this new draft, and the Board our affiliate, Beach Cities Association for the Education of Young Children has already submitted a letter of concern along with our intent to oppose any position paper that includes children less than two years of age... we hope that everyone will take a closer look at the position paper.
gregory uba



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