Technology in the Early Childhood Classroom
By Elizabeth Ross Hubbell
Technology is for everyone, including our youngest learners. Students can use technology to "engage in critical thinking activities and practice basic skills." Some of the instructional strategies that have been proven to work include identifying similarities and differences, reinforcing effort and providing recognition, homework and practice, nonlinguistic representation, and cooperative learning. We know that technology can be used as a medium, but so it makes sense that we should start familiarizing children with computers at an early age. Websites like starfall.com were created for emergent readers. Kidspiration helps youngsters "gather ideas, assign pictures and sounds to words, and put ideas into outline form." This type of hands-on learning is great for kinesthetic, aural, and visual learners. The earlier we introduce our children to a world of technology, the more opportunities we are giving them to learn and grow.
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