This seems to be an odd question, given its 2014 and iPads infiltrated our society back in 2010. However, I still believe, its a good question.
Technically it’s a rectangular screen with finger touch sensitivity. It can connect to the world wide web via a wifi (wireless router), or in some cases via the cellar mobile network. It has two cameras (front and back), speakers and a microphone all inbuilt into the screen. It comes with a base set of applications or programmes - called ‘apps’. Apps can be purchased and loaded onto the screen via an online store. Apps are used to access and create digital information. Many apps are free but contain advertising. More specialised and ad-free apps are purchased relatively cheaply.
Given all these technical capabilities, the iPad enables us to connect to almost anyone, anywhere who has a regular phone, mobile phone, computer or ipad. It enabled me to send instant photos to the children of Manaia Kindergarten (New Zealand) from the heart of Kruger National Park (South Africa) - while tracking an elephant. It has enabled me to find my way through a rural township in South Africa that had not street lights. Its capabilities seem almost endless.
Apple, the company that designed, created and brought the iPad into our homes describes the iPad as its "most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device”
Were they right?
If we are to accept the iPad into our lives, we must endeavour not to be trapped in the rectangular screen - but to dream big, explore widely, and embrace the magic.
There are many creative apps for the ipad, but what is different about MoMA Art Lab ($4.99 NZ) is its link to the Museum of Modern Art (New York). Using 'simple' shapes and techniques children can explore colour, balance, shape whilst creating a work of art. Designs can be complex or 'simple' - and both stunning. Children can explore the processes of creating abstract modern art, and they can save their final creations to print and display. The MoMA Art Lab encourages group collaboration through the use of 'Create an exquisite corpse'. Based the age old game where friends draw different body parts on folded paper, children can create a surprise drawing together... ideal for a kindergarten setting. Above is the design created by three Manaia Kindergarten children. You can see them in action using the app together, on the Manaia Kindergarten blog - Drawing Together with MoMA.
The Art Lab tools that are provided for creations mimic techniques used by the Great Artists, and introduce young children to great paintings. Below is a YouTube clip highlighting many of the creative attributes of MoMA Art Lab for the iPad.
When Manaia Kindergarten first began using the ipad, we couldn't help but download Talking Tom The children very quickly learnt that if you tickle or tap him he goes crazy and falls down. In a previous post I asked the question - Games or educational apps: What's the difference? Thank you Margaret for your response "What I am finding is that they are being used (as with desk top computers) by groups of children, thus stimulating discussion, social interaction, and shared learning experiences." Margaret also inferred that the learning she expected to happen, is not the learning that IS happening. Children set their own learning goals, explore intensively, learn and share. Here is a great example of an 'entertainment' app that certainly entertained, but also encouraged clear enunciation, turn-taking, well processed questioning skills, stimulating 'discussion' and social interaction.
Do a Google search "apps for young children" and inevitably you are provided with a selection of app icons showing cartoon characters, alphabet flash cards, peekaboo and nursery rhymes. Some of these are great (though never the flash cards!!) But our children deserve more! Our children are capable of more! I recently took an evening session in astronomy for children at our local school on camp. Unfortunately it was cloudy, so we turned to technology. In preparation for this, I had downloaded apps onto the Manaia Kindergarten ipad to use with the school children. The session went brilliantly (but more of that on another post). I left the apps on the ipad and took it back to Kindergarten. I did not alert the children to these new apps - I left them to make their own discoveries. Two weeks later, Otis's Nan brought this picture in to Kindergarten.
Otis told his Mum, "The sun is in the middle of our earth and the earth is going around and round the sun. The planet on the outside is Jupiter."
Wow - When did he learn this? His family had not spoken to him much about the solar system, but he does have a natural curiousity towards stars and planets. He had found the apps, explored them, and set up his own learning goals. Check out the app Otis explored.
Once you have zoomed into Planet Earth's solar system - you can manipulate it for a better look...
Otis clearly had some knowledge of the solar system - such as knowing about the existence of planets, the names of some planets - and he was able to further extend his knowledge by exploring the ipad app Exoplanet. This is a sophisticated app and through this app you can learn about other solar systems - enabling teachers and parents to learn alongside their children. There is huge potential for Otis to further extend his knowledge of solar systems because this app isn't "just for children". It doesn't limit knowledge to information we THINK children can handle.
I continue to search for apps that support children's interests and current knowledge....
In the meantime check out Exoplanet - an added bonus is that its free.
I'm just interested. I have been grappling with the kind of apps are acceptable on our Kindergarten ipad. I often hear teachers and parents say - "I don't want them to JUST play games"
So what do you see is the difference between a GAME and an EDUCATIONAL ipad app?
I was recently providing ICT professional development to a cluster of kindergartens. I was inspired by their desire and passion to learn, and to approach technology in early childhood education in a new way. As a final summary we concluded the following:
1. ICT is a tool. Use it to engage children with yourselves, each other and learning opportunities.
2. Technology for a purpose. ICT should be used throughout the curriculum. Scatter technology (computers, laptops, cameras, ipads) where it will be used for a purpose - digital microscope near a collection of bugs, natural resources, science specimens or close to the outdoors. Laptops with typing programmes in an area promoting literacy, cameras where children can easily access, take a photo of their name, and download photos when returned.
3. Start with one thing and do it well. The latest technology on the block can be cool, exciting, trendy to start with (like the ipad) - consider its long term appeal. Choose the thing that you think you can move forward on and commit to it. Make sure its achieveable.
4. Technology is not a babysitter - its a tool that should encourage collaborative learning and teaching. Engage in technology WITH the children.
5. Encourage children/students to be the teacher. You can learn a lot from them. Technology shouldn't be stored until YOU have mastered it - open it with the children and learn together. Encourage children to push buttons. Its unlikely to blow up. Learn from their desire to explore.
Ok - I thought I should just put this out there and see where it takes me.
I would like to write educational apps for young children.
I would like those apps to fit my teaching style and philosophy - so I figure, I should probably just write them. I have some programming skills. They are fairly old school programming skills, but I believe my skills are upgradable.
Where do I go to learn to write apps? Any advice welcome.
At Manaia Kindergarten we bought out the ipad for the first time on Thursday to explore the universe and find the Matariki stars in the sun lit sky through the iris of the ipad. (See blogpost about SKYVIEW app). This was a little tricky with a group of 30 eager children. Each child wanted a closer look. The Sun and the planets proving a big hit over the small stars.
THE 1st QUESTION raised from my first experience of the ipad with young children is:
"How can I connect the ipad (with apps running such as SKYVIEW) to our digital projector?
A Boy's Experience
Later in the morning I noticed one of our quiet boys looking a little lost and struggling to connect with other children. As I talked to him he asked me if he could see the stars again. When I handed him the PRECIOUS ipad, he confidently took it from my hands and swung it up to the sky. We were sitting at outside tables, on a slab of concrete. I HELD MY BREATH, .... AND .... trusted him.
Immediately others came over to him and they began to talk about the stars, the sun and the planets - swinging the ipad above their heads as they talked.
So we tried out SMULE together. WOW - the music they played - tapping on the screen together, trying to catch the glowing green balls - then swirling the balls to make patterns in the music. I have been considering purchasing a MAC keyboard - but this was much more fun. SMULE combines music and art. It is all about process and experience, and not about an end product. GREAT!!
I really thought they would stick with the music - but we only had the one free song - Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (which btw we had learnt in Te Reo (Maori) that morning). However there was obviously only so much of that song and the art they could handle.
THE 2ND QUESTION:
What budget does a school/early childhood centre set for ipad apps? And how would you prevent children deleting them accidentally?
The children wanted to explore more. By now J had one boy buddy and five girls hanging over his shoulders. But he was beaming with his new found magic and the ipad.
So he began his first role play as a SCULPTOR.
This app provides children with choices of wood or vegetables to sculp. They are probably American woods - it would be nice to apply different names and grains to the wood, to represent New Zealand indigenous woods - but hey - it is a start.
J choose to sculpt a watermelon. As he tapped he talked about the bit flying off the watermelon and it took a few moments for him to realise that by tapping he was changing the shape of the melon. He quickly learnt that by holding his finger down on the screen and moving it, he could rotate his sculpture in 3D. He did this regularly, seemingly assessing his work. Four other children created sculptures that morning. And it made me think.....
Questions no.3
WHY am I encouraging children to sculp in 3D on a virtual cold screen?
WHY am I not rather giving them a piece of REAL wood?
We do of course provide woodwork opportunities for children. WAS I today encouraging them to sculp on a screen rather than risk injury with REAL tools?
And then again....
I had fun sculpting on the screen - so WHY should I deprive children of that similiar experience?
AND more importantly top designers usually design on a screen first (these days) before investing time and money on real resources.
WHAT would this virtual experience do for young children's REAL life experiences?
The Great thing about the ipad
After the children had completed their virtual sculptures - we emailed the images straight from the SCULPTOR app to their parents. No cameras, no downloading, no uploading, no exporting or converting. I look forward to hearing their parents responses.
The Snow Princess
by an ipad SCULPTOR
The OTHER Great thing about the ipad.
It is a tool, integrated into a programme that provides children with a range of experiences.
ANSWER to QUESTIONs No3:
After two of the girls, who didn't really know eachother, had completed their virtual sculptures, chatted about their designs, giggled as they moved the image in 3D, and emailed their final images to their parents..... I saw them 10 minutes later - at the wood work table - earmuffs on, goggles over their eyes, drills rotating, and wood in their hands - SCULPTING!!!
And J made new friends today!!
In just one morning session - I see a whole lot of potential for this little screen.
Wow - thanks to all five people who responded to my last post. You all encouraged me to think and I DO intend to respond. Please watch this space.
In the meantime - we have bought an ipad for Manaia Kindergarten. I picked it up on Friday and am currently setting it up. I continue to advocate that technology - including the ipad - should be integrated into the kindergarten curriculum and not a 'study' on its own. I also believe that technology should help us to teach differently. In one comment from my latest post, it was suggested that 'real' flashcards provide the tactile real experience for young children. Well - I'm not really an advocate for flashcards be they 'real' or virtual. I believe in using experiences and opportunities, interests and strengths, to teach children about real life problem solving techniques, skills and knowledge.
My most FAVOURITE app for young children - Skyview
With the Skyview camera open, and capturing images of the environment around you - it also graphically shows you the placements of the planets, sun and star constellations, satelites, hubble telescope, and international spacestation. What amazing conversations this should encourage? What vastly different learning journey's this single app could take us on? (I will hopefully keep you up-dated). Information about each are recorded at the bottom of the screen and when you touch a planet, you are shown its trajectory. Children - even on cloudy days - can watch the rise and set of the sun and moon. For NZers - we can watch Matariki (pleiades) rise above the horizon - even though it is first viewable at a time when our Kindergarten children are fast asleep. They will be able to watch it on the ipad with their friends.
I look forward to sharing other inspirational,interactive, real learning opportunities that the ipad will offer the children at Manaia Kindergarten. If you have any apps that fit our purpose - please share in the comments below.
See other iPad experiences @ Manaia Kindergarten iPad Apps @ Manaia
Well wouldn't you know it!!. My modern brick phone DIED!!! Missing a few important dates as a result of an aging and unreliable battery, ensured its fate. If you read my post on Adaptable technologies & Global issues you will understand - I BOUGHT AN IPHONE!!
Yip I succumbed - with a spring in my step on the precipice of a new learning adventure.
What an adventure it has been. I have loved the iphone4's ability to record quality videos and to quickly and easily share these videos with family and friends. It was an excellent tool to record the birth of our puppies and invite the world to watch them grow. More exciting than that - my sister bought an iphone4 - and with WhatsApp has begun to share videos of my niece and nephew growing up on the other side of the world.
Sitting at work, the videos drop into my pocket, and I am able to share them with children and colleagues instantly.
Can I use my iphone in my Kindergarten?
No doubt about it. I haven't as yet. But that has more to do with personal issues - such as "I use and spend a lot of time and money on the kindergarten, when the kindergarten should purchase its own technologies". I am sure MANY other ECE teachers experience similar domestic discussions on the same topic.
So Manaia Kindergarten is filling in the paper work to justify the purchase of its own ipad. A bigger version of the iphone, I assume it provides similar benefits. I have searched iphone apps for Early Childhood education and been bombarded with Flash Card apps. SURELY there is more to this technology than perpetuating ancient learning techniques such as flash cards. I don't want to teach the Manaia Kindergarten children how to trace letters on the ipad with their fingers. And we have plenty of technologies that offer them games.
Kindergartens need more from iPad apps
So I am in the hunt for apps that will support children's explorations.
• Bug, plant, animal identification apps,
• Video recording
• Picture txting apps (using pics rather than text)
• Voice to text txting app
• Instant blogging apps
• Google Doc editing
• Fundamental movement apps - showing best practice for sport movements, and side by side photo comparisons for children to self assess.
Apps we should be using with young:
• Google maps on excursions
• Skype or Face-to-Face calls
What are your experiences of iphone/ipad Apps for young children?
What apps have you found that support 21C teaching and learning theories and skills?
Maybe some of the above already exist - if so please tell me in the comments.
I look forward to hearing your app reviews and to learning from your experiences.
This blog focuses on issues relating to children and teachers using ICT in education. I am a teacher at Manaia Kindergarten. We are part of the New Zealand Ministry of Education's CORE Education ECE ICT Professional Learning Programme. As a result of this programme I am specifically interested in the use of Information and Communication Technology to enhance children's learning and development. Our research question for the project focuses on building links between the Kindergarten and our wider community and how theses links benefit children. This blog is about my personal professional reflections and broader topics will be investigated from time to time as I advocate for the well being and empowerment of all children, and the upskilling of teachers in the implementation of ICT in education.
I look forward to sharing other inspirational,interactive, real learning opportunities that the ipad will offer the children at Manaia Kindergarten. If you have any apps that fit our purpose - please share in the comments below.
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