Fine motor skills – ICT involves using many of our fine motor skills from the obvious mouse control clicking and selecting shapes or areas on the screen, the new touch screens, keyboard buttons, phone buttons and touch screens and pushing buttons such as power switches.
Gross motor skills – interactive whiteboards provide good opportunities for use of gross motor skills as we have to reach up and down to make them work, and use whole bodies to reach certain buttons or selections. Consoles such as the Nintendo Wii involve a lot of gross motor skill action to play the games – dancing, running, jumping, stretching, throwing and so on.
Creative Development – Most ICT can offer some kind of creative development from drawing pictures, shapes, and colouring in Paint applications on PCs, laptops and tablets. You have to choose from brush sizes, erasers, pencils, pens, colours. Older children could even do junk modelling with old computer equipment (electrical parts removed first).
Increase confidence – ICT products are interactive and children get instant reactions from them. Children are in control. Digital cameras provide instant pictures for them to see and talk about. A lot of learning is done through games so they are unaware and enjoy taking part. Shy children can sometimes react better to cameras and come out of themselves.
Increases world knowledge – Children constantly see adults using ICT every day, from televisions, microwaves, digital clocks and radios, computers, sat navs and so on. By using ICT themselves they are copying adults and can see themselves as part of the wider world. “Interest and confidence in engaging with ICT in their many forms are necessary so that all of us are able to play a full part in society.” (Stirling University)
Mathematical development – There are lots of maths games for ICT ranging from basic shapes to solving complex calculations – all making learning fun. BugBots are a type of pre programmed bug which moves to given instructions such as left, forward, backwards.
Language development – again there are lots of languages games for ICT ranging from letter recognition to sentence structure to story writing as well as crossword games, wordsearches making it fun. Toy phones prompt children to talk and make conversations and in addition to this there are general discussions and learning to share and compromise.
Construct a booklet which can be issued to parents which identifies safety concerns for children using ICT and how these concerns are being addressed in the child care setting.
See separate attached document.
Identify and describe various ways in which ICT can be used to support the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum. Reference should be made to the various types of ICT available, not just computers.
Early Learning Goals
Numeracy – as mentioned before there are lots of maths games for ICT ranging from basic shapes to solving complex calculations – all making learning fun. BugBots are a type of pre programmed bug which moves to given instructions such as left, forward, backwards. Other means of ICT teaching Numeracy skills are toy shop tills, toy phones and calculators which all have numbers and opportunities for number play/work.
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Literacy – as above there are lots of languages games for ICT ranging from letter recognition to sentence structure to story writing as well as crossword games, word searches making it fun. Young children can learn to type their names, recognise the letters in their names. Touch screen tablets encourage the letter formation using fingers. Other means of ICT that Literacy can be incorporated into are toy phones or walkie talkies which prompt children to talk and make conversations, role play in shops with tills. Whiteboards offer interaction for the children in writing on a larger scale using pens or their hands.
Physical Education – ICT can be used for PE lessons, or physical activities in that the children can watch videos, CD Roms of various sports and activities and then try them themselves. Some games consoles have games on them where the children interact physically with dancing, running, jumping, throwing, batting, bowling and even skiing.
Personal and Social Education – ICT products are interactive and children get instant reactions from them. The children are in control which increases their confidence and in turn their understanding. Digital cameras provide instant pictures for them to see and talk about, as do camcorders. Shy children can sometimes react better to cameras and come out of themselves, noisy disruptive children can be calmer and more responsive when in control and getting instant reactions from ICT. and in addition to this there are general discussions and learning to share and compromise.
Creative Development – ICT can offer lots of creative development ranging from drawing pictures, shapes, and colouring in using Paint applications on PCs, laptops and tablets. The creations can be printed out onto paper to be kept for assessment or display purposes or proudly taken home.
Knowledge and Understanding of the World – ICT can give children a good basis of understanding the world around them – videos, CD Roms, pictures, slideshows. Children can learn about other cultures, religions, countries and using web cams can even ‘talk’ to other children in childcare settings all over the world or country.
Identify the ways in which families can become involved in ICT including ways in which the childcare setting can promote its use.
“….the use of ICT helps remove the boundaries between learning and experiences that take place in the home and at school” (Teaching Expertise)
In general IT literate parents are already in a good position to help their children become familiar with ICT around and outside of the home. They can already teach their children the basics such as using a mouse and keyboard, touch screen devices, games consoles, play phones all before they enter the childcare setting. ICT has been embedded into the Early Years Curriculum as a separate subject so it can offer new and further things to these children, as well as introduce the basics to those who don’t have this advantage from home.
Using digital cameras or camcorders children can record or photograph things at home that they may not be able to take into the childcare setting for safety or risk of loss reasons, and then talk about them once in the setting – examples of this could be pets, precious things, clothes etc.
Parents who are not IT literate can access free ICT courses at most local colleges or community centres. Classes include basic PC processing, using laminators, using digital cameras, introduction to interactive white boards. Most towns have internet cafes and computers for use in local libraries, some McDonald branches now even have iPads you can play whilst visiting!
The childcare setting itself can offer email and text messaging services for newsletters, photos and essential messages such as closures or general reminders. Some settings even have cctv or webcams for parents to watch their children at play during the day from their home or work computers.
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