Probably, you have read countless articles about how essential it is that today’s children to learn to code as well as other aspects of technology. Perhaps you’ve introduced your own children to some of the excellent tutorials from Hour of Code. Maybe they have played with Scratch (the MIT Media Lab’s great platform that makes coding accessible to kids) or Tynker (which offers online coding courses aimed at kids).

On the flipside, children and technology is a hot-button issue for some parents. Many of these parents would tell you they know screen time restricted be limited, however the lure of to turn on the TV for a few minutes in order to get some quiet is often just too much.

Varying Opinions About Technology

There are ample opinions about how much screen time is too much in addition to the positive and negative effects which tech has on children. It’s overwhelming, contradictory and frankly, a little confusing.

The multiplication tables have long been a hot topic of discussion when it comes to tech in schools. Memorising them sure makes it easier for children to do math in their heads however will children memorise their multiplication tables (or learn how to figure fractions or practise learning to read an analogue clock) if it’s easy for calculators and computers to do the heavy-lifting for them?

Technology Can Help Students Learn

Some researchers are of the opinion that integrating technology into teaching and learning has the effect of improving students’ grades. Others make the argument that technology makes little difference to how students perform as traditional approaches to teaching still come up top.

A great deal of research into this area has focused on technology as a tool. But what is the value of technology as a medium to encourage interactions between parents, teachers and students – tapping into the affective domain – and ensure that students construct knowledge?

Supporting Social And Emotional Development

Utilising touchscreen devices is the easiest for preschool-aged children. This is because their fine motor skills are still developing. When touchscreen devices are utilised in the correct fashion, these are actually able to encourage children to work together as well as improve their social skills as they need to take turns and share ideas as they complete online activities side by side and view educational content.

Encouraging Students to Follow Multi-Step Directions

It’s not always a straightforward task to teach young children to listen as well as recall when it comes to following directions. However, with using digital devices in the classroom – for example tablets, computers as well as smart boards – requires kids to follow multi-step directions. Examples of this are switching the device on, swiping to the left or right, and choosing items on a screen.

Not all children naturally love school and learning. However, most do enjoy using technology. This is something which early childhood educators are able to use to their advantage when it comes to getting all kids to enjoy the learning process. Technology provides lots of fun and innovative activities which appeal to children of all ages.