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Narrator: The Center for Early Childhood Education
at Eastern Connecticut State University presents:
Early Childhood Insights,
an audio podcast series,
featuring interviews with experts on topics of interest
to Early Childhood professionals.
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Interviewer: Hello, and welcome
to Early Childhood Insights.
I’m Julia DeLapp, Program Coordinator
at the Center for Early Childhood Education.
Today we will be talking with Dr. Douglas Clements
about introducing technology
into preschool classrooms.
Dr. Clements is a professor of learning instruction
at the graduate school of education
in the University at Buffalo SUNY system.
He has worked on a number of projects
looking at the development of early math skills
in young children and the use of technology
to support learning,
including the Building Blocks project.
Welcome Dr. Clements,
Let’s get started with the first question.
What do you find most exciting
about the use of technology in education today?
Dr. Doug Clements: A lot of the technology
that excites me has been around for a while,
but just not used particularly well,
and in early childhood education
and math education,
which is my main are of study.
So we’ve known for years that technology
can engage young children;
technology can present through
computer assited instruction
some interesting task for kids and they get feedback
from the computer and this can do good things
for them, for their learning.
But up to now it’s been difficult
to get that kind technology
well into the hands of teachers.
With the increasing infusion of technology
into people’s schools and classrooms
and with the internet being able to deliver software
to them without having to install software
and thing like that.
It's becoming more accessible for those teachers
and para professionals and everybody else
having computers at home and internet access
it opens up yet another avenue.
For their own professional development,
as well as for them to be able to plan to use technology
with their kids the next day.
They don’t have to be sitting in the classroom
all the time to do that kind of planning.
So this notion of access and some new technologies,
video technology are what really opens up
a new field of possibilities.
Why should early childhood teachers consider
utilizing computers and other technologies
in their classrooms—
particularly related to teaching beginning math skills?
Dr. Doug Clements: There’s a lot about
mathematics education that technology can help with,
if used properly.
Math is more than many other subjects,
science, literature, and literacy,
a highly sequenced domain,
a hierarchal domain.
You have to know one thing
before you can really understand
the next thing in the domain.
One of the things that computer technology can do
is help teachers sequence that kind of material
for kids.
So if the software is properly developed
for the computer.
if the kids are at a certain level of thinking,
then the computer can just start giving them tasks
at the next level of thinking,
encouraging them to keep going.
On the other hand, if they fail at that task,
it can gently move them backwards
to a set of prerequisites skills
that they might need to move ahead.
That’s just one use.
Another use is to open up
a world of creativity for the kids.
So open ended kind of software
plays a very different role
but a very important role in mathematics,
because kids can actually play with
certain kinds of mathematical ideas,
perhaps more with technology,
given that the it can be programed
to embody the mathematical ideals and processes.
We want kids to learn in a micro world
or a little exploratory environment for kids
as well as that a lot of those kinds
of mathematical ideas could then be made real
on the screen,
iconically and pictorially for kids
in a way that’s almost better sometimes
than concrete materials.
Julia DeLapp: What about other technologies,
such as digital video?
Dr. Doug Clements: Now digital video
is yet another thing.
So digital video cannot only bring
animation and other things to children
but it ’s really important
for teachers’ professional development.
I was a kindergarten and preschool teacher myself
and I know that when I could see and visualize
how a certain activity went with kids,
it was much easier for me to deliver
that activity in a good way,
in a way that had high fidelity.
The intentions of the person who wrote the activity.
when I just read it,
it was much more difficult to say,
well exactly what does this look like?
Exactly how is this going to feel
when I get into the classroom?
So digital video is great
because now we can share kind of teaching episodes.
Teachers all over the county,
all over the world
comment on those interactive around those
and bring the professional expertise
of different practitioner’s right to your doorstep.
And I think those are the things
I think are unique about technology.
Those kinds of things are really important
for teachers to see,
especially in mathematics
because mathematics is the under domain;
most of us in early childhood
have had a lot of experience with.
For decades, it’s been thought,
“oh math is more abstract,
it’s not appropriate for young kids.”
So that’s for elementary school.
But for the earlier years of education,
you know, you do a few shapes.
Maybe you count a little,
but that’s about it.
More recent research and history actually,
going way back to Fredrick Froebel
and his mathematical gifts and occupations,
show that kids can do fundamental thinking
about mathematics and a wide variety of domains
and that they enjoy it.
So rather than being pushed down
from the elementary school,
it arises out of kids’ natural play
and their natural interest in the world.
All this can be captured on digital video.
For both kids in one way,
and for teachers in another way.
For us to be able to explore
and help learn about how kids learn mathematics.
Julia DeLapp: So why is there so much resistance
to using computers in early childhood classrooms?
Dr. Doug Clements: A lot of this came from Piaget,
and the notion that there were kids
who are different stages of learning.
And at the sensory motor stage,
they really had to do concrete things—
and even in the concrete stage,
which is elementary school age, basically.
They needed concrete objects
to learn to understand things.
And only in formal operation stage,
when kids are in adolescence,
would you do really this symbolic
and abstract kind of thinking.
But more recent research
shows that’s a little over simplified.
It’s also misunderstanding Piaget a little bit.
Because when he said a concrete operational thinker,
he didn’t mean kids
have to have concrete things in their hands,
he meant they needed to make it
concrete for themselves at that point.
What we found lately in mathematics education
and technology education is that
computers can really help kids bridge the worlds
between their concrete experience
and abstract mathematical thinking,
at a very young age.
So that when some people —
especially teachers—
encounter computers, they say, really,
I think my kids should have hands-on experiences.
And what they mean by that is
computer experience isn’t hands-on.
In a physical way of course they’re right.
It’s good for kids to touch the objects,
to count, to touch the shapes they think about.
But on the other hand,
to understand counting,
you can’t understand that in objects,
4 isn’t in the fingers,
4 is in the mind.
When you look at the fingers
and abstract those as units and put them together
and say together as a group,
I call that 4.
And when you can see these fingers as 4,
And you can see four blocks on the floor
and say that that’s 4,
what an abstraction.
So we know that young kids, 2 and 3 years old
can abstract very interesting ideas,
and can sybolize them at least in spoken language,
and soon in written language as well.
Where's technology fit in, in all of this?
Well, technology can put on the screen
multiple representations of these kinds of ideas.
Connecting those representations
can help kids bridge the world between
concrete four blocks and the abstract idea of four.
Because when things go on the screen,
and kids can count them,
and maybe the computer will say the word,
or ask them to count and then they count each one,
and it’ll say yes that’s four
and represent the four both with four claps,
with four pictures on the screen,
and the word four.
Their helping kids make connections
between those various representations.
And they’re linking the concrete experience
kids have already had with four objects,
pictures of four,
which are just as concrete to kids mathematically.
Why?
Because mathematically, again,
the word four is abstract,
so what you just need is a concrete representation.
But we now know that concrete
is much more about meaningfulness
then it is about physicality.
It’s much more about what makes sense to me,
then it is something’s got weight.
So when kids see four objects
and there’s a picture of four dogs on the screen,
that's as meaningful to them as having four dogs.
Indeed the four dogs on the screen can be ordered
and thought about and manipulated
with much more control than four dogs
running around on your floor can be.
So that can help kids make the kind of connections
between their concrete experience
and this new abstract experience.
And the welding of those two
is actually what understanding is.
When many different ideas are linked together.
Computers can help young children link these ideas
and thus build strong understanding of mathematics.
Julia DeLapp: So I want to know
if I'm hearing you right?
Are you saying the computer
can play a more important role in children's learning,
than the teacher in the classroom?
Julia DeLapp: When computers are being used
to support emerging math skills,
what is the role of the teacher?
Dr. Doug Clements: The teacher is wise to be nearby.
Not on the kids’ back all the time —
actually the research shows
that if you sit there too much,
kids don’t learn as much.
But if you’re available for that question for
when children really do get stuck
so you can go over and talk to them about it
and engage them in the mathematics
that’s being presented,
it increases kids learning by quite a bit like I said,
their motivation to continue to do it.
This is not a story about kids
individually being tutored by this machine,
but the story of a tool that can be used by a teacher
to enhance kid’s mathematical understanding.
Julia DeLapp: How does this translate
to the home environment?
What role should parents play
in supporting children’s use of computers?
Dr. Doug Clements: Yeah, parents also play
a significant role similar to teachers.
Computers are used too often in the home
as a kind of babysitter, as a TV substiute.
“So I got them off TV –
at least their on the computer they’ll learn something.”
In fact, it may have very little advantage
over good TV programs.
Parents really have to do two things.
They have to make sure that the software
grows with the kids.
is appropriate to the kids, and grows with the kids
But the bigger thing and the second thing is,
sit down with the kid,
not the whole time
like we’ve just talked about with teachers,
but at least for some time.
And definitely be available when kids have questions,
because it's at that point,
the teachable moments often will occur.
In the middle of that you can make a real advance
into interesting discussions about the mathematics
of what’s happening
or other subject matter areas on the computer.
Because this lesson —
make sure you’re actively
involved with the kid—
applies to all subjects.
Julia DeLapp: And what should parents look for
when selecting computer programs?
Dr. Doug Clements: We have to look for software
that matches the kind of thing
that you think your kid should be learning.
It has to be appropriate for the kid at that time.
So that a lot of people will think,
Oh, what I’m going to do
is to get this program for my kids.
Well you know,
they’ll get a commercial,
off-the-shelf program,
and those programs can be
very good for a very short time,
but you’ll often see these will count out.
Say they teach counting 10,
and you buy it for your kids,
they learn to count to ten,
and that’s great.
Kids will play that game the next one and a half years
if it’s got motivating kind of characters on the screen,
but it’s not teaching them anything.
If you sit with the children
you should know,
too easy, too hard, just right.
It’s easy for kids to get involved
with things that are too easy—
they often, if picking on their own,
will pick activities that are too easy.
It’s kind of a human tendency
to say, oh, this as fun,
I could do this very easily.
There is software out there
that teaches kids to discriminate
one color from the other.
Well, research has shown kids
know that about three weeks of age.
So why are they selling this to three and four year olds?
You want to keep pushing them a little bit
in a gentle way to challenge themselves,
and that’s why I say there are software suites
that grow with children.
These are probably more appropriate—
that give challenges,
that gives tasks,
that give kids an activity
that's at the next level of thinking.
It does take some digging
to try to figure out what are the kind of things
that my kid is developmentally ready for,
to learn, and then try to
match technology environment
with the needs of the child.
Julia DeLapp: How can we help
more experienced teachers transition
from older ways of teaching to newer approaches,
especially with integrated technology?
Dr. Doug Clements: When teachers are trying
to incorporate some of these new technologies,
it is important for them to get good, guided,
hands-on experience with those technologies.
And some of the best ways
are to try to get involved with
projects that are working with
those technologies with kids with teachers.
The ones that have video,
you can go in there and see how this looks
when people are using that.
These kinds of things need some practical,
hands-on kind of experience yourself.
You need enough of that so you feel confident in it.
If you can get involved in a project
or start a little group of your own ,
with colleagues and peers
where you share ideas and things like that.
That’s going to be the most important thing.
I’m speaking to teachers
to plead with their administrators
that you have adequate technical support.
There is nothing more frustrating than
working a long time on the technology
and not having someone who can solve a little glitch.
So teachers who are interested in this
should follow the same kind of hands-on
and substantial time commitment recommendations
that anybody should follow.
And also make sure that they don’t feel
that they have to abandon old approaches.
Technology should enhance and enliven
the kind of good teaching
that teachers have been interested in
and involved with for a long time.
What’s important is to see new opportunities
and new ways of thinking
and connect those to so-called “old ways” of thinking.
And not to abandon one and jump to another.
The most important thing
that we need to say about technology
is that it’s just like supporting learning
with any kind of media or any kind of tools,
or any kind of interactions.
Julia DeLapp: This concludes this episode
of Early Childhood Insights.
Thank you Dr. Clements for talking with us today
and thanks to all of you for listening.
You can watch a video that includes
a portion of this discussion
and footage from early childhood classrooms
on iTunes U or by visiting our website.
Narrator: This has been a presentation of
the Center for Early Childhood Education
at Eastern
Connecticut State University.
For more information about
the Center for Early Childhood Education,
please visit our website at www.easternct.edu/cece.
Make sure to subscribe to this feed
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