EDFD 136

Assignment 2 - Critical Essay

Emily Merrett
S00153979
As time passes countless aspects of the world change, problems are
solved and new ones arrive, and this is true for the issues that are
prevalent in our early childhood settings. The early childhood
educational setting is one which changes frequently as a result of
the great wealth of knowledge researchers deliver in order to enable
educators to have the best knowledge as to how to best assist the
growth and development of children. One major contemporary issue
that we now face today is the concept of technology in early
childhood. This is a seemingly unstoppable change, as technology
use is so extremely prevalent in the lives of a 21 st century man or
woman and increasingly so, in the lives of our young children. The
value of technology use is a disputed one, doubts of whether or not
it is beneficial to young children as opposed to play-based and more
socially lead learning are often risen. The value of the application of
technology in inquiry-based learning is explored by Wang, Kingie,
Mcguire & Pan (2010). The impacts that can eventuate from
technology use are identified by Palmer (2006) and River (2012) in
their research. There is need for balance between technology use
and other means of learning, such as play and social interaction are
impeded through the use of the theories of many.
In the last twenty years there has been and an overwhelming
development in technology and integration of technology into the
everyday lives of both adults and children. Talay-Ongan & Ap (2005)
recognized that our world is undergoing this constant drastic change
especially in regards to technology and point out that the
governments were delayed in their acknowledgement of the need to
change in the way we educate our children that propels their

leaning towards a new standard that concentrates on what is

needed for the future. Wang, Kingie, Mcguire & Pan (2010)
discovered that whilst there may be a large number of interactive
games and educational software packages implemented in early
childhood education, most software packages have yet to integrate
technology into inquiry-based learning for early childhood contexts.
This is an issue as children naturally explore and learn about their
environments through inquiry. Computer technologies offer an
accessible vehicle for extending the domain and range of this
inquiry.

Wang,

Kingie,

Mcguire

&

Pan

(2010)

suggest

that

instructional technologies should be used in early childhood inquiry

education to enrich and provide structure for problem contexts,
facilitate

resource

utilization,

and

support

cognitive

and

metacognitive processes. The worry is, as Rivera (2012) explains,

that some electronic tools that supposedly enhance a person's
learning can actually serve to limit it as they have a child, passive
and not engage due to a lack of structure in the technology. Essa
(2002) points out that one of the distinguishable major goals of
early childhood education is to enhance childrens cognitive skills
and socialization, this is to further enable future success in schools
and adult life. Ginsburg and Golbeck (2004) and the work of Justice
and Kaderavek (2004) identify that in order to achieve such a goal,
that experts recommend that early childhood programs balance
child-driven, embedded, highly contextualized, and meaningful
interactions, and teacher-guided, concentrated, scaffolded, and
explicitly targeted exposures to key concepts. Having witnessed
first-hand the use and misuse of technology in the early childhood
setting highlighted the point that Rivera (2012) made in regards to
how the idea that technology is great for learning can be true, but
can also seemingly not enhance a child's learning but pacify them,
disconnecting them from the world around them, as well as starving
them of possible social interactions which would very well have
been more influential in terms of learning and development.

The introduction of technology into the lives of children can also

have a wide range of possible negative effects and challenges for
children and parents. Palmer (2006) recognizes that its a case that
throughout the developed world, children are suffering, with obesity,
dyslexia, ADHD, and other serious ailments on the rise. She
acknowledges what many argue, being that it is simply the case
that diagnostic abilities have improved and states that whilst that is
true, it is also the case that incidences are increasing in number too.
Palmer identifies factors such as poor diet, lack of exercise, and
sleep deprivation to symptoms emerging from our modern lifestyle
of TV, computer games, and cell phones as dangers. The challenge
of determining the role electronics have in family life away from the
early childhood education setting and the time allowed for their use
can become a stress factor in familys lives as Rivera (2012)
recognizes. This can be seen in the day-to-day life of members of
society, I have seen it myself. Incidences include when children
misbehave in public and parents respond by giving the child an
electronic device and when children become very upset when
parents trying to limit their electronic usage. Technology use is an
issue that can negatively impact on social interactions and learning
when used improperly.
A balance is necessary for a childs development, as technology,
whilst in many cases able to facilitate learning which is of
undeniable value, can not provide the interpersonal skills and the
vocabulary that go with socializing. Rivera (2012) states that with
children it is the case that passive viewing does not engage the
child with other people directly, yet it is that active interpersonal
engagement through which children learn the most, intellectually
and socially. Even though video games might be "interactive" or
"educational," the child is receiving feedback from a machine.
Children need to have experiences of social engagement, with

adults and other children. Children are able to benefit from these
interactions,

learning

through

various

means.

Reiser

(2004)

identifies the use of others assistance to further learning is

Vygotskys (1978) notion of the zone of proximal development,
which characterizes the region of tasks between what the learner
could accomplish alone and what he or she could accomplish (and
master) with assistance (Rogoff, 1990). Play is another means for
which balance can be achieved, Grieshaber & McArdle (2010)
reminds us that play has great value for a child and their
development and that it can also be political and involve morals,
ethics, values and power.
Technology is an integrated aspect of modern life that we do not see
as stopping to be so any time soon. More work is to be done to
enable the most effective use of technology in the early childhood
education setting. The development of our children is at the
forefront of our minds as we strive to better their lives.
Reference List
Essay, E. (2002). Introduction to early childhood education (4th ed.).
Clifton Park, NY: Thomson Delmar Learning.
Ginsburg, H. P., & Golbeck, S. L. (2004). Thoughts on the future of
research on mathematics and science learning and education.
Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 19(1), 190200.
Grieshaber, S., & McArdle, F. (2010). The Trouble with Play. Open
University Press.
Justice, L. M., & Kaderavek, J. (2004). Embedded-explicit emergent
literacy I: Background and description of approach. Language,
Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 35, 201211.
Palmer, S. (2006). Toxic childhood: How the modern world is
damaging our children and what we can do about it. London:
Orion.
Reiser, B. J. (2004). Scaffolding complex learning: The mechanisms
of structuring and problematizing student work. Journal of the

Learning Sciences, 13(3), 273304.

Rivera, M. (2012,). Healthy use of electronics. The Hispanic Outlook
in Higher Education, 22, 40.
Rogoff, B. (1990). Apprenticeship in thinking: Cognitive
development in social context. New York: Ox- ford University Press.
Talay-Ongan, A., & Ap, E.A. (2005). Child Development and Teaching
Young Children. Cengage: South Melbourne.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of the
higher psychological processes (A. Kozulin, Trans.). Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press.
Wang, F., Kingie, M. B., Mcguire, P., & Pan, E. (2010). Applying
technology to inquiry-based learning in early childhood
education. Early Childhood Education Journal, 37(5) 381-389.