I am reading a very interesting book,
Lifelong Kindergarten: Cultivating Creativity through Projects, Passion, Peers, and Play, by Mitchel Resnick. The book takes a very different orientation to technology in the classroom, although it does not specifically focus on early childhood education. As he writes, "In my research group at MIT, we've developed a set of four guiding principles for helping young people develop as creative thinkers: projects, passion, peers, and play. In short, we believe the best way to cultivate creativity is to support people working on
projects based on their
passions, in collaboration with
peers, and in a
playful spirit (p.16)". One of Resnick's frustrations is the following problem: "Too often, designers of educational materials and activities simply add a thin layer of technology and gaming over antiquated curriculum and pedagogy . . . (p.22)" He looks at the creative process in terms of a Creative Learning Spiral that has some similarities to an Inquiry Learning Spiral: Imagine, create, play, share, reflect, and back to imagine (p. 11).
It would be interesting to think about Resnick's ideas and discuss how it relates to how we teach children in early childhood classrooms, particularly as it has to do with integrating technology as a creative process as we say we believe and use the term STEAM to describe.
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Nora Krieger
Associate Professor Emerita/ Chair NJEEPRE
Bloomfield College/ New Jersey Educators Exploring the Practices of Reggio Emilia
Highland Park NJ
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-29-2018 02:22 PM
From: Fran Simon, M.Ed.
Subject: Are you an innovator in early childhood?
Hi Susan!
As someone who rejoiced when the position statement came out, I was happy about the guidance, but it's not specific enough to help practitioners make selections of tools or integrate them into their programs. Many books were written and resources developed to help teachers and administrators apply the principles of the position statement, though, including two by Chip Donohue, two by Brian Puerling, and one by me and Karen Nemeth. Those books are just a few of the resources that have become available to programs since the publication of the Position Statement. It's hard to keep up with developments in technology, but the Position Statement is an important enduring organizing document that provides the framework for more practical resources. It's hard for directors and teachers to find the books that provide practical guidance because tech books are produced by so many publishers!
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Fran Simon, M.Ed.
Engagement Strategies, LLC
Early Childhood Investigations Webinars
Early Childhood Investigations Consultants Directory
Washington, DC Metro
Original Message:
Sent: 01-29-2018 01:18 PM
From: Susan Friedman
Subject: Are you an innovator in early childhood?
Thanks Bonnie for your ideas. We're hoping members will start sharing their ideas on Hello rather than having to remember so many different platforms. I myself would love to go South by Southwest - maybe another year! I'm interested in how the presentations discuss technology as a useful tool for teachers and children and wonder if they will refer to
NAEYC's many tech related resources including the position statement. I'm really interested in hearing more from the NAEYC community on Hello about making decisions about which technology tools and resources to use and integrate. How do you evaluate which technology tools to use in your classrooms? Do you use the NAEYC position statement for guidance?
Thanks,
Susan
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Susan Friedman
Original Message:
Sent: 01-29-2018 08:19 AM
From: Bonnie Blagojevic
Subject: Are you an innovator in early childhood?
Thinking about your question a bit more…
The TEC center http://teccenter.erikson.edu/, Fred Rogers Center blog http://www.fredrogerscenter.org/news-events/blog/ and Joan Ganz Cooney Center http://joanganzcooneycenter.org/ often publish about innovative use of technology for early learning.
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Bonnie Blagojevic
Morningtown Consulting
Orono ME
Original Message:
Sent: 01-28-2018 08:34 AM
From: Bonnie Blagojevic
Subject: Are you an innovator in early childhood?
Hi Christine,
The NAEYC Technology & Young Children Interest Forum has a Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ECETECH/ and listserv (To join, please send mail to LISTSERV@LISTS.MAINE.EDU with the command in the e-mail message body: SUBSCRIBE ECETECH-L group -both have been in existence for some time/before Hello@NAEYC was available) - you may want to post your message with an invitation to forward to those groups as well.
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Bonnie Blagojevic
Morningtown Consulting
Orono ME
Original Message:
Sent: 01-27-2018 04:59 PM
From: Christine Whitmire
Subject: Are you an innovator in early childhood?
Hello Early Childhood Community!
In early March, the SXSW EDU Conference & Festival will feature an early childhood track. This Conference is known for its creative and innovative focus. In the EC track, participants will connect innovative practices and technology to the field of early childhood. One session will feature the new Head Starter Network, with discussions on th role of AI and technology in the EC classroom. I plan to attend, with the goal of curating cutting edge concepts for future early childhood programs.
I am looking for other regions of the country where partnerships, innovation, design and technology are at the forefront of early childhood practice. Would you please share your work and your location? I'm interested in learning more about you as I am working on a very special project in our community.
Austin colleagues: please recommend innovative initiatives in the city worthy of a tour.
Many thanks for sharing!
Chris
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Christine Whitmire
Principal & Consultant
Early Learning Center
Granger IN
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