Digital Camera

At the centre we have 3 cameras, one for the infants and toddler’s area, one for the young children’s area and one belongs to the supervisor. All the children at the centre are allowed to use it with the teacher’s supervision. From what I witness at my centre once the children sees a teacher taking photos of a child, they all run to the scene and put on their expression faces. While participating in the scene the children are able to name their facial expressions, for example a child will call out “do a funny face, do a sad face” all the other children follows with their facials. Therefore I also see this as another learning opportunity for the children where they learn new vocabulary, the children also teaches each other by mimicking or role modelling as the children contribute into to their own learning. This is one of the funniest moments for the children and the children also recalled poses they saw on the television and magazines and use it as well.

At times the staff allows the children to use the camera where they can take photos of what makes sense to them and what they find unique in their own way (Ministry of Education, 1996). “This opportunity give the children the chance to own the object and take control of the camera. By trusting the children, allowing them to control their own use of cameras, children are able to build a sense of worth and pride about themselves. They see that they are trusted and respected enough to use ICT equipment” (Eastbourne Barnados Early Learning Centre, n.d. as cited in Ministry of Education, 2011, para. 148). Children also got to learn how to work the camera and also learn how to view their own photos as they go along with their project. Children will not only learnt about taking photos but also how to record special moments using the video recorder on the camera.

Today technology has upgrated to the latest and fastest technology, for example we explained to the children how it use to be Kodak camera where we print the photos but we wont be able to look at the photos because the films has to be printed first. Today it has upgrated from a kodak camera to a digital camera where we can view the photos, video and most importantly we can print the photost straight away. After we took the children to the resource room where taught them how to print the photos, and also upload the photos and videos on to the computer. The children were excited when we told them to choose the photos they wanted to print. Once again this activity didn’t only teach the children how to use the camera but they also learnt how to use the printer and computer. At mat time we gave the children a chance to get up and show their picture they printed to the class and share their story with them. “Photo Story is a way of acknowledging an interest that was important to the children. Children were able to share their experience with others, gaining their interest and enthusiasm – thus enhancing their own self-esteem. The story became an outlet for the encouragement of the chidlren’s developing language base” (Rototuna Early Education Centre, n.d., p. 22 as cited in Ministry of Education, 2011, para. 128). Digital cameras also helps the children to revists their experiences by sharing it with families and friends. “Spontaneous images taken by digital cameras and digital microscopes were found to be useful stimulus to ‘get children speaking’ and conversing more, either with each other or with the teacher. Such talk seems to have often taken the form of explanation or providing a running commentary on their work, or by way of verbalising their personal narratives or their activity planning (as when the child went home and talked over his plans with parents to collect things from the garden to explore with the digital microscope the next day)" (Ministry of Education, 2011, para. 115).

                          

Digital camera is a very useful tool in the centre, because it captures the children’s development, physically, mentally and emotionally. The teacher shares the children photos with the parents, when the photos are shared with the parents it gives the parents a fair idea of the children’s stages of development but most importantly it makes the parents feel included and not miss out on their children’s learning and development. Teacher’s also use the camera to print photos for learnings stories, which helps them identify the children’s development and also how they can extend the child’s learning or development. “Encouraging staff to use cameras and write learning story, helps the staff identify and reflect on the children’s learning and development” (Glass, Baker, Bernstone & Hagan, 2010, p.79). 

References:

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki: He whāriki mātauranga mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa : Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.

Ministry of Education. (2011). Effective learning in early childhood education? The impact of the ece ict pl programme: a synthesis report. Retrieved from 3 March, 2012 from http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/ece/79138/1.- childrens-learning

Glass, B., Baker, K., Ellis, R., Bernstone, H., & Hagan, D. B. (2010). Inclusion at Botany Downs Kindergarten Centre of Innovation 2006-2008. Wellington, New Zealand: Minstry of Education.

Pictures:

Retrieved from 21 March, 2012 from https://www.google.co.nz/search hl=en&q=children+using+the+camera&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1366&bih=667&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=y7NrT83jI4HRrQeG7emEAg