Would
you be more interested in reading these words if they were moving, flashing, or making noise? Even if you wouldn’t be, your child probably would. This is the
result of being a product of the 21st century, which is not
necessarily a bad thing. Along with the technological revolution of this age,
comes new, innovative ways for kids to learn important skills that they need
across developmental domains. One
important tool that be used to improve cognitive, academic, linguistic, social,
and fine motor development is the tablet, including the ever-so-popular Apple
iPad.
Have
you noticed the startling amount of toddlers able to manipulate touch-screen
icons before they can even zip their own jacket? You’re not the only one. Couse
and Chen (2010) found that young children were able to easily learn how to draw
on a tablet device after adult instruction and peer modeling. Not only are the
kids able to use tablets, they want to
use them! This is confirmed by Couse and Chen
(2010) as they reported on a study in which children between the ages of three
and six were found to more readily be able to represent their ideas by drawing
on a tablet computer as they were highly motivated by the tool. Because young
students are often very interested in using tablet computers and, thus, are
eager to take advantage of them, they have more opportunities to work on their
fine motor skills and increase their prewriting abilities.
So
teachers, the best part of using a tablet in the classroom is that you don’t
have to sing, dance, or put on any Oscar-worthy performances to get kids
motivated because simply breaking out the exciting piece of technology is
motivation enough to gain students’ attention.
Now that
we know kids want to use tablets, how can we get our children to reap the most
benefits of them?
Here is a list of ways the tablet can
aide your child’s development:
Drawing:
In the early childhood years, children
express their thoughts and knowledge through drawing. Students will be more
motivated to record these ideas by drawing on a tablet because there are more
colors and design features for them to utilize. Using a tablet instead of a computer with a
mouse allows students to have better control over their paintings and allows
them to add expressive action by creating dashes, blobs, dots, and spots with
ease. These works of art can serve as an outlet for you to know what your child
or student is thinking and, thus, may aide kids in communicating ideas and
feelings that they may not otherwise be able to relay. Additionally,
manipulating the tools to draw on a tablet can aid the development of fine
motor skills.
Audio
and Video: Students can watch educational videos
and listen to child-friendly songs, which will allow them to build early
literacy skills like vocabulary, phonemic awareness, and oral fluency. They can
even record themselves, which will further develop these skills. A great
website for educational videos and audio files is schooltube.com. Teachers can
also download audio formats of textbooks for visually impaired students or
English language learners.
Why don’t we just download these
features on our computers? You may get a few stares while looking for an outlet
to plug in your desktop at the latest WiFi hotspot in the subway!
Online Storybooks: Teachers and parents can download storybooks to tablets to
make them as easily transportable as paper books. Online
storybooks give students the opportunity to listen the storybooks repeatedly
while visualizing the words as they are read on the computer screen. This
process essentially builds the child’s ability to automatically recognize sight
word vocabulary. Additionally, this digital storybooks exhibit readers who
model appropriate tone and oral expression including, using the correct
intonation and punctuation while reading, which young readers often have
difficulty doing. By providing students with online storybooks, we are giving
students the tools they need to engage in the multiple readings that are
necessary to develop fluency. Because digital storybooks allot for the same
book to be read in different voices, students are often interested in repeated
readings.
Here
are some links for digital storybooks:
Digital Storytelling: Storytelling with the use of an iPad or other
tablet can be much more engaging for students than developing a hand-cramp with
a dull No. 2 pencil accompanied by the crinkled pages of a marble notebook. Students
may also be more motivated to write as digital storytelling provides the
opportunity to for kids to include media, images, videos and audio files, which
often make text more appealing.
In
addition to motivating kids and building fine motor skills, technology-assisted
writing can have a positive influence on all elements of the writing process
for elementary students. The use of technology has made it more efficient for
students to revise their writing. Students now have the ability to save their
work electronically and then revisit it to make necessary changes.
Additionally, technology has opened the doors to finding information via the
Internet and electronic encyclopedias to contribute to students’ writing
(Peterson-Karlan, 2011).
Check it out for yourself:
Applications:
Ah yes, the moment you’ve been waiting for. Perhaps, the most beneficial
element of owning a tablet is the access to thousands of applications. Beyond
the world of Bejeweled and Words with Friends, exists a ton of great
educational apps that your child can take advantage of in order to help them
reinforce skills that have been taught in school. These apps include activities
across all developmental domains and academic areas.
Our favorite applications are those
used to help students with autism or communication disorders in developing the
necessary language skills that they need to be successful academically and
socially. These apps use social stories, games, and pictures from the students’
own lives to teach kids important linguistic elements including social
language, vocabulary, and fluency. A popular communication App exclusively for
Apple products is called i-Lexis Pro and it has nothing to do with overpriced
cars! See for yourself in the Apple App Store.
Know of any great educational apps for
kids? Feel free to post! Our blog is your blog J
References
Couse, L.J. & Chen, D.W. (2010). A tablet computer for
young children? Exploring its viability or
early childhood education. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 43
(1), 75-98.
Peterson-Karlan, G.R. (2011). Technology to
support writing by students with learning and academic disabilities: Recent
research trends and findings. Assistive
Technology Outcomes and Benefits, 7(1), 39-
My son loves using the Endless Alphabet app!!!!!!!! I highly recommend it
ReplyDeleteThanks for the suggestion! It looks like a great early childhood app :)
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