Using Technology to Improve Kindergarten?

andres32a asks: "I currently run a private preschool located in Latin America. I have been always interested in finding new ways of giving kids a legitimate educational advantage through fresh applications of technology. What technology would you like to have seen applied in your kindergarten?"

Comments

The irony

[michaelmalak]

It's ironic to see "kindergarten" and "technology" in the same sentence, since Frobel invented Kindergarten in the early 19th century as a "garden" for children where they can learn through physical manipulation of materials and practical life activities. This description sums it up best:

Friedrich Froebel's enduring significance was through his formulation of the 'kindergarten system' with its emphasis on play and its use of 'gifts' (play materials) and 'occupations (activities).

Friedrich Froebel believed that humans are essentially productive and creative - and fulfilment comes through developing these in harmony with God and the world. As a result, Froebel sought to encourage the creation of educational environments that involved practical work and the direct use of materials. Through engaging with the world, understanding unfolds. Hence the significance of play - it is both a creative activity and through it children become aware of their place in the world. He went on to develop special materials (such as shaped wooden bricks and balls - gifts), a series of recommended activities (occupations) and movement activities, and an linking set of theories. His original concern was the teaching of young children through educational games in the family. In the later years of his life this became linked with a demand for the provision of special centres for the care and development of children outside the home.

For those wondering how this fits in with Montessori, Maria Montessori independently rediscovered much of the same nearly a century later, but as part of a much more comprehensive and cohesive system of education.