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

Obviously

[Telastyn]

Something to keep lego's and lincoln logs out of the plebians' mouths...

Back to Basics

[mgb68]

Truthfully, I think that it would be better to let the kindergarteners play with blocks, color with crayons, and generally let them act like little kids. They'll have plenty of time in the coming years to learn all about computers, iPods, and cellphones. There are enough problems with people being addicted to their computers without getting the kids hooked at such a young age.

Re:Back to Basics

[Broken scope]

Legos are one of the best toys you can give to a child who will not ingest them. Give them the manual. Let them build once then watch them go from there.

Re:Back to Basics

[mrfrostee]

Truthfully, I think that it would be better to let the kindergarteners play with blocks, color with crayons, and generally let them act like little kids.

This is exactly right. Let them build with their hands and socialize for a few years.

After a few more years, when they are ready to move from blocks to a computer, try Scratch

Nothing PC like...

[binaryspiral]

There are so many educational devices that do their specific job well, that a PC is just a wasteful box in a young class.

Limits on technology aren't so bad either, let them go outside and play games, socialize, and begin building personalities.

Depends

[WindBourne]

If you have loads of money, then hire somebody to put up a Windows or Mac box loaded with all sorts of commercial software, which is exactly what many here will suggest. But since you are writing here and asking about it, I will assume that you are not Bill Gates. Instead, use Linux/BSD and there are a number of good applications out there. I am currently having my 3 y.o. use ChildPlay and gcomperie (sp). She is learning all about the mouse and loving it. There are a number of educational type games out there that encourage this behavior. And in general, you can even run the Windows apps in wine (keep in mind that these are simple apps). Check out some of the memory games. In addition, check out the site for TuxPaint. It is geared towards kids. In fact, just thinking about it, there are several distros geared for education. Ubuntu has a derivative called edubuntu.

Re:Depends

[mrchaotica]

If you have loads of money, then hire somebody to put up a Windows or Mac box loaded with all sorts of commercial software...

Unless by "Mac" you're talking about System 7, I disagree completely. It seems to me that quite a lot of the so-called "educational software" advertised today completely sucks in comparison to what we had back circa 1990. Number Munchers, LOGO, Oregon Trail, Hypercard... maybe even Dino Park Tycoon... those were examples of good software for kids! If I were running a preschool I'd go dumpster-diving for that stuff rather than get something new, and it would have nothing to do with price.

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.

Certainly! We got lots of stuff for Kindergarten

[gd23ka]

We got ID cards, chip implants, GPS tracking, polygraphs, MRI scanners,
iris scanners, highly sensitive mikes, DRM coded Sesame Street and
to top things off we have George Monbiot to read to them his latest
rantings on man-made global warming and against all the 911
"conspiracy theorists".

Tell you what, kids don't really even belong in Kindergarten. They should
spend their time in intact families than in the arms of the state.

I am curious

[WindBourne]

The poster RUNS a preschool. That is s?he is concerned with all aspects of a child's education. Since they are running a private one (and one with a nice web site), I would assume that they have loads of education on child development as well as how to teach. So, here you are trying to tell him how to run a pre-school (note: NOT a simple daycare). So, what experience do you have that you know so much about children pre-school AND you are also on a geek site?

Seriously, for the other posters (mgb68 and more to come), when somebody who is asking for help on something that they may not have loads of knowledge on, please do not put them down by telling them that they are wrong to explore options. It is damaging to this site, to the geek world, and the those that could use the help (and god knows that many in the world NEED help). I think that the director should be able to explore loads of good options. And yes, handling computers is now part of our society. Children will have to learn it.

For those of us with young children, I would bet that most if not all, have their children playing with the computers as well as playing on the jungle gym, the McyD's play ground, games, circle time, nap time, reading, etc. My daughter (and in about 2 years, my son) play with multiple educational packages on Linux. It is fun to watch her and she enjoys it.

Re:I am curious

[mgb68]

How much experience do I have? Just mine and what I have seen with my little sister. As soon as she got an account on the family computer, she wanted to IM and email the kids next door instead of just walking over there. I know that my personal experience is that I end up spending more time sitting in front of the computer and less time mountain biking than I would like.

The question is asking for our opinions. If the person already knew what technology to have in the classroom s/he wouldn't have bothered asking.
I agree that technology is coming to saturate our lives more with each coming year but my opinion is that kindergarten is too early.

Re:I am curious

[ElectricRook]

The bane of technology, is the isolation it causes.

Communication via an avatar is impersonal, and often involves rude insults and poor behavior... Read /. with a filter of -1, and take a look at the first few posts.

Consider how people often use the cel-phone, palm-top or music-box, as a shield to ignore others.

Observe that regular TV watchers, equate viewing their favorite TV shows, the same as visiting friends. They begin to lose the distinction between reality and TV. Call them on it, and they become very irritated. But watch their conversations, telling others about the exciting things they saw on TV, almost as if they were there. Their real lives have little excitement or reality, because they spend the majority of their time in a pretend life.

Yes, I have three kids, and it's pretty hard to keep the reins on the Technology Genie, let alone try to get the damn thing back into the bottle.

I did kick the TV's and computers out of the house for three months (June-September) a few years back. Sibling fights went to zero... But I knuckled under to the threat of divorce.... I considered that a broken home would be worse on the children, than an intact home under the rule of the technology genie.

I remember learn how to count games!

[CrazyJim1]

I remember playing on my TI-99 learn how to count in my preschool/kindergarden years. It'd show me different shapes like rabbits or spaceships n stuff, then I had to press the right number of how many there were. The game was really fun, so I'd count for hours on end. Then there was advanced stuff like addition and dreaded subtraction. What made the game was the fun animations it had to set up the scene. I think all little kids should be able to play learn how to count games on computer, they're really fun. And a fond memory!

None At All

[EEBaum]

Technology is the one thing I can think of that, above all others, would have made kindergarten WORSE. The extent of readily-available technology we had in my kindergarten in 1986 was the cassette player for random songs for us to dance to and sing along with.

Biotech was another issue entirely. Our teacher had an extra set of eyes IN THE BACK OF HER HEAD!!!!!! And we learned of a sharp tooth snail that lives IN OUR NOSES and will cut off any fingers that end up inside.

As far as giving kids an advantage, though, I think keeping tech, especially computers, OUT of kindergarten is the best thing you can do.

I think the best way...

[Fullhazard]

To use technology to make Kindergartens better would be to make stronger bars for the cages.

Legos... and LOGO!

[mrchaotica]

I had great fun (and learned a lot) by playing with Legos as a kid, but I can also say exactly the same thing about LOGO too. Sure, it teaches you about geometry and programming and whatnot, but more importantly it was the coolest thing since Oregon Trail!

Re:Legos... and LOGO!

[TheRaven64]

Actually, Logo isn't a procedural language, it is a functional language complete with closures (that's blocks to Smalltalk programmers) and is semantically very similar to Lisp. Of course, most of the time it is just used for teaching geometry, so people tend not to be introduced to the advanced features.

I would still recommend Squeak as well, but please don't underestimate Logo.

Nothing at all

[squisher]

Since you are running a kindergarten, I really believe there should be no technology at all. There could be educational games, sure, but nothing that involves technology.
This is entirely unscientific, but I have a gut feeling that a lot of the autism and similar developmental problems stem from the fact that people these days are not getting enough social interaction anymore. Technology should not be in a kindergarten, the time when children have the cognitive abilities to take an advantage of that will be later on.

Depends on how much you want to spend...

[ender-]

Since you didn't specify OSS, I can highly recommend one particular commercial product. I used to do tech and field support for this product.

|Disclaimer| I used to work for the company which distributed and supported the following products. I no longer work for said company, but feel deeply about the high quality of the product |end Disclaimer|

It is called "The Waterford Early Reading Program" [although I believe they now have Math and Science as well, but haven't personally seen these newer products]. It is currently distributed by Pearson Digital Learning [It was called Electronic Education, a division of Addison Wesley Longman when I worked there]

Anyway, the idea is that for Level One, a set of one to three computers [depending on class size] is placed in a Kindergarten [or Pre-K] classroom. Each day the students spend 15 minutes on the computer. Much like many reading programs the program guides the student through the process of learning to read, [actually the first couple days are spent teaching the child to use the mouse] using songs and games. In this case, the instruction is backed by research done by the Waterford Institute and the Waterford School [a private school in Utah]. The software is able to keep track of lessons/concepts which the student has or hasn't mastered, and can keep giving lessons on the items the student still needs help with.

In addition to the 15 minutes on the computer, each student gets a set of videos [with videos from the program], a set of cd's [with music from the program of course], and books [can you guess? With stories from the program]. These are for the students to take home, in the hopes that they can get their family to read with them, or at least play the music/video's to enforce the learning.

After Level One, they have Level 2 [First Grade] and Level 3 [Second grade] to continue building on the lessons].

In my years of supporting the product, and spending time in the classrooms, I have to say that I really believe it was a great program. The kids absolutely LOVED it! If the computers were down, the teacher would tell the kids that I was there to fix the computers. Without fail, the entire class would cheer loudly! Of only one system was down, and I had to stop some kids from using the other working computers, they would plead with me not to make them get off the computers until I swore to them that they would not lose their turn for that day.

I even had one kid stand up, turn around, look at me and pee his pants! The teacher said that this was not uncommon. The kids were so worried about losing their turn at the program, that they didn't want to get up to go to the bathroom!

There is a downside to this wonderful system though. It is NOT cheap. I don't know what the prices are these days [when I worked there, Pentium 2's were hot stuff], and I don't know what kind of deals can be done with private [especially out of US] schools. Generally the system was sold with anywhere from 1 to 3 computers plus a printer, and the cost included student sets [books/vid/cd's] and support for three years.

Generally our sales force spent 20% of their time selling the product to school districts, and 80% of their time helping the school districts find grants or other funding. :)

But if it's something your school might be able to afford, I highly, highly, highly recommend the product. Of course, it's only for English, but your students will get a great start on learning to read English with this program.

/I made sure I had a copy and set of books/tapes before I left, even though I didn't have a kid yet at the time.
//My daughter is almost ready to start! Yay!
///I miss working on a product in which I believe so deeply.

Teach the kids...

[Bin_jammin]

how to solder. Basic electronics is also a must. This all ties in together, because kids need to learn basic electronics, and nothing says fun like 20 kids with 40 watt irons.

suggestions

[drDugan]

I think children should learn programming languages and good software design principles as early as possible, especially scripting languages, and especially software security.

C, Ruby, Javascript, Actionscript/Flash are what I'd push now.

Kindergarten may be a bit early, but certainly by third grade, I think all students should be required to program as an integral part of all the curricula. An emphasis should be placed not on just computer languages, but on robust and secure software design methods.

And yes, you did read that correctly: third grade.

I also think that children should play online strategy games (like prisoner's dilemma, chess, and poker, at different ages) until they reliably and repeatedly win against novice players.

On the subject of Kindergarten...

[EvilCabbage]

Many years ago I was setting up some spiffy new computers for a local kindergarten.

At the time I had fairly long hair, a goatee and was dressed head to toe in black. Black shoes, black trousers, black long sleeve business shirt, black tie. Not so much trying to make a statement, but I kept most of my wardrobe black so I always had something that would go with everything else. I lacked imagination, ok?

Anyway, I'm setting up one of these machines and I turn around to find a small girl sitting on the table watching me. She was probably five years old.

I said to her, "Hello sweetie, could you please hand that to me", pointing to the mouse sitting next to her and flashing my most pleasant smile.

She looked at me with a really miserable look and said "No."

"Oh" I remarked. "Why is that?" I asked, expecting her to tell me that teacher had instructed her not to talk to strangers, or some other good moral learning.

"Because, you're the bad man." I held back a bit of shock and proceeded to grab my own damn mouse and finish the job.

I wasn't just any bad man, I was *THE* bad man. Knowing I scared children so much kinda broke my heart. The next day I trimmed my goatee, got a haircut and started wearing Hawaiian shirts to work.

So I guess my advice is: When improving kindergartens through IT services, wear Hawaiian shirts.

some Open Source resources

[cwgmpls]

This site has about a dozen free software titles for Linux that are good for kids. I've used a few of them with my kids. They've been great, and the price is right.

The Incredible Machine

[KlaymenDK]

The Incredible Machine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Incredible_Machin e

"Back to basics" - check
"Something to keep lego's and lincoln logs out of the plebians' mouths" - check
"runs on cheap equipment" - check
Actually learning something useful - check
Great big fun! - check

A helpful answer

[viewtouch]

I see lots of useless comments here that offer you nothing but sarcasm. That's unfortunate. What I'd like to suggest to you, however, is this:
You can provide children software without putting any computers in the classroom. All you have to do is give them displays which have a network connection. These are available from an Australian company called ThinLinx. You won't need to put network cables everywhere, either. You can use wireless networking. All you need for this is a wireless router, about $50.

You can add touchscreens to the displays at a very low cost by going with any of the Chinese touchscreen manufacturers. This will give you the ability to provide software that the children can interact with by just using their fingers. This software can teach them virtually any subject that you want to teach them. I have several such programs for children. They are fast learners and typically master interacting with the software in just minutes.

Foundations love to give money to educational institutions and educators looking for ways to apply technology to helping children learn. I'm willing to bet that you can get the small amount of equipment you need (since you don't need computers) from any foundation with children and education as their primary target. This describes most foundations. Any individual with a few thousand dollars could also provide enough money to properly equip your classroom.

With your Internet connection you will be find that anyone in the world could remotely manage, update and support a computer located in, for instance, your office, and that this computer would be more than adequate to support ALL of the wireless touchscreen displays that the children would be interacting with.

Re:Web cams?

[andres32a]

Actually we've got that already. Parents just love it. And we run the entire system on linux! We actually got the idea thanks to /. a couple of years ago.

Re:Just off the cuff:

[Canthros]

I'm thinking quite logically about this. Given the state of educational software, it's reasonable to conclude that this guy will either need to write his own or rely on software which is insufficient for his needs and which is likely to be less effective than traditional methods of instruction. Given the competence of the average software developer, the former seems an ill-conceived idea. It should be obvious from what I've said so far why I think the latter course a poor choice as well.

Consider further: a computer will cost more money, introduce wholly unnecessary complexity, be less reliable, and probably less effective than using traditional means to teach the exact same material, to some dubious, equivocable, and mostly non-existent gain. Teaching kids to read and write is a solved problem, and one in which re-inventing the wheel is unlikely to produce real benefit. There are workbooks and primers and what have you. It may not be as sexy or innovative as sitting a kid in front of a computer to learn their ABCs, but it does work.

Maybe, just maybe, the one who's not thinking about this rationally is you: why does a kindergartener need to use a computer?

Re:You are hereby banned from slashdot.

[ElectricRook]

Around here, technology is the answer to EVERYTHING.

I work in a high tech company, where the majority of the Black employees are natives of Africa (Ghana, Nigeria).
Think they started with technology? One guy told me he did not even see a car until he was 16 years old. He was 24 at the time.

He speaks better English than most Americans of any race.