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?"

Obviously

[Telastyn]

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

Right back at you...

[Dan East]

Never mind your question - what I want to know is what you've got that baby on? It must be some good stuff! ;)

Dan East

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:

[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.

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 [wikipedia.org] too. Sure, it teaches you about geometry and programming and whatnot, but more importantly it was the coolest thing since Oregon Trail!

Re:

[drinkypoo]

I thought logo was pretty cool, although frankly they didn't try and teach us much of it. But regardless I would rather see Squeak [squeakland.org] used. Logo is procedural, and that's great, but Squeak is also object-oriented and much more approachable than Logo. The OLPC Project is putting Squeak with a project called etoys on their system, thank goodness. I think I could have learned a lot more in Squeak... And anyway, it does everything logo does, except make you learn a language you'll never use again.

Re:

[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.

Re:

[rishistar]

I'd agree on the PC front. I also think (as someone who did use a computer from an early age and having glasses from the age of 8) that the effect of staring closely at a screen at a close distance on younger, malleable eyeballs would need to be investigated as well. There are times it could work - the TI Speak and Spell was a great and appropriate use of technology as 'edutainment'.

Cause and effect

[benhocking]

As someone who has had glasses since 4 and started using computers at 7, I think bad eyesight leads to computer usage.

The Incredible Machine

[KlaymenDK]

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

"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

You are hereby banned from slashdot.

[brunes69]

Around here, technology is the answer to EVERYTHING.

You would think you would have learned that by now.

For example - I hear kids in Africa don't have enough food to eat or water to drink? Send them cheap laptops!

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.

Re:

[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 [mit.edu]

Why?

[Roadkills-R-Us]

I also don't see the need for much tech in K. Paste, scissors, crayons, paper, blocks, Legos, Lincoln Logs. Tinkertoys would be good, but I'm not even sure you can get those any more.

I really think kids need to learn to work in the real world before we drop them into virtual worlds. And at that age, interacting with people is far more crucial than interacting with machines.

Unless, of course, one thinks SkyNet is taking over tomorrow. In that case, make sure you start teaching them how to make bombs, tra

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.

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:

[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 bothe

Re:

[Garridan]

Yeah... but with IM, you can multitask. Your sister could talk to multiple kids at once!</sarcasm>

Re:

[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 v

Re:

[StikyPad]

According to Steven Levitt [wikipedia.org], there's no statistical difference between the academic performance of children who watch lots of television, and those who don't (in contrast to the "television rots the brain" theory). Nor is there a difference in the performance of children with computers in the home, and those without (in contrast to the "computers make kids smart" theory). If accurate, and I haven't heard any rebuttals, it's food for thought for both you and the OP.

I agree that a well-rounded experience is

Re:

[the_womble]

Other studies disagree [scotsman.com].

You also need to be a bit careful with some of Levitt's popular works is that they are written in an easy to read style, but the exact wording of the conclusions matters so some care needs to be taken. I have known people to misunderstand him before, for example many people take to lack of correlation between children being read to and learning to read to mean that there is no correlation between early teaching of reading and learning to read. I have lent my copy of Freakonomics to so

Re:

[CaptainCarrot]

The question at hand is, "What technology would you like to have seen applied in your kindergarten?" "Blocks," and so forth is a perfectly valid answer. What expertise exactly is anyone here supposed to draw on when answering this question, either that way or in the terms you want to see? Your objection to the answers invalidates the entire exercise. If we don't know enough to be qualified to say "blocks", we're not qualified to recommend any particular high-tech doodad as beneficial either.

In any event, y

Re:

[Nutria]

The question at hand is, "What technology would you like to have seen applied in your kindergarten?" "Blocks," and so forth is a perfectly valid answer. What expertise exactly is anyone here supposed to draw on when answering this question, either that way or in the terms you want to see? Your objection to the answers invalidates the entire exercise. If we don't know enough to be qualified to say "blocks", we're not qualified to recommend any particular high-tech doodad as beneficial either.

My wife works in

Re:

[fredrated]

Don't get your knickers in a twist, the person asked for an opinion and they are getting them: just what they wanted!

Ikea had a touchscreen system ...

[pbhj]

We were in Ikea about 10 days ago and our lad Jakob (19months) enjoyed a few minutes playing a memory game on a touchscreen system with a boy of about 5-6 looking on and butting in occasionally (as did I!).

I selected the game from the on-screen 2-level picture menu showed him how to touch it with his hand to turn over the "cards" and reveal the different items and let him play. He wasn't very good at matching the pairs but our little friend (the other boy) kept jumping in to do that for us.

It seemed a usabl

Headsprout and Precision Teaching

[arete]

Headsprout (headsprout.com) is an awesome online early reading tool. It may be of limited use to you as it seems to be only in English, but I definitely wanted to include it for anyone else who might be looking for this answer.
(I know some people involved with it, but I have no formal connection.)

The second thing I have to recommend is Precision Teaching. This is 1970s educational high-tech, but the important principles are missed in most education I've seen recently. The required hardware is a special k

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:

[binford2k]

Childsplay [sourceforge.net] and GCompris [gcompris.net]

Re:

[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

Great glasses that you have there.

[WindBourne]

I see it all the time. When I was child, I heard in such notables as Nixon, Reagan, and these days W. Everybody remembers the past in a better light. Afterall, if it really was all that good, and nothing beat it, then competition would take hold and wipe out the new stuff.

So with all that in mind, lets skip the computers, the blocks, the books, and even the pictures. Instead, just tie down the baby and infant and let them learn it by genetics and osmotic absorption. Now that was the GOOD OLD DAYS.

Or pe

Re:

[Max Littlemore]

Actually, my son old figured out the mouse at 18 months with xeyes. Had it doing funny full screen eye movements with his own specific sound effects. Clicking stuff he figured out by just having a blank desktop. I've given him his own account, and sometimes when he bugs me at the computer, I log him in, let him play for a bit and come back to have a chuckle at what he's managed to do. He gets bored pretty quickly and I think that's a good thing at his age (now 2yo).

I tend to think that kids at pre school a

Drip-tray

[Anonymous Coward]

"What technology would you like to have seen applied in your kindergarten?"

Rubber pants.

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 [infed.org] 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.

Re:

[Andabata]

It's ironic that people can mention Froebel and Montessori and disregard technology, when both of them devised and introduced technology (props) in their practice. Not modern technology, sure, but what was available at their time - Froebel's "gifts" and Montessori's devices like buttoned panels. What we lacked until recently was adequate computational toys to introduce computers to kindergartners. But ingenious use of what existed was always possible. One obvious choice would be a ground "turtle" robot li

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.

Re:Certainly! We got lots of stuff for Kindergarte

[P(0)(!P(k)+P(k+1))]

They should spend their time in intact families than in the arms of the state.

Based on your link to Landover [landoverbaptist.org], I couldn't tell whether you were speaking tongue-in-cheek; but I was just having a conversation with my wife today about the homosexual persecution fantasy (even though homosexuality is the de facto standard nowadays), and that taking a stand for the nuclear family is a radical and violent gesture.

Re:

[JonnyCalcutta]

Wow. You guys are great. First we have single guy telling us what to do with our kids. Then we have nuclear family guy telling us that homosexuals are not only bringing down the family unit (what do they do, stand outside your house and hand out recruitment flyers?) but also that they are now the standard unit of mankind. Here was me thinking the gays were just looking for the ability to live their own lives under the same conditions as everyone else, when all along they are actively campaigning against our

The usual

[Goalie_Ca]

pencils, crayons, glue, paper, lego...

Re:

[EEBaum]

Glue? We had no need for such newfangled technology in kindergarten. We had PASTE!!!! (i.e. a bottle of GlueStick) And we were THANKFUL!!!!

Re:

[ElectricRook]

That's reminiscing... Some of us grew up before glue was non-toxic, and came in a plastic stick.

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.

Re:

[fredrated]

"And we learned of a sharp tooth snail that lives IN OUR NOSES and will cut off any fingers that end up inside."

Too bad, it has been since learned that by ingesting wind-born particles through the stomach (eating boggers), the immune system learns not to over react to them with a histamine response.

I think the best way...

[Fullhazard]

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

Typing...

[KeiserSoze]

As far as I can remember Kindergarten involved learning the alphabet, numbers and writing english, so I think that the sooner children are taught to touch-type they'll more easily adopt any computer-related technology later on. Obviously learning to touch-type perfectly at any great speed is out of the question, but if they can get the fundamentals of typing, not to me mention loss of fear and novelty, they'll be on equal footing with writing - an equal skill in these modern times.

Re:

[DeadChobi]

I totally agree that everyone should learn to touch type. The only problem with kindergarteners learning it is that they won't learn to write as well. Writing is a very important skill, at least in the United States where we still have to write to fill out paperwork and do in-class assignments. As well, it would be silly for students to have to type to do math.

If they really need to write something on a computer, give them a tablet with OCR so that they can see the letters they're trying to emulate. Don't t

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.

Re:

[fredrated]

There was an article recently in the SF Chronicle which said a correlation exists between autism and increased time kids spend in front of the tv. I think your suggestion is spot-on.

Re:

[carpeweb]

Correlation != Causation!

I think there's a correlation between writing articles and being a journalist. Articles probably cause journalism.

There should be an article about how articles don't usually get science right.

Re:

[carpeweb]

That is funny, because GP said "autism and similar developmental problems stem from the fact that people these days are not getting enough social interaction". To this, you said "your suggestion is spot-on".

So, my confusion stems from: "stem from" == "causation"; and you said "spot-on". My mistake; you must have meant something else.

Re:

[ElleyKitten]

There was an article recently in the SF Chronicle which said a correlation exists between autism and increased time kids spend in front of the tv.

I think it's more than autism causes increased TV watching more than TV watching causes autism. My best friend's brother acts autistic (different diagnosis but simular disease) and he watches TV because he can't do much else and he's still (at 25) at a mental level where the pretty colors fascinate him. My friend also nannies for autistic children and others wi

huh?

[RMH101]

Who said that technology = less social interaction? Why not try something like setting up a video link with another school? Hell, another school in another country. All you need is Skype and a webcam - you could even have it setup and running 24/7 as a screen on the wall that acts like a "window" to another location...

Re:

[Maximum Prophet]

So... no running water, no electric lights. I'm not one to dis the Amish, because it works for them, but that's not the way the rest of us live.

When our first daughter was about 1.5, she always wanted to play with the television remote control, so my wife and I thought, "Let's just buy her one of those universal remote controls that she can play with so that she won't break the real/expensive remote. Nope. Both daughters saw mommy and daddy using the TV's remote and that's the one they wanted to play

Re:

[barzok]

Autism & other developmental issues are discoverable long before even pre-school, let alone kindergarten. Technology in kindergarten, while I disagree with the idea of doing it, would not be a factor there.

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" [waterford.org] [although I believe they now have Math and Science [waterford.org] as well, but haven't personally seen these newer products]. It is currently distributed by Pearson Digital Learning [pearsondigital.com] [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.

Re:

[ender-]

Oh and just to head off the folks complaining about 'technology' in a Kindergarten classroom. As I mentioned, each kid only goes on the program for 15 minutes a day. They are basically unsupervised during this time [just meaning that the teacher continues the normal activities for the rest of the class while the 1 to 3 students are at the computer]. It's not meant as a 'sit at the computer all day and learn' type of thing.

I agree that this sort of thing should be limited, and most time in Kindergarten shoul

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.

Re:

[Frequently_Asked_Ans]

exactly, you thats the problem with kids today, they don't know how to solder!

Re:

[gbobeck]

nothing says fun like 20 kids with 40 watt irons.

Personally, I find equipping kids with 100 watt irons a bit more fun. At least then they can properly solder on a PL-259 connector onto RG-11 coax.

Re:

[carpeweb]

Kids need to learn reading, writing and arithmetic. Otherwise, they'll learn how to solder in Iraq (cuz they kant spel).

My apologies to the tens of thousands of soldiers who can spell and do electronics.

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.

Re:

[kabocox]

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.

Dude, that's a bit over board. What you need to do is push Logo. Heck, each time that I check out the latest Logos I'm more and more surprised by the programming skill set being taught

Does the tool help get the job done?

[davidwr]

Technology is a tool, nothing more. If it helps get the job done and is cost-effective, use it. If not, don't.

Kids won't be hurt if they go their entire kindergarten year never using anything battery- or electrically-operated other than the water cooler and ceiling lights.

On the other hand, if you have a particular teaching goal that can be further enhanced by technology, then by all means use it.

When I was in Kindergarten, we had audiovisual technology like record/tape players and movie/filmstrip players

old tech

[TheSHAD0W]

LOGO. It's kinda fun, doesn't take much brainpower to play with, but has a huge amount of depth to plumb. Then when you find the handful of kids who take LOGO to its limits, start them off on even more interesting things.

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.

You're asking the wrong question.

[Schraegstrichpunkt]

You shouldn't be asking "how can I use technology to teach the children?". You should be asking "How can I teach the children?". If technology helps you with your primary goal, great, but it's a means to an end.

wireless fences

[SgtChaireBourne]

You mean besides wireless fences, right?

Re:

[Jon Luckey]

You mean besides wireless fences, right?

If you are using a proper Skinner box [wikipedia.org] as your teaching technology, a wireless fence would be redundant.

Re:

[SgtChaireBourne]

You need the wireless fence technology for when they outgrow the Skinner box. ;)

tools for education

[Takichi]

I don't think the question was specifically asking how to teach computer skills to kids, but how to use technology to enrich the educational environment. That being said, you can do a lot with a projector, a computer, and an internet connection. I teach English in elementary schools in Japan. If the kids are interested in a topic, I go to google for some images, and youtube for some video. I can show them anything in the world, rather than relying on what pictures the library might have. I was even able t

some Open Source resources

[cwgmpls]

This site [cyberpunkcafe.com] 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.

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[huckamania]

That is a sad collection of software...

If you were in the US of A, I would suggest going to Big Lots, Ross, Burlington, etc and buying any cheap (less then $5) piece of licensed computer kid products (dora, mickey, clifford, etc) you can find. Sometimes you can find a 4 game combo for $5 that will have a mix.

My daughter is 2 yrs, 4 months old and knows the alphabet, numbers, some words, some math, speaks in full sentences, is polite and has already started potty training. Not all of that is because of h

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[cwgmpls]

Your point is well taken. There is loads of cheap kids software to be found in the bargain bins of many retailers. Personally, I use linux with OSS because I am running my software on free, recycled computers that will only run variants of Linux, or Windows 98. And Windows 98 is no longer supported by MS.

I could buy a newer computer and run XP or Vista, but then the $5 software you mention does not seem so cheap any more. I'm not in a position to lay out hundreds of dollars for a kids toy, no matter h

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[ElleyKitten]

Depending on the stats of your computer and the system requirements of the game you can run them through wine. I know because I have a wierd compulsion for anything Hello Kitty and I've gotten a couple games to work on my Ubuntu box. Though, you might want to keep with the oss stuff for your kids, because the most "educational" thing I've found with Hello Kitty is making ice cream sundays and saving penguins from water. Maybe Dora would teach them Spanish, but she'll also convince them that you need to b

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[the_womble]

The games in Gcompris worked really well for my daughter. For example, it helped her understand the idea of categorising things.

I was quite surprised at some of the things she understood - like the Gcompris water cycle game.

The list you link to is a bit short. I would add some version of Logo (we use Kturtle), and simple board games.There is a lot more I have not tried yet.

Once they can read and spell a bit, they can start using a web browser. My daughter recently did her first Google image searches.

For old

Stop Motion Animation + Legos

[daveinthesky]

Enough said.
You can let the kids make their own themes, stories, etc. and let them run with their imaginations.

You can handle the hard parts, and if they're curious they can learn how to run the capture/playback software too, but it shouldn't be required.

Kindergarten Robocop

[Hektor_Troy]

Okay, so I'm a bit weird in the head ...

Toy Computers

[Anonymous Coward]

When it comes to preschoolers, I'd teach what you are already teaching:
reading, verbal communication, sharing, motor control, imagination, all the
usual stuff.

If you can use technology to do that better, great, otherwise don't bother.

Whether or not you use "real computers," I WOULD put "toy computers" or
"pretend computers" in your classroom so the kids will have something that
"looks like a computer" that is OK to drop or abuse as kids will do. Also,
with toy computers they can pretend to draw and pretend to

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.

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[andres32a]

"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."

Wow! this IS pretty interesting. Can you give me any more pointers or references on how to implement this?

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[viewtouch]

For the hardware, you can find ThinLinx with any search engine. ThinLinx was in Brazil last year promoting their hardware. For the software, you can send me an email by clicking on my URL. You've seen people using touchscreens and graphical displays in restaurants - that's software that I first created in 1985. It's been widely copied throughout the world. I have software tools that can be used to create similar user interfaces for children, even children as young as 2 years. No wires, no computers - y

Just off the cuff:

[Canthros]

As a teaching tool, eschew technology. We're talking about five and six-year-olds. Teach them to count, and to read and write: for that you need phonics, pencil and paper. After that, it's all gravy. I'd even go so far as to say that trying to integrate computing into a kindergarten curriculum is really putting the cart before the horse. I'd wager that technology at that age is more likely to be an impediment to learning than a boon: skip it. Computers will still be there in a few years, by which time, they

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[viewtouch]

That's horrible advice. Yes, teach them mathematic concepts, and literacy, and composition, but use technology to do it. You've never seen software that can facilitate this, probably, but eschewing technology just because you haven't seen it applied successfully is patently illogical and betrays the fact that you are not thinking logically about this issue.

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[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

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[viewtouch]

I've already created one software paradigm that has been copied, adopted and put to use worldwide - the graphic touchscreen point of sale user interface, and I have no doubt that as it is adapted and applied to other markets, including the pre-school and elementary school markets, it will continue to be copied, adopted and put to use worldwide. The advantage I have at this point, an advantage I've only recently gained, is that hardware is now available which makes computers unnecessary for local users and

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[Canthros]

If your only tool is a hammer, eh? I'm not worried about complexity getting in the way of the teacher teaching. I'm worried about complexity interfering with the kid learning.

Remote terminals of the sort you described aren't that new. I remember something similar a few years back when thin clients were a big thing last (still?). Woo. Hardware and infrastructure still cost money, as does support for same. (They may not need anyone on staff, but they'll still need someone to fix things when they do, inevitabl

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[viewtouch]

Seriously, never mind. I'm too busy doing everything I'm talking about to justify devoting any more time listening to you trying to tell me it can't be done. That's as boring to me now as it was 25 & 30 years ago. You're comfortable and nobody wants to upset that. Nobody has a right to deprive you of that.

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[Canthros]

My last reply, too, but you really need to read closer. I didn't say it can't be done. I question whether the return is worth the investment.

The only technology little kids need is

[Chemisor]

This [wikipedia.org] technology.

a webcam

[22_9_3_11_25]

I was suprised no one mentioned this but set up a web-cam so the parents can log in and watch from work or from home. You can have it on all the time or just for a specified group time. Alot of daycares here do this, it helps involve the parents in their child's life.

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[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. We are just about ready for the next big thing, and wanted to ask slashdot for what could that be... ;)

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[andres32a]

Since you already have the webcams set up ,do you let them watch themselves?

At first we were trying to avoid that. The installed cameras (16 in total) are CMOS cameras which are really small mainly because we didn't want the kids to feel observed all the time. It took them less than an hour until even the 2 year olds realized that "daddy" was "whatching me on tv". So eventually we just had to go ahead and try to explain how they worked. The first couple of weeks, the classroom (i mean the teachers AND kids)

No Technology!

[beadfulthings]

The developmental tasks of a five year old are tough enough. They need to develop the attention span, visual discrimination, and other pre-reading skills necessary to begin reading. They need to work on the fine muscle control that will assist them with writing. They need to continue figuring out how to get along with the other kids. They need to be able to sit still for longer periods of time. They need to work out the kind of abstract reasoning that will help them when they start doing arithmetic. At home

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[ElleyKitten]

The developmental tasks of a five year old are tough enough. They need to develop the attention span, visual discrimination, and other pre-reading skills necessary to begin reading.

Do average kids really just start on pre-reading skills by kindergarten? I know I and all my friends had started reading by the time we got to school. I guess it depends on the parents, and kids do develop differently, but I'd think they'd at least be able to learn to read in kindergarten. Also, can 5 year olds really ride bi

I want words.

[woolio]

What technology would you like to have seen applied in your kindergarten?

I request that this newfangled technology called "written language" be applied in kindergarten.

Yes, I realize it's still in beta as it's only been around for a few thousand years, but I think written language is ready for the kindergarten level.

Such language can be implemented with either a traditional pencil/china-marker or the more technologically advanced "ball-point pen".

Small touchscreen

[bobthemuse]

I set up something similar to this for my daugher (2.5 years old).


She can browse through selected pictures of animals, family, friends, etc.

There's an interactive portion where it shows three pictures and plays a recording "Where is the ball". When she touches the correct one, plays a small animation. Amazing what it's done for her vocabulary, and I have it running in English and Mandarin Chinese (wife's side of the family) for each object. She loves to play with it, gets about a half hour a day.

It'

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[andres32a]

I am interested. How can i contact you?

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[bobthemuse]

jtagen [at] digication.com

The copy designed for the touchscreen I used (search eBay for "ramline tablet") doesn't work too well when viewed on non-touchscreen, as I hide the mouse cursor and some javascript tricks to make the 'tapping' of an icon more sensitive.

If you're seriously interested, I can set up a slightly different copy so you can play with it on a PC.

OLPC?

[WindBourne]

BTW, I would suggest that you contact the olpc folks and ask them about their computers as well as what software. The laptops are designed to handle punishment and are cheap. [laptop.org]

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[andres32a]

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