The Importance of Tech Observation in Early Childhood Education Today

By Michael Hilkemeijer

 

Early childhood teachers in kindergarten and preschool make judgements about a young child’s learning progress throughout the day.

Observation is the best method to assess a young child’s ICT capability and ICT literacy in both early childhood and primary education, as most technology activities are practical.

So improving your capacity in this type of method should boost your TPACK as an early childhood teacher.

 

Similarly, the formative assessment techniques applied here also have a wider and greater significance in primary education. This makes it imperative for the two areas of education to share and combine key data in reports and transition statements.

 

Read on to uncover any uncertainty in relation to making assessments of children’s learning with technology.

Let us first understand 'what is observation in early childhood education'. As an early childhood teacher, you are an interested observer and collaborate with young children in their play. During this time, you monitor individual children in their interests with technology. The EYLF learning outcomes can be recognised through monitoring and then documented.

 

Your observations in early childhood that relate to technology are about determining children’s ICT capability which they will demonstrate as they interact with their peers, their environment, and the adults in the setting.

 

Observing children in your care will help you to better understand their strengths and weaknesses in technology use and understanding.

 

How to do observation in early childhood education?

When applying formative assessment strategies in early childhood education and care to assess a child’s ICT capability, the following methods of observation in early childhood education can be applied.

• Observing how the child goes about tackling a piece of work;
• Diagnosing difficulties that become apparent over a series of lessons;
• Observing which planning strategies appear to work and allow the child to succeed in a given area;
• Collecting significant pieces of work in a portfolio of development;
• Documenting the context of the work and any factors which were significant: the grouping, the time taken, the level of concentration etc.;
• Documenting the views of the child about the piece of work and asking them what made the activity so successful/significant;
• Feeding the information back into the planning process;
• When appropriate, making a judgement about the child’s level of attainment in terms of the level descriptions in the attainment targets for ICT capability in the EYLF and Australian Curriculum;
• At all times keeping a clear focus on the learning objective; is very important as well as having a general awareness of other learning taking place.

(Allen, Potter, Sharpe, & Turvey, 2012, p. 70)

 

 

You do not have to assess discrete ICT skills as this will show through observation of the whole class.

For example, if a young child can use a paint program then we know that they are able to use a mouse competently, make choices, select colours, use certain tools and even print or save their work.

What do you assess?

Developing ICT capability in the early years is about building on home experiences of ICT/technology through planning.

ICT capability in early childhood education and care is the ability to utilise ICT independently, appropriately and creatively and to understand ICT in its social context.

 

ICT capability consists of the following (Morgan & Siraj-Blatchford, 2009, p. 16):

Routines: how to use a graphics tablet or a touch screen can be learned. It is impossible to achieve a high level of ICT capability without this content knowledge and most young children master these skills very quickly. Such skills are of no use unless the child has a purpose in mind.

ICT techniques: inserting a photo into a document.

Processes: where ICT techniques are combined e.g. to produce a greeting card etc.

Conceptual understanding: including the basic terminology/shared vocabulary that enables children to communicate and understand what is required of them.

Higher order thinking skills: where children can clearly exhibit an understanding of what they are doing. They select appropriate ICT tools, routines, ICT techniques and processes to obtain the desired outcome.

 

This is demonstrated when they:

• Decide when it is appropriate to use a particular ICT tool or resource for a particular purpose.
• Plan what routines, ICT techniques and processes to use.
• Work independently to solve a problem.
• Evaluate their use of ICT and the outcome of the activity.
• Explain and justify their choices and approaches to a problem.
• Reflect on their ICT learning.

 

In your observations, it is important that you remember that:

• It is NOT just about computer use;
• It is NOT just about achieving ICT skills;
• It IS about children’s growing technological awareness;
• It IS about their understanding that there are ICT tools that they can experiment with and find out about, that they can begin to control and can use for their own purposes.

 

 

The following questions might help you to in your observations of children using ICT/technology:

• Are they interested in and curious about technology? Do they enter into discussions and make comments?
• Do they experiment with ICT applications, finding things out for themselves?
• Do they show enjoyment and concentration?
• Are they able to use ICT for their own purposes?
• Do they talk about ICT tools and applications and show an understanding of their purposes?
• Are they able to find and start a program?
• Are they able to navigate a program?
• Are they beginning to experiment with tapping out letters using the keyboard?
• Are they showing an awareness of electronic forms of communication, email, Internet, mobile texts?
• Do they know, are they able to find out, what buttons and icons do?
• Do they print or save their pictures?
• Are they able to insert a tape and press the “Play” and “Eject” buttons?
• Are they able to control a toy and make it move where they want?

 

Questions that might prompt discussion with children in the context of their play

• What happened?
• What can it do?
• How do we make it work?
• What do people use this for?
• I wonder what this button will do?
• What else do you like to use a computer/tape recorder/camera for?
• What will happen if…?
• Have you had a go on the computer/tape recorder/camera? What did you do?

(Price, 2006, p158)

 

 

Sharing observations in early childhood education with parents

Research has indicated (Morgan & Siraj-Blatchford, 2009) that the best practices use the technology available that they use to support children’s learning and report to parents to provide documentation of ICT learning and formative assessment.

 

Tracking Learning Progress

While young children are engaged in technology-based activities, informal observations can be used to monitor the ways in which different children respond to an activity.

You make observations about the responses of your children continuously in relation to:

• The changing mood and relationships between different children or groups of children.
• How they respond to your explanations.
• How they answer your questions.
• Whether they are applying themselves to the task.

 

Much of this information is used to adjust your teaching to cater to the changing needs of the children, unanticipated responses or opportunities to intervene with apposite instructions, explanations, or an increase in the level of challenge provided by a task.

 

 

The Principles of Observing a Child

Collating the evidence of learning and learning progression is an essential part of your teaching strategies to be used in the early learning environment where you work. Observation in early childhood education is a key method to monitor a child’s development so that teachers are able to better understand the children’s strengths and weaknesses.

Child observations are, therefore, part of your everyday life as an early childhood teacher and it is imperative that you do understand its role.

 

Role play with technology is not only important to develop autonomy for children, but it allows you to document learning when you are observing a child while playing with technology. You might notice through your observation a child’s behaviour can:

• Help an educator better understand why a child might be having challenging behaviour 
• Identify special needs 
• Better understand the child 
• Allows for documentation of skills 
• Shows the child’s communication style 
• What their interactions with their peers are like 

(ECE Blog)

 

As mentioned earlier, generally speaking observation in early childhood education is typically about tracking children’s behaviour over a period of time.

 

The child observation methods discussed earlier demonstrated how tracking children’s use of technology encourages you to identify the needs of the children. It must detailed and accurate as this underpins the value of the tracking system and being able to keep track of each child’s learning progress through learning experiences in both activities and play.

 

The Principles of Observation Assessment in ECE

A key factor in ensuring that learning progression in ICT capability and technological literacy occurs not just within early childhood education but other sectors such as Primary education is the ability of teachers to share the same perspectives in the methods of teaching and assessment.

 

The importance of observation in early childhood is that it lays the foundation for effective planning and assessment in the future years of schooling for children.

 

You may therefore, need to adapt the following principles to your learning environment when assessing children using Information and Communication Technology.

• Observing how the child goes about tackling a piece of work;
• Diagnosing difficulties which become apparent over a series of lessons;
• Observing which planning strategies appear to work and allow the child to succeed in a given area;
• Collecting significant pieces of work in a portfolio of development;
• Noting the context of the work and any factors which were significant: the grouping, the time taken, the level of concentration etc.;
• Noting the views of the child about the piece of work and asking them what made the activity so successful/significant;
• Feeding the information back into the planning process;
• When appropriate, making a judgement about the child’s level of attainment in terms of the level descriptions in the attainment targets for ICT Capability Learning Continuum and that of the EYLF learning outcomes;
• At all times keeping a clear focus on the learning objective;
• this is very important as well as having a general awareness of other learning taking place.

(Allen, Potter, Sharp & Turvey, 

The most tool in the assessment of ICT capability is your own observation of children while playing and in all contexts and interaction with them about their work. It becomes important, therefore, to develop skilled observations of individual children.

 

Methods of Observation in Early Childhood Education

There are two different types of child observation methods that you can use when you are documenting and collecting evidence of dispositions for learning. These are structured and informal – both may need to be adapted for early learning environments.

 

Structured observation in early childhood education can be carried out in several ways:

• Observe the whole class to gain an overview of its progress.
• Observe a different group each week to gather more detailed information on individual attainment
• Target your observations on particular ICT techniques.

 

For this, you will need to have a prepared observation schedule which you or a colleague complete at intervals. A good rule of thumb is to even have a coding system.

 

Informal observation is different as it does not involve as much planning but is to do with you making observations of your children continuously. For example, you would need to monitor how they are able to respond to your explanations, how they answer your questions, and so on.

While the children are engaged in EYLF outcome 4 activities for example, you can monitor the ways in which different children respond to an activity. You may notice that some are very confident and can tackle a given task while others are reluctant to try anything out for themselves and who consistently seek reassurance that what they are doing is right.

 

Technology Observation in Early Childhood Education - online PD for Early Childhood teachers

You will learn how to plot a path for digital technology by employing effective methods of observation and assessment so that you find it easy to make judgements about the conceptual and procedural technological knowledge of children when playing in early learning environments.

Stand-alone course fee: $380

Membership fee: $5.99 AUD per month (7 day free trial)

 

 

How Preschool Observation and Assessment can help plan a Digital Future

Digital technology observation in preschool is important in a society where young children are expected to enter education with some understanding and capabilities of its use. As one of my online workshops for preschool teachers, I help you apply key strategies such as what you will read below. You can join this course today ($460 AUD) or gain INSTANT ACCESS to this course and 70 + other online PD for early childhood teachers as a member of my Academy for just $5.99 AUD per month (cancel anytime).

 

Play based learning in early childhood education has long been argued as the central pedagogical approach. However, as young children continue to be exposed to new and emerging technological developments, early childhood practitioners such as yourself, require assessment tools that will help you to meet regulatory pressures and recognise the sociocultural context of children’s learning and development in terms of the increased role of digital technologies in very young children’s lives.

How then do you use observational assessment to understand children’s learning to use digital technologies through play based learning?

 

Formative Assessment in early childhood learning activities

Observation and assessment in early childhood education is generally formative in nature and represent an ongoing process. It is a way to obtain information about a child’s performance which you then use to guide your subsequent thinking.

 

Formative assessment in preschool and kindergarten particularly can help inform intentional teaching practices. Additionally, is does a great job of enabling a differentiated classroom.

 

Observation and assessment is the best approach to apply for digital play based learning in early childhood education. In the following sections, I will highlight the most appropriate formative assessment strategies to apply today.

 

Observable Indicators in Digital Play Learning Activities in Preschool

 

Through digital play in the early years learning environment, young children can begin to master the use of digital technologies as ‘cultural tools’ through two forms of activities including epistemic and ludic activity. This was highlighted in the ‘Digital Play Framework’ (Edwards & Bird, 2014) as a way to help identify the potential indicators for children learning to use digital technologies through play-based approaches. It builds on existing research in the use of early childhood digital technologies that indicates that young children integrate traditional and digital forms of play.

 

The below will highlight these indicators that can be observed and assessed in your early childhood learning environment. They are broken down into various behaviours as recognised in the DPF.

 

Epistemic play (children explore “what does this object do?”)

 

Behaviour: Exploration

• Observable indicators may include for example:
• Seemingly random use of the digital device;
• Locating the operating functions of the device;
• Exploring the operating functions of the device;
• Following directions of the device or other people;
• Seeking assistance for desired outcome.

 

Behaviour: Problem-solving

• Relating actions to the response/function;
• Trying different actions to solve an issue;
• Intentional use of the operating functions.

 

Behaviour: Skill acquisition

It is important to assess discrete ICT skills and capabilities because the skills show through observation of whole tasks. For example, when you are promoting creativity in early childhood education with digital technology it would be achieved through the use of a drawing and painting program.

 

This requires a young child to move a mouse competently. Essentially we use ICT/digital technologies to develop higher order thinking skills and this is the ‘real’ development that is required to be assessed. As children develop their capabilities in ICT, the technical skills become less important and the thinking skills become more important.

 

When using a drawing and painting program some decisions the young child will have to make might involve:

• What colour to select and use? Why?
• What tools to use and why?
• Which techniques to use in order to produce a portrait that visually represents feelings (social and emotional development)?
• Which series of techniques to use in order to follow a line of enquiry to prove or disprove a hypothesis?
• Which media to combine, and in what way to present some particular information to a specific audience?

 

These are things that you would want to know in terms of the decisions a young child would make.

 

In terms of ICT capability, there are two basic areas that young children need to develop and these are the ICT techniques that enable them to interact with the computer. They need to input information into the computer using a range of keywords, and they also need to be able to use a mouse effectively.

 

What are the ICT skills and capabilities that can be observed and assessed? As the key elements of ICT capability are mostly practical observable capabilities include:

 

• Being able to view taken footage (video camera) or images (still camera);
• Scrolling and tilting (iPad); using mouse to move cursor;
• Click and double click program icons (computer);
• Being able to share knowledge of functions of the device with others for the purpose of teaching others (ZPD);
• Knowing the name of digital cameras and taking digital photos.

 

Ludic play (children explore “what can I do with this object?”)

 

Behaviour: Symbolic

• Using the device to record already established pretend play or to record re-enacted play (video or still);
• Selecting an App specifically for pretend play (iPad);
• Selecting a program specifically for pretend play (computer).

 

Behaviour: Innovation

 

• Creating a pretend play to record (video or still cameras);
• Selecting an app specifically for pretend play (iPad);
• Selecting a program specifically for pretend play (computer).

 

Questions to help inform your Observations

• Are they interested in and curious about technology? Do they enter into discussions and make comments?
• Do they experiment with ICT applications, finding things out for themselves?
• Do they show enjoyment and concentration?
• Are they able to use ICT and other digital devices for their own purposes?
• Do they incorporate digital technologies into their role play?
• Do they talk about ICT tools and applications and show an understanding of their purposes?
• Are they able to find and start a program?
• Are they able to navigate a program?
• Are they beginning to experiment with tapping out letters using the keyboard?
• Are they showing an awareness of electronic forms of communication, email, Internet and mobile texts?
• Are they able to control a programmable toy and make it move where they want?

 

Questions that might prompt discussion

Sustained shared thinking is a good way to engage in discussions with young children in digital play in the early years learning environment. Some ways to prompt discussion may include the following:

 

• What happened?
• What can it do?
• How do we make it work?
• What do people use these for?
• I wonder what this button will do?
• What else do you like to use a computer or digital camera for?
• What will happen if….?
• Have you had a go on the computer/digital camera? What did you do?
• What do you think?
• I wondered why you had….?
• I’ve never thought about that before.
• You’ve really made me think.
• That’s an interesting idea.

 

 

Conclusion

When undertaken in a sensitive and responsive way, observation in early childhood education of young children’s digital play can be an important process for early childhood educators as it allows them to plan appropriately for individual learning through a designed curriculum that provides ways to describe a young child’s digital skills and capabilities. Through these observable indicators and questions, you can help the children in your care grow their technological awareness, their understanding of ICT tools to experiment with and play and use for their own purposes.

 

Learn more about observation in early childhood education when you gain INSTANT ACCESS as a member of our ICT in Education Teacher Academy today - 70 Plus online workshops for preschool teachers.

 

 

Top Observation Techniques for EYLF Learning Outcomes

ICT capability is considered the ability to use ICT independently, appropriately and creatively. An ICT capable child is someone who has the disposition to construct ICT solutions to problems that are appropriate to the context and are based on the knowledge of the opportunities and limitations of the systems available.

ICTs have become such a ubiquitous part of children’s lives that profoundly technology is being ‘taken for granted’.

This is, therefore, a guide to early childhood teachers, preschool and kindergarten alike, on what to observe and strategies to facilitate the learning progression in ICT capability in both Early Years Learning Framework Outcome 4.4 and 5.4.

 

LEARN ABOUT:

Observation in Early Childhood Education

 

Higher Order Skills in Early Childhood

This is demonstrated when children:

• Decide when it is appropriate to use a particular ICT for a specific purpose.
• Plan what techniques, routines and processes are to be used.
• Work independently to solve problems.
• Evaluate their use of ICT and the outcome of the activity.
• Explain and justify their choices and approaches.
• Reflect on their learning and how things could be approached differently.

 

EYLF Outcome 4

Children resource their own learning through connecting with people, place, technologies and natural and processed materials

 

This is evident when:

Use information and communication technologies (ICT) to investigate and problem solve.

 

EYLF outcome 4 activities here

 

Engaging in Sustained Shared Thinking in the Context of ICT

•  Tuning in.
• Showing genuine interest
• Respecting the children’s own decisions and choices by inviting them to elaborate.
• Recapping.
• Offering your own experiences.
• Suggesting.
• Reminding
• Encouraging further thinking
• Offering an alternative viewpoint
• Speculating
• Reciprocating
• Using positive questioning.
• Asking open-ended questions
• Modelling thinking.

 

EYLF Outcome 5

Children use ICT to access information, investigate ideas and represent their thinking

This is evidence when children:

• Identify the uses of technologies in everyday life and use real or imaginary technologies as props in their play.
• Use information and communication technologies to access images and information, explore diverse perspectives and make sense of their world.
• Use information and communication technologies as tools for designing, drawing, editing, reflecting and composing.
• Engage with technology for fun and to make meaning.