Week 5 Reflection

Week 5:
How technology is making young children lifelong learners!
The video “Beginning the journey Five-year-olds drive their own PBL projects” was very inspirational. This video was able to show me that even the youngest learner can use technology and even become more engaged by doing so!
The students in this video are energized, interested and engaged because they are able to apply what they are learning to real life situations. The students were able to plan a trip to Brazil by using the Smart Board. They could access the internet and see where Brazil was, how they were going to get there, and what they could see when they arrived through online fieldtrips.
The students in the video were also able to use the Smartboard independently to learn about writing letters. I really thought the showing of how to tell the difference between the letters b and d was great. For the student to actually move the letter b on top of the letter d. The students could visually tell the difference. The touch screen on the Smartboard also enabled them to learn in front of the class with hands on learning and the teacher is there to teach and problem solve with all students together.
All the examples in this video show how technology can help launch young children in to becoming lifelong learners. Students are now able to use the computer to go all over the world, experience new ways of completing assignments and make or invent new technology can change the world.
This has inspired me to use technology in the classroom. We have Smartboards in our school that I could use, but until now I never really thought that my students would benefit from or be able to use it. It has simply amazed me how useful and engaging this technology is!