Britain's Got iPads!
For my fourth year internship, I travelled to London, England, and completed my placement at The Chelsea Group of Children, an inclusive special needs school for children aged 4-11.
Here, I assumed the role of a teaching assistant and worked mainly with children aged 6-9 who had a variety of behavioural, emotional, and communication needs. The children were placed in groups based on their similar abilities, needs, and by age, creating 6 balanced groups made up of 4-5 students each. They followed a rotating schedule (pictured below) that incorporated major subjects from the United Kingdom's curriculum such as Maths and Literacy, while classes like Vygotsky featured a combination of History, Geography, Science, Life Skills, and Art lessons throughout the week. Each week, one Maths class was dedicated to Information Communication Technology (ICT). This gave students the opportunity to use the school's iPads, or devices from home for the entire lesson, where they could interact with applications that focused on Math or Life Skills.
Some favourite applications that I noted during my time there were Pepi Bath and EdGuru Maths. Children also used this time to watch educational songs on Youtube, the most popular ones being Shapes Song 2 and Phonics Song 2 from the account KidsTV123.
Pepi Bath is an application that focuses on life skills, mainly personal hygiene, where children wash their character's hair, brush their teeth, and clip their nails. These applications are beneficial in increasing children's independence levels and encouraging them to exercise personal hygiene through a fun, interactive game. Regardless of children's needs, it is vital for all children to learn about the importance of self-care and how to look after themselves as they grow up.
KidsTV123 have over 100 videos catered towards educating young children in early literacy and math through song. Through the repetitive rhythm of their videos, children are able to learn the words easily, therefore learning about shapes or counting through a simple jingle.
Easily the highest anticipated lesson of the week, ICT day, helped the children understand the important role that digital technology plays in society, and that understanding how it works is a valuable skill to have. When working with children with a variety of different needs, such as focusing for long periods of time, using equipment such as iPads instead of lessons, gave children immediate feedback for their actions, reducing distraction levels (Henderson & Yeow, 2012). Having enough iPads for each child also impacted their focus as children were able to engage more with the content by having the device directly in front of them (Henderson & Yeow, 2012) compared to one screen at the front of the room.
Image free from Wix (2017)
Finding ways to integrate technology into education is an "essential aspect of early learning and yields greater academic success" (More & Travers, 2013). All children learn differently, therefore giving them choices on how they would like to learn, in this case through applications or Youtube videos, they have control over their education and their learning. Incorporating an ICT dedicated day in the classroom is a great way to show children how they can use technology to learn AND play!
Image free from Wix (2017)
Word Count: 588
References:
Henderson, S., & Yeow, J. (2012). IPad in Education: A Case Study of iPad Adoption and Use in a Primary School. 2012 45th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. doi:10.1109/hicss.2012.390
More, C. M., & Travers, J. C. (2012). What's App With That? Selecting Educational Apps for Young Children With Disabilities. Young Exceptional Children, 16(2), 15-32. doi:10.1177/1096250612464763
