Cooking
This non-digital activity that we normally prepared for the children
everyday. In our centre I am working with infants and toddlers from 18 months up to the ages of 3 and a half. Cooking is one of children's interests because it does not concern them if they use the sand-pit as pretend play. It is interesting to watch and observe how the children enjoyed, the real ingredients such as flour, sugar, water, spoon, pot and trays. Cooking can help children learn and practice some basic math concepts and build language skills. Smoti (1999) stated that technology is also a creative and purposeful activity aimed at meeting needs and opportunities through the development of products or environments. Technology is influenced by the culture or society in which it occurs (pg5). Technology is not just about digital technology, there is so much more in non-digital technology as well. I have always enjoyed participating and engaging with children in there activities however, I like to encourage them by asking them questions or even giving me an explanation on what they are cooking or by naming what they are cooking.
Cooking is a fantastic activity for children. During the process of the cooking children can learn a
whole rage of skills. Children use their knowledge for processing and problem solving e.g. skills like using a bowl and spoon for mixing ingredients. Its such a fun and valuable way to learn, we can cook food in many different ways as well as food from different cultures. Children can develop working theories during cooking therefore make sense of the natural world (Minitry of Education1996,p.90).
Children using spoons to crack their eggs, knowing the ingredients that are needed and measuring quantities which is a mathematical skill, also helping children to develop communication skills. Teachers role is to assist children to solve problems. Cooking is an example of technological activity or system developed and adapted by earlychildhood to meet children's learning (Smoti 1999 p.5).
Children learn to share, turn taking, listening skills. interaction when math and science involved. Cooking activity allow children to explore and express their knowledge about science which Te whariki contribution stated that growing experience in solving problems together, develop children's understanding of how technologies can help them and others (Ministry of Education 1996. p.96). Studying and reading about technolog,y I finally understood that the simplest definition of 'technology' is about helping people and solving problems (Smoti 1999).
Therefore reflective practice not only makes changes possible, but also provides information needed to develop guidelines for setting new needs, goals, and plans (Sockman and Sharma (2008).
According to Zeichner and Liston (1996), by means of community of practice teachers are able to 1) examine and resolve their teaching problems, 2) teaching beliefs and goals, 3) take responsibility for their professional through participation in the community.
REFERENCE:
Ministry of Education (1996). Te whariki : He whariki matauranga mo nga mokopuna o Aotearoa. Wellington, New Zealand and communication technology. A framework for development, Wellington: Ministry of Education
Smoti, (1999). Technology in Earlychildhood, Early Education, 1, 5-10.
Sockman, B., & Sharma P. (2008). Struggling toward a transformation model of instruction: It's not so easy Teaching and Teachers education, 24 (4), 1070 - 1082.
Zeichner, K, & Liston, D. (1996) Reflective teaching an introduction ,Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erbaun.
REFERENCE:
Ministry of Education (1996). Te whariki : He whariki matauranga mo nga mokopuna o Aotearoa. Wellington, New Zealand and communication technology. A framework for development, Wellington: Ministry of Education
Smoti, (1999). Technology in Earlychildhood, Early Education, 1, 5-10.
Sockman, B., & Sharma P. (2008). Struggling toward a transformation model of instruction: It's not so easy Teaching and Teachers education, 24 (4), 1070 - 1082.
Zeichner, K, & Liston, D. (1996) Reflective teaching an introduction ,Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erbaun.
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ReplyDeleteKia Ora Iveti!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful reflection you wrote here! I enjoyed reading your reflection regarding cooking activity. I really like how you made a link between cooking and technology. That is, you made a comprehensive connection cooking as technology by using appropriate quotes from Smorti (1999). These quotes actually helped me to understand what technology is. Recently, I have understood the fact that technology is creative and purposeful activity which has been hugely influenced by culture or society.
It is good to see your understanding of technology in this reflection. I also felt that the concept of cooking is as same as technology. For example, cooking provides children with a wide range of advantages as you mentioned above. Technology is also “about helping people and solving problem (Smorti, 1999, p. 5).
It is true that in the view of technology, many activities are related to technology and they are technology. Thank you for sharing your awesome idea about cooking. You’ve done a really good job, Iveti. Tino Pai!
Ivet, I like your summary about the meaning of technology for humans that ‘technology is about helping people and solving problems’. It is just right and true. Today’s latest idea is swiftly superseded by something new, or becomes irrelevant in our rapidly changing socio-cultural and economic contexts due to its demanding. It is now increasingly recognised that children need to gain fluency in such knowledge. Instead of simply acquiring knowledge for its own sake, they should be learning more about how to do things with it, understanding and reasoning (Selwyn, 1999). What we can do for the children? We need to provide activities that encourage children to explore a variety of ICT tools and to encourage them to apply them – playfully in the early years in a range of different learning purposes (Ministry of Education, 1996). For example, in cooking activities, children acknowledge that using heat can change the texture, colour and shape of substances. Through discussions and discoveries, they create their own knowledge and empower their cognitive development. This is all we are as an educator looking for and working for it.
ReplyDeleteReferences:
Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki, he Whāriki Mātauranga mo ngā Mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.
Selwyn, N. (1999). ‘Resisting the Technology Imperative: Issues in Researching the ‘Effectiveness’ of Technology in Education from the online journal Compute-Ed, Vol 5 Online 11th March 2005 at: http://pandora.nla.gov.au/nph-arch/2000/Z2000-Jun-5/http://computed.coe.wayne.edu/Vol5/Selvyns.html
Kia Ora Iveti,
ReplyDeleteI love your choice of non-digital technology, ka pai! Cooking is something that I have always enjoyed; even from a very young age I was baking and helping my mum in the kitchen. I like how you talked about how children can cook with real ingredients e.g. flour, sugar, water; can use the tools involved with cooking e.g. spoons, pots, trays, measuring tools; and how they can even re-enact cooking through dramatic play in the sandpit. I believe cooking is a hands-on, sensory experience, and Te Whāriki tells us that children should develop self-care and self-help skills including food preparation (Ministry of Education, 1996).
Have you thought about how the tools we use for cooking are technology? For example, before ovens and stovetops people cooked with open fires. The ovens and stovetops we have today can be run using things like electricity and gas. However did people manage to measure out cups of sugar and flour before someone came up with the idea of creating tools to help us? This is where I also agree with your citing of Smorti (1999) who said that technology is about helping people and solving problems.
Overall, I think you have written a really good reflection, and it is clear to me that your understanding of technology has changed as a result of your learning.
References
Ministry of Education. (1996). Te whāriki: He whāriki mātauranga ngā mokopuna Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media.
Smorti, S. (1999). Technology in early childhood. Early Education, 1, 5-10.
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