Interactive Whiteboards for the Smallest !?

Children between five and six are known as digital natives. They are born into a world where technology is a present, not anymore to imagine without, factor. Like many other kindergarten and schools in the world do the Abbotsleigh Junior  (Preston & Mowbray, 2008) and the Westlake Elementary (Sumell, 2012) school use interactive whiteboards for the teaching and learning process. Special about those children is that in comparison with older students they still lack some basic competences, that are often required for formal learning before (e.g. reading comprehension).

First of all it is important to know what an interactive whiteboard  actually is?

An interactive whiteboard can show the picture from of a monitor on a huge touch screen, so it can be controlled via the computer or the whiteboard screen itself. Teachers and students can use the boards in various ways, for example: to write something done with an electronic pen and erase it afterwards (SMART-Technologies, 2004).

How to use an interactive whiteboard?

Pros

An interactive whiteboard allows already children in very young age to learn in a playfully, intuitively way. The board supports different learning styles: Visual-spatial, auditory and kinaesthetic learners. Further it is helpful for students with special needs, like ADD, deaf, hearing-impaired, blind or visually impaired students. Especially for young children, it is necessary to be integrated in the way of gaining knowledge. “Kindergarten children have a short attention span and need to be kept actively involved to promote learning“ (Preston & Mowbray, 2008, p. 51). Thus, we can conclude that they have the motivation to learn, but did not develop the necessary tools to handle various relations yet.

Cons

One of the most negative aspects are the costs. The price for the interactive whiteboard and the equipment is approximately 5000$. Further the costs for hardware and updates have to be taken into account. A problem that occurred in the Junior School was that when only one child could be actively involved, some of the other children got sad. But even that could be counted as a positive aspect, through the waiting the children learn to be patient.

Thoughts

If there is a way to cover the purchase price and the fixed expenses for an interactive whiteboard, it can be a very useful learning tool. In my opinion are interactive whiteboard a great opportunity to give already children in a very young age the chance to learn. The motor skills of that children might not be that developed so that writing on a paper is quiet challenging, but the interactive whiteboard gives them the chance to learn and develop certain skills, especially to the enormous size. The size is also a big advantage for teaching children with special needs.

Interactive whiteboard experiences of a kindergarten teacher (Moore, 2012)

http://www.knopnews2.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=6255:ed-tech-smart-board&Itemid=105

References

Moore, T. (2012). Ed Tech: Smart Board. retrieved November 10, 2012 from

http://www.knopnews2.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=6255:ed-tech-smart-board&Itemid=105

Preston, C., & Mowbray, L. (2008).  Use of SMART Boards for teaching, learning and assessment in kindergarten science. Hands on, 54(2), retrieved November 10, 2012 from

http://smartboardita.pbworks.com/f/smartboard+with+kindergartener.pdf

SMART'-Technologies. (2004), Interactive Whiteboards and Learning: A review of

Classroom Case Studies and Research Literature (White Paper). retrieved November 10, 2012 from http://www.smartboard.se/files/white_papers/research_whitepaper_smart_board_.pdf

Sumell, S. (2012).Westlake Elementar y pacing high-tech push. Thousands Oaks Acorn. retrieved November 10, 2012 from http://www.knopnews2.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=6255:ed-tech-smart-board&Itemid=105