Pre-K Technology Applications Summary

Education experts determined that just because Pre-Kers are young is no reason to leave them out of the technology loop. As with their older counterparts, young children benefit from exposure to a variety of technologies, used not only to enhance Pre-K learning, but also to prepare the children for future technological learning, which is fast becoming more and more apart of their daily lives. The more familiar young children are with age-appropriate hardware and software, the more encouraged these young children will be to experiment with new technologies that will be developed during their lifetime.

The TEA has formulated a Technology Applications Domain for Pre-K. According to the goals established by the TEA, by the end of Pre-K young children should be able to open and navigate through age-appropriate software designed to develop and enhance early childhood learning; use and name a variety of computer peripherals, including a mouse, a keyboard, a voice/sound recorder, a touch screen, and a CD-ROM; and can also operate recorders and touch screens. By the end of Pre-K, young children will also expertly use age-appropriate software to create and express their own ideas and thoughts, as well as become familiar with information retrieval available through technology use.

A season-appropriate and fun task for children is to explore Christmas ‘Round the World. Children of all ages can be successful with this project. Although the final outcome depends on the students’ ages, students of all ages can utilize the Internet to research their chosen countries’ Christmas traditions, including finding geography information to pinpoint the locations of their countries. The children will also need to verify the validity and the reliability of their sources as is age-appropriate. The children then utilize a variety of technology devices and graphic/video sources to create a multimedia product showcasing the information found and present their product to their classmates. This activity encompasses several different technology TEKS as the children will need to be familiar with the hardware of the available computers, as well as the workings of the software and Internet sources they will be using.