October 2003 — Features
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Wireless Tots
Wireless Options
Primrose considered the wireless option because it provides benefits such as improved access and integration into daily activities. Wireless laptops are wheeled via cart from one classroom to the next, which has two immediate advantages: Children have greater access to computers and the Internet, and it becomes easier to incorporate technology into an assortment of activities.
The Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory's report, "Technology in Early Childhood Education," describes the ideal use of computers for young children as "powerful tools that, as with other technologies, are most beneficial when used as a natural part of the learning experience," which includes:
- Integrating computers into the classroom environment;
- Using them as a part of the ongoing curriculum; and
- Applying their use to real problems for a real purpose.
The findings concluded that "when computers are located within the classroom, children's developmental gains from using appropriate software and activities are significantly greater than when they are in a computer lab." This improved access, in a meaningful setting, provides for better opportunities for student interactions and the extension of learning in valuable ways.
Potent Technology
The Primrose program's hardware includes eight laptop computers with CD/DVD drives and built-in wireless capabilities. The laptops are brought to classrooms in a mobile lab with built-in power, as well as safety and security components. The school has cable-modem access, and the wireless networking card in each laptop allows access to the Internet no matter where the computers are used in the school.
Wireless technology also allows teachers to directly link instruction to the real world by adding more resources than are found in a typical preschool classroom. With the roving cart and wireless laptops, activities can be individualized and children can share ideas and projects. In addition, each child has supervised Internet access.
Many other preschools use popular software to offer "edutainment" and fun activities for children within PC-based learning areas. But, at Primrose, we're not playing with the latest cartoon character or game. Instead, we're using the computers for learning in a way that is fully integrated into daily curriculum. In other environments there is limited, if any, Internet usage, and computer access itself on a daily, meaningful basis is limited or nonexistent.
With the wireless format, as opposed to a PC-based tech lab, Primrose can make technology more potent as an educational tool. Students don't have to interrupt what they're doing to go to a different room and they aren't learning technology in a lab setting just for technology's sake. The laptops are also an improvement over the two wired PCs per classroom, because of the increased access for each child. This use of the new computers at Primrose acts as a catalyst for social interaction, language development and cognitive development, as the children create, discuss, explore and share their ideas through technology-based activities.
