Does learning on a computer in pre-k qualify as hands-on learning?

Online Surveys & Market Research

"That is so cool." That is what you want to hear when kids are learning. This article from Tennessee about a pre-k classroom integrating iPod touch into the curriculum got me thinking. The experimental approach is designed and implemented by Shelley Herzke a pre-k teacher and Sheri Burkeen, the school's early childhood technology coordinator. The project has kids excited. Students are able to interact with "Apps" designed for young children, such as interactive audio books and math games. 

 

"This is teaching them to take risks with technology," Herzke said. "It helps with their self-confidence with technology. They can get on (an iPod Touch) and figure it out themselves."

The small, portable, and fairly inexpensive touch screen iPod allows for the entire classroom to use them at the same time.

I have mixed feelings about this idea. As a tech person, I get really excited by technology that is used well in teaching. In my classroom I have used digital cameras, online games, and a classroom blog for learning.  I have always felt that my students were getting a lot out of the technology because I was there to guide, present, and qualify the experiences they were having. I have also seen computer games and interactive toys used to pacify children, especially boys who won't behave. When computers first entered pre-k classrooms in the 1990's, they were much more of a plug-and-play tool. Turn on a game, plug the kids into it with the head phone jack, and let them click away. Since Web 2.0 has come around that has changed. Technology − even for young kids − is more about interaction. There are entire worlds designed around children interacting with each other online.

Recently, my five year old my son went to a friend's house. While he was there, he played a Wii for the first time. When the boy's mom first asked my son if he wanted to play, he asked her, in all seriousness, "Is that one of those games that keeps you from going outside?" A little embarrassing for me, but at least I know he has understood what we have taught him: playing outside is fun, and usually better than a video game. He still likes to use my iPhone, but I am not sure I would want him using one in school. What do you think? Does learning on a computer and new interactive technology qualify as hands on learning? What should be the focus of pre-k classrooms?

Maryland Poised to Lead In the Long Run

Maryland seems poised to become a national model for effectively collecting and using early education data. Governor Martin O'Malley has proposed to the Maryland legislature the creation of a data collection system that would track its students from pre-k through 12th grade and beyond. This step, combined with the state's Work Sampling System, could provide the most developmentally appropriate and comprehensive data system in the nation. From FairTest.org:

The Work Sampling System is a continuous assessment format which helps teachers and families gain perspective on the students development over an eight-year period, from ages 3 to 11.  

Many states are moving towards a longitudinal system, but only Maryland has the child-centered assessments system to make the data valuable. Work Sampling has been shown reliable and valid up to 11 years old. This makes the Maryland system student-centered, longitudinal and able to answer important policy questions that guide accountability and funding decisions. Some of the answers that Michael Keller, former director of policy analysis and research for the Maryland Higher Education Commission highlighted are:

What achievement levels in elementary school indicate that a student is "on track" for later success? What effect does early grade retention have on later academic success? What evidence exists that students who pass courses have learned the course content? Which elementary, middle and high schools in the state are consistently highest performing in preparing different student populations? What high school achievement levels indicate that a student is ready for college or work?

 

These are just a few of the questions this system could answer. It could also answer a big pre-k question: When do the effects of pre-k show up the most? Is it by third grade as the fans of the "fade effect" suggest or is it, as I suspect, as cumulative and important in middle and high school?

The Perry Preschool Had No Playground

The Perry school had no playground. It was the only school without one in Ypsilanti Michigan, a town just outside of Detroit. It was also where all of the black students went to school. In 1958, the new special education director David Weikart noticed the school, but more importantly, he noticed the students. He saw what we now call "an achievement gap" in Ypsilanti. 
 
The special education population was almost all black, while the white students generally seemed to do fine in school.   

"Does it have to be this way?" he thought. "What could we supply that was missing for these kids that weren't doing well?"   

He knew that once a student entered special education, they would not leave. They were generally considered a lost cause by the education system because that was just the way it was - black children just had lower IQ scores than white students. Back then, it was the heyday of the IQ test. IQ was widely thought as immovable, static, and unchangeable. Every person had a certain level of intelligence that would predict their success and African American children just had lower IQs.  
 
Dr. Weikart had an idea though: What if he could increase the IQ of underprivileged African American students before they got to school? 
 
We sometimes forget the role of preschool in our American history and our struggle to become a more just society, especially now when so many of the arguments for and against voluntary universal pre-k revolve around financial principles. Preschool was invented to address the achievement gap between poor and middle class children. Early Lessons, a documentary on American Radio Works by Emily Hanford, describes the history of the Perry Preschool study, and its role in today's pre-k educational landscape.  
 
Preschool is possibly the most researched idea in education, a trend that began with a school that was an experiment from the beginning. The Perry Preschool founders campaigned door-to-door in area neighborhoods to recruit African American children for the school. Then, they flipped a coin. Random selection was used to choose who would be selected into the school and who would be in the control group. 
 
If you teach at-risk children and ever wonder if you are really making a difference, or want to know how to talk about why kids need preschool, listen to this documentary. The Perry Preschool experiment, the study that generated the High/Scope active learning curriculum, reminds us that in order for preschool to be as effective as the original Perry Preschool, it must be of high quality.  
 
As pre-k educators, we walk in the shoes of those who have gone before us. Pre-k is not just about doing better on a test; it is about doing better in life. The Perry Preschool experiment has proven that over 50 years in a fascinating portrayal of the history of pre-k as an intervention to address inequity.  
 
Transcript: 
http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/preschool/transcript.html 
 
Audio: 
http://www.publicradio.org/tools/media/player/americanradioworks/2009/early_lessons_full.pls

Where the Fear of Being Left Behind Left Us

In a critique on Education.com, early educator Traci Geiser has written a detailed description of what an inappropriate classroom looks like, warning parents of high-pressure pre-k environments. She points out the futility of paper and pencil tasks and worksheet driven homework to accelerate learning, and acknowledges the inappropriate amount of time spent expecting children to be quiet and listen to the teacher as a frustration factor. Finally, she addresses how the pressure of kindergarten curriculum pushed down into pre-k classrooms can suck the joy out of learning.

What Traci doesn't do in her article is address why these practices have come about. The answer for me is clear. Fear. Kids today are growing up in a culture of fear that causes parents to expect preschools to produce kindergarten ready children. No parent wants their child to be "left behind" because they aren't ready, so we push out kids to be over-prepared. Here, it is up to the practitioner to educate parents about what developmentally appropriate really means. Check out the blog bakersandastronauts to see the kinds of activities that can be done in a developmentally appropriate classroom. When children play, the work the children do in this class is at a higher level cognitively than any worksheet I have ever seen in a pre-k or kindergarten classroom.  Most of all, these students are learning actively, not just completing worksheets that make it look like they are learning.

Thanks to retweets from @KarenNemethEdM and @Ed_Leadership on twitter, I learned about this article on Education.com.

Image from: http://blog.newsok.com/educationstation/files/2008/06/412007_preschool_class_activities_3.jpg

You got the money, what do you do with it?

You got the money, now what do you do with it? The recent American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) put additional Title I funds into schools. Now it is up to school boards, superintendents, and constituents to decide how to use it. Pre-K Now just published a guide for school administrators to help with those decisions. Many school systems face achievement-gap problems associated with the psycho-social delays in children related to poverty. Title I funds are legislatively targeted to address those deficits.

How can your school system encourage literacy among all of your students by first grade? How do you target the kids that need help the most? How can you proactively address the inequalities of poverty within the budgetary constraints of the current climate? A number of reports have discussed the importance of early education in increasing high school graduation rates.

Essentially, these new funds are meant to support already existing and effective programs. The U.S. Department of Education does not want these funds used for pilot programs that haven't proven their worth. This is why using Title I to support public pre-k makes so much sense. From the report:

Districts may only use Title I funds to expand access to and/or supplement existing services. For example, Title I can be used to expand a half-day pre-k program to full day. There are strong stipulations against using Title I funds to “supplant” other resources, i.e. using Title I money for something previously paid for with state or local dollars.

School districts – maybe even your own -- may be sitting on a bucket of cash for at-risk kids, and just need to access those dollars. If your district is in that position, you should consider investing in the future by supporting your pre-k program in your school, locality, or state. Maybe you have one pre-k classroom in your school with a wait list. This is the perfect time to start up an additional classroom to give more kids access to a high-quality early learning experience. Maybe your school system needs to align its pre-k through 3rd grade strategies or establish common goals for pre-k programs. Now is the time. Read the report and learn how Title I works for pre-k.

Image: http://prekvt.blogspot.com/2008/02/pre-k-rules-challenge-cap.html