Take a giant step: A blueprint for teaching young children in a digital age
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Take a giant step: A blueprint for teaching young children in a digital age Brigid Barron Carol Copple Gabrielle Cayton-Hodges Linda Darling-Hammond Laura Bofferding Michael H. Levine Fall 2011 The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop and Stanford University
© The Joan Ganz Cooney Center 2011. All rights reserved. The mission of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center is to foster innovation in children’s learning through digital media. The Cooney Center is an independent research and innovation lab that catalyzes and supports research, development, and investment in digital media technologies to advance children’s learning. The Cooney Center has a deep commitment toward dissemination of useful and timely research. Working closely with its Fellows, national advisors, media scholars, and practitioners, the Center publishes industry, policy, and research briefs examining key issues in the field of digital media and learning. www.joanganzcooneycenter.org A full-text PDF of this report is available for free download from www.joanganzcooneycenter.org. Individual print copies of this publication are available for $20 via check, money order, or purchase order made payable to “The Joan Ganz Cooney Center for Educational Media and Research” and sent to the address below. Bulk-rate prices are available on request. Attn: Publications Department The Joan Ganz Cooney Center Sesame Workshop One Lincoln Plaza New York, NY 10023 p: (212) 595-3456 f: (212) 875-6088 cooney.center@sesameworkshop.org Suggested citation: Barron, B., Cayton-Hodges, G., Bofferding, L., Copple, C., Darling-Hammond, L., & Levine, M. (2011). Take a Giant Step: A Blueprint for Teaching Children in a Digital Age. New York: The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop.
contents
2 executive summary
6 the digital age teacher preparation council
8 introduction: take a giant step
9 A time ripe for action
10 Critical learning gaps — new and old
13 Conceptual framework: life-wide and life-long learning
16 technology integration in the early childhood classroom:
a review of programs and research
16 Technology and young children
18 Wanted: Effective 21st century teachers
19 Transforming professional development in early childhood education
20 Taking on the challenges of in-service education
22 The role of leadership and communities of practice
22 Building teacher expertise in integrating new technology
26 Understanding the role of technology in teaching and learning
32 imagining and enacting innovation: examples from the field
33 Example 1: Integrating public media assets to support early learning:
Success for All and Ready to Learn
34 Example 2: One-to-one computing and sustained professional development:
Maine Learning Technology Initiative
35 Example 3: Using netbooks to engage developing writers:
The Writer’s Workshop model in Littleton, Colorado
38 recommendations
44 conclusion
46 references
50 appendix
1executive summary
Across the nation and the political spectrum, Americans are
calling for dramatic improvement of public education. At the
same time, the country is in an era of scarce funding for
new initiatives. In this context, this report identifies a timely
opportunity and challenge: By integrating emerging digital
technologies into education and lifelong learning for all
professionals, beginning with teachers of children aged 3
through 8, we can establish a cost-effective and productive
pathway for learning in the 21st century.
This approach is timely because years of education reform
efforts have established a current policy environment where
the following key factors are present:
• a core of common standards emphasizing 21st century
skills and increased curricular depth;
• legislatively enforced accountability for student outcomes,
which provides the needed leverage for reform;
• progress in developing improved assessments to test
higher-level skills along with fundamental knowledge;
• an increased commitment to learning in early childhood
in the nation’s policy and business sectors as a result of
new infrastructure and greatly expanded investment;
• incentives for states to develop comprehensive plans that
include improved teacher preparation and professional
development; and
• evolving digital technologies and a wealth of public media
assets that create new possibilities for transforming
teaching and learning.
2Executive Summary
With the first five factors laying the foundation and other media offering video teaching examples,
for substantial education improvement, rapidly curriculum plans, and materials. Leadership at
developing digital technologies can bring the school, district, state, and national level is
momentum and immense new capacity to student essential for capitalizing on opportunities made
learning, teacher preparation, and professional possible by technology integration in the classroom.
development.
The challenge of improving teacher preparation
A particularly powerful benefit of these new and ongoing learning led to the creation of
technologies is their capacity for deepening and the Digital Age Teacher Preparation Council,
personalizing learning. Up until now, teachers established by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at
typically have geared most of their instruction Sesame Workshop and the Stanford Educational
to meet the needs of the average child and have Leadership Institute, with generous support from
been limited in their ability to individualize the Joyce Foundation. Beginning in January 2010,
strategies and materials to meet the needs of a group of 22 experts in a range of fields, including
all learners. Today, through technology they will teacher education, public service media, literacy,
increasingly be able to differentiate instruction, technology, science and mathematics, and devel-
and learners themselves will be able to have opmental science, convened to study emerging
greater control of the paths and pace of their best practices, policy and program trends, as well
own learning. as innovative approaches to enhancing children’s
learning and teacher education and support.
Given the growing ubiquity of digital media in
most children’s lives, thoughtful integration of The Council’s work is the basis for Take a Giant
technology in learning environments can benefit Step, which states five key goals for the nation to
children as young as ages 3 to 8. Enhanced, meet by 2020, as well as immediate and discrete
modernized early learning will improve their step-wise actions to provide significant innovation
long-term prospects for school success. Technology in instruction and teacher preparation.
is most productive in young children’s lives when
it enhances their engagement in the rich activities The first goal emphasizes creating communities
of childhood — talking, interacting, manipulating, of practice with a great deal more teacher
pretending, reading, constructing, exploring — as collaboration and planning than is currently
well as in children’s reflections on their actions and evident. This kind of professional environment
experiences. Digital media that can contribute in for teachers — pervasive in high-performing
these ways and that also exposes children to new countries — can exist far more widely in the
knowledge and enriching vocabulary are emerging, United States, but first, education leaders need
as evident in the examples offered in this report. to restructure time and staffing so that teachers
Teachers in the early grades and beyond can make can work together and with groups of students
use of such strategies to improve learning for in new ways that are supported by technology.
young children and better meet individual needs.
Beyond restructuring time and staffing in schools,
However, in order to be effective, U.S. teachers need we need to give American teachers significantly
more robust professional preparation as well as better preparation, professional development,
more ongoing support than they currently receive, and supports than they receive today. Enhancing
especially with respect to understanding children’s technology infrastructure and capabilities will
learning and development, providing learning bring fresh potential for teachers’ preparation and
experiences with rich cognitive demands, and professional development at relatively low cost.
using new technologies to promote personalized To date, higher education, K-12 schools, and
learning and 21st century skills. In the enhancing early learning programs have made only slow
of teacher education, digital tools can play and scattered progress in changing their
significant roles — for instance in online courses, educational practices. By working together
connected learning communities, and in websites they can take a major step forward in providing
3productive educational support across grades The Council recommends that the federal
and settings by adopting shared standards for government partner with states and the private
student outcomes — standards that reflect the sector to ensure that a technology infrastructure
developmental and learning sciences, national exists in every school and community. At the
common core approaches, and the full range highest levels of policy, new priority must be
of learning associated with new technologies. accorded to promote better teaching and learning
A vision of developmentally connected learning from the start. Government agencies at the
from ages 3 to 8 can drive coordinated efforts national and state levels can help ensure that
of teachers, families, and the community. This new media technologies are deployed equitably
report outlines specific recommendations for for underserved children and their teachers.
advancing this goal.
Other proposed actions at the national level include
The second goal is to train early educators to providing states with funding and accountability
integrate digital and screen media into their incentives to align the instructional system of
teaching practices in developmentally appropriate standards, assessments, and curriculum frame-
ways. The Council recommends that every works. At present, states hoping to “race to the
accredited early childhood setting be assessed top” are called upon to align both expectations
against new technology integration standards to for contemporary technology use and models
be developed by field leaders such as the National of best practices for teaching with technology
Association for the Education of Young Children resources. A useful initial step would be to organize
(NAEYC). The Council also concludes that a step- online curriculum repositories around instructional
wise approach to introducing new professional units and use them as interactive data collection
development capacity to early education programs systems; states and districts could then organize
of diverse professional need should take place professional development around these materials,
via cost-effective distance learning methods. and teachers could customize individual, group,
and online instruction for their needs.
The third goal articulated here is to expand use
of public media as a resource for teachers. The Finally, the report calls for creation of R&D
public media assets developed by highly trusted, partnerships suited to the digital age. At present,
research-based organizations for educational public funding of technology tools and approaches
media distribution are a largely untapped and is unevenly distributed, highly fragmented, and
very low-cost resource. Moreover, they have the lacking in research priorities or mechanisms to
potential to extend and connect the learning that foster interagency coordination and interdisci-
takes place at home and in school. New models plinary collaboration. Better mechanisms are
for preparing teachers to use these assets for needed to identify the added value from integrating
educational impact can be constructed efficiently digital media in instructional and assessment
without starting from scratch; emerging models practices, as well as to develop rigorous design
for teachers to share their innovations in both the and performance metrics to advance teacher
private and public sectors appear promising. This effectiveness.
report offers a range of examples and descriptions
of how public media assets may be brought into An important first step is to carry out a strategic
play. Further, the creation of innovative models inventory of current R&D initiatives to determine
for public-private partnership investments in more precisely what is being done to modernize
public media assets to help align and strengthen the field of teacher education and professional
the impact of teacher quality improvements is development. Investing in infrastructure that
worth pursuing. supports R&D collaboration is also critical.
We need to develop faster, cheaper multimedia
The fourth goal is to integrate technology sharing and delivery in order for teachers to
supports into standards, curriculum, and teaching. access vital digital resources and to collaborate.
4Useful first steps have been taken by the current
administration in outlining new commitments
to high-speed broadband access in most schools
with priority to reach low-income communities.
In brief, Take a Giant Step identifies key challenges
in moving U.S. education to the level required in
our global age. Because the teacher is the key to
educational effectiveness, we must direct much of
our effort toward teacher preparation and support.
In this endeavor, emerging digital technologies
can be powerful tools, but to achieve our goals we
must have a blueprint and the concerted efforts of
pivotal sectors, including national policymakers,
states and districts, local communities, business,
researchers, and public media. This report aims
to provide input for such a blueprint and spur
the engagement of all parties to evolve the plan
and move forward together, starting now.
5the digital age teacher
preparation council
Chairs
Linda Darling-Hammond
Professor of Education
Stanford University
Michael Levine
Executive Director
Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop
Members
Brigid Barron Jeff Mao
Associate Professor of Education Learning Technology Policy Director
Stanford University Maine Department of Education
Denise Blumenthal Ellen Moir
Director of Educational Productions Founder and CEO
WGBH New Teacher Center
Sue Bredekamp Susan Patrick
Sr. Consultant President and CEO
Council for Early Childhood International Association for K-12 Online
Professional Recognition Learning
Tom Carroll Sharon Robinson
President President
National Commission on Teaching American Association of Colleges of Teacher
and America’s Future Educators
Susan Gendron Dorothy Strickland
Commissioner Professor Emeritus
Maine Department of Education Rutgers University
Herb Ginsberg Ron Thorpe
Professor of Psychology & Education VP and Director of Education
Teachers College, Columbia University Thirteen/WNET
Rob Lippincott John Wilson
Senior Vice President President
PBS National Education Association
Shirley Malcom Susan Zelman
Head of Education and Human Resources Vice President, State Partnerships
AAAS Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6introduction: take a giant step To date, the wave of technological change currently transforming adult life, work, and leisure time communication has totally failed to help revolutionize formal learning. In fact, in some parts of the United States’ education system — in particular among preschool children — the need to limit technology and media consumption has defined professional practice for the past two decades. Technological tools alone will surely be inadequate in catalyzing future change: Excellent teachers are the most likely candidates to lead the new learning revolution our country desperately requires to compete in the decades ahead. But how are teachers being prepared to practice their craft in a digital and global age? If teachers aren’t being adequately trained on how to integrate technology into their instruction, how can we expect students to benefit from these resources in their learning?
These questions led to the creation of the Digital Finally, the blueprint offers educators and
Age Teacher Preparation Council, established by policymakers a set of recommendations regarding
the Stanford Educational Leadership Institute and how to promote effective teaching and deep
the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop, learning with the support of new technologies in
with generous support from the Joyce Foundation. classrooms across the U.S. If this blueprint sparks
In January 2010, a group of 22 experts in a range of professional and policy action, the nation’s early
fields including teacher education, public service learning system will take a giant step forward.
media, literacy, technology, developmental and
learning sciences, and mathematics, convened to
study emerging best practices, policy and program A time ripe for action
trends, and innovative approaches to enhancing
young children’s learning as well as teacher Digital technologies offer a remarkable capability
preparation and ongoing education and support. for accessing information and connecting schools,
teachers, students, and families within neighbor-
Charged with considering how to raise the quality hoods, around the nation and around the world.
of teaching in U.S. schooling through integration These tools are altering everyday communication
of technology — particularly for ages 3 through 8 and transforming opportunities for learning.
— Council members reviewed recent research on Blogging, social networking, podcasting, instant
professional development, technology integration, messaging, posting to newsgroups or boards,
early childhood learning, and systemic education and the Internet itself have brought new ways
reform. Based on this analysis, the Council has to connect, collaborate, and share, transforming
formulated a blueprint for change. The blueprint the way we live and work.
urges that U.S. leaders and educators pay
close attention to the significant roles digital Together, these advances have led to the emergence
technologies can play in building human capital of what has been called a new “participatory
and stimulating innovation, and recommends a culture” (Jenkins, 2006). This culture simultaneously
series of action steps for key sectors to consider. requires a host of new literacy skills and affords a
Many public schools and teacher preparation dramatic re-envisioning of learning environments
institutions do not yet have the capacity for wide for both children and teachers. Even young children
deployment of technology to accelerate teacher and are able to not only access but produce content
student performance, but with a strategic action that can be shared and reacted to by a community
plan the nation can address these infrastructure beyond the classroom. Current technologies also
issues. Lower relative costs, increased focus on offer possibilities for augmenting traditional
productivity in education, and growing public approaches to instruction and for the development
demand for cutting edge tools in schools can of mixed models that blend in-school and out-
help to move technology from the margins to of-school learning. Importantly for education
a more central role in education improvement. purposes, individuals can use such technologies
at their own pace and in their own ways. This
The blueprint is organized into four sections. capacity for individualization for both students
First, it provides a conceptual framework that and teachers has the potential to enhance
characterizes learning broadly as life-long, life-wide, teaching and learning.
and life-deep. This ecological framework is relevant
to the learning of both the teachers and the young The promise of technological innovation to
children that the Council’s work supports. Second, deliver change to our current education system
it reviews the state of teacher preparation and — especially for our youngest students — is
professional development regarding technology the focus of this report. In the past, education
integration into schools. Third, it presents a set reform has been slow and scattered across the
of examples from the field related to teacher decentralized patchwork quilt of the nation’s 50
preparation and professional development and states and more than 16,000 school districts. Yet
policy that focus on technology integration. today there are strong reasons to be optimistic
9that, given a firm commitment, the U.S. can realize We see the task of capitalizing on the opportunities
a wide and swift transformation in its schools. This in front of us as an interdisciplinary challenge
potential exists because of rapidly developing that requires expertise from social scientists,
technologies and because, after decades of educators, policy makers, and designers of new
education reform efforts, a number of other media technologies.
factors critical for change are now in place:
Other national education organizations express
• ommon Core1 standards will enable the nation
C hope that technology can play an important role in
to move from the morass of state standards to improving the quality of teaching and learning
greater curricular depth, coherence and in U.S. schools. Table 1 provides a subset of the
emphasis on 21st century skills; recommendations expressed in recent position
• Legislatively enforced accountability for statements by these organizations.
student outcomes provides the needed leverage
for reform, and progress is being made in
developing assessments to test higher-level Critical learning gaps — new and old
skills along with fundamental knowledge;
• The nation’s policy and business sectors have Despite decades of reform efforts and some
expressed an increased commitment to learning modest gains in the U.S., educational progress has
in early childhood with new infrastructure in been slow and appears to be stagnant. As reported
place in many states and expanded investment in the National Assessment of Educational Progress
that will likely grow in the decade ahead; in 2009, student scores on fourth grade reading
• New incentives are motivating the states to and math have plateaued (see Figures 1 and 2 on
develop comprehensive plans that include pp. 10 and 13 respectively).
crucial elements such as teacher support and
professional development; and
• A wealth of public media assets is creating Figure 1: Trend in fourth and eighth grade NAEP
new possibilities for transforming teaching mathematics average scores
and learning. High-quality video segments
designed to teach many concepts and skills 500 Grade 8
can be used in new interactive formats and ~ Grade 4
contexts in and out of the classroom. The range
290
of platforms (e.g., games, websites, mobile
devices) over which these media assets can 280 281* 283
272*
278* 279*
be viewed today offers new modalities to 270
270*
273*
enhance learning. 260
268*
263*
250
Technology’s potency in facilitating reform depends
on the presence of these factors. Although some 240
240 240
238*
teachers are taking on the challenge of learning 230 224* 235*
how to incorporate technology into the classroom 220 224* 226*
on their own initiative, they are in the minority 220*
210 213*
and typically have access to a strong social network
of support. Leadership at the school, district, state, ~
and national level is essential for envisioning and 0
realizing opportunities, and this message has ‘90 ‘92 ‘96 ‘00 ‘03 ‘05 ‘07 ‘09
been communicated regularly by organizations
* Significantly different (p < .05) from 2009.
such as the International Society for Technology
& Education (ISTE), the Consortium of School Source: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education
Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National
Networks (CoSN), and the George Lucas Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), various years,
Educational Foundation. 1990–2009 Mathematics Assessments.
The Common Core Standards in English Language Arts and Mathematics Education were established in 2010 and mark a movement
1
10 towards a national set of standards. At the time of this printing, 44 states and U.S. territories have adopted the Common Core.Table 1: Excerpts from policy statements and position papers authored by educational organizations
International Reading Internet, multimedia and other information and communication
Association technologies (ICTs) need to be considered and integrated in literacy
education.
2009
“Providing adequate education and staff development will ensure
that each teacher is prepared to effectively integrate new literacies
into the curriculum.” (p. 2)
“Teacher education programs can play a critical role in preparing
teachers to use new technologies for instruction.” (p. 2)
“Creative initiatives to increase access, provide professional
development, and enhance teacher education should be supported
by professional literacy organizations.” (p. 2)
“An intensive program of research on literacy and technology will
enable us to better understand the rapid changes taking place in
the nature of literacy and literacy instruction.” (p. 2)
“We must pay particular attention to the critical literacies that new
technologies demand.” (p. 2)
National Staff Development Teachers include among their top four priorities for further professional
Council: Professional development “using technology in the classroom” (along with learning
Learning in the Learning more about the content they teach, classroom management, and
Profession teaching students with special needs).
Darling-Hammond, The United States is “far behind” in offering extended learning
Wei, Andree, Richardson, opportunities for teachers. Nations that outperform the U.S.
& Orphanos, 2009 educationally build ongoing, sustained professional development
into teachers’ work hours.
“Effective professional development is intensive, ongoing and connected
to practice. Sustained and intensive professional development is
related to student gains.” (pp. 5-6)
“Collaborative approaches to professional learning can promote
school change that extends beyond individual classrooms.” (pp. 5-6)
Table continues on p.12
11High school graduation rates are alarmingly low, In fact, many other countries do a significantly
and students who do graduate often lack even better job of educating immigrant and high-
the rudimentary skills and knowledge necessary poverty populations that are proportionately
to cope with the demands of the workplace and larger than those in the United States.
postsecondary education. On virtually every
academic proficiency indicator on which they In part, other developed nations’ superior
compete with students in other developed education outcomes stem from the fact that
nations, U.S. high school students’ performance they invest substantially more than does the
varies from mediocre to poor (NAEP, 2009). The United States in early care and education, child
achievement of ethnic minority, high-poverty, health, and family leave. These countries see
and immigrant children and youth lags even such investment as critical for an educated
more, and our public schools largely fail to populace, thriving economy, and stable society.
mitigate the barriers that these groups face. Nearly all children participate in this voluntary,
Table 1: Excerpts from policy statements and position papers authored by educational organizations (cont.)
The NAEYC and Fred “Educators grounded in child development theory and developmentally
Rogers Center Joint appropriate practices, and who are technologically and media
Position Statement on literate have the knowledge, skills, and experience to select and
Technology in Early use technology and digital media that are appropriate for the ages
Childhood Programs and developmental levels of the children in their care, and they
Serving Children from know whether, how, and when to integrate technology into the
Birth through Age 8 program effectively.”
Forthcoming, 2011 “Educators need positive examples of how to successfully adapt and
integrate technology into the classroom to enhance children’s learning.”
“Educators need guidelines for the informed, intentional, appropriate,
and integrated selection, use, and evaluation of technology tools with
young children.”
“In the digital age, educators need pre-service and professional
development opportunities to test new technology tools, learn about
appropriate use of technology, and gain the knowledge and skills to
implement them effectively.”
Foundation for Child Professional collaboration and development is key when it comes to
Development: utilizing new technologies in the classroom.
Core Knowledge for
PK-3 Teaching “…simply knowing what resources are available is not enough; the
best teachers know how to use resources to help them achieve their
Sadowski, 2006 learning goals for their students.” (p. 5)
The organization of learning environments, including “incorporation
of both small group and individual activities along with full-class
instruction, and the integration of play with learning activities” (p. 4)
is the foundation of proper implementation.
12Figure 2: Trend in fourth and eighth grade support that predict student outcomes (Pianta,
NAEP reading average scores Belsky, Houts, & Morrison 2007; Pianta, La Paro,
& Hamre 2008).
500 Grade 8
~ Grade 4 Another difference between the U.S. and higher-
achieving nations has emerged in recent years:
290
Numerous countries outside the U.S. have
280 successfully made the transition to teaching 21st
270 264 century skills — critical thinking and problem
260 263 264 263 262* 263* 264 solving, collaboration, accessing information, oral
260* 260*
and written communication, and information
250
and media literacy skills (Partnership for 21st
240 Century Skills, 2008). However, in the United States,
230 focus on such skills is not yet common. To promote
220 217* students’ acquisition of higher-order thinking,
221 221
217* 215*
219* 218* 219* we must begin to test and teach quite differently.
210 214* 213*
Essential levers for such change certainly include
~ relevant standards and assessments, but enhanced
0 and transformed teaching capacity is also needed.
‘90 ‘92 ‘96 ‘00 ‘02 ‘03 ‘05 ‘07 ‘09 In this respect, technology can also play a number
of key roles that we will examine in the section
* Significantly different (p < .05) from 2009. of this report on the preparation and professional
development of teachers (See “Wanted: Effective
Source: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education
Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National 21st century teachers,” p. 18).
Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), various years,
1992–2009 Reading Assessments.
Conceptual framework: Life-long,
life-wide, and life deep learning
universally available, quality early care and
education, which is seen to promote both early The authors of this report and the Council
learning and social integration across economic endorse what has been termed the life-long,
and other divides. Thus most children in these life-wide, and life-deep perspective on learning,
nations enter the primary grades well prepared developed by the Learning in Informal and
for the learning ahead (Kamerman, 2006). Formal Environments (LIFE) Center and offered
in the National Education Technology Plan (Office
By contrast, in the United States, the students most of Educational Technology, U.S. Department of
in need of good teachers are the least likely to get Education, 2010). This perspective takes into
them. Children living in poverty tend to experience account the broader ecology of learning, including
the poorest quality early care and education what children and adolescents experience in the
environments. For example, in state-funded home, in education and in care settings, their
preschools, which serve many students from communities, and in their interaction with an
low-income families, studies have found that increasingly broad array of media (Banks, Au,
only 15% of classrooms are of “high quality,” Ball, et al., 2007; Barron, 2006; Bell, Lewenstein,
with 18% rated as “low quality” (Early, Barbarin, Shouse, & Feder, 2009; Bronfenbrenner, 1979; Lee,
Bryant, et al., 2005; Mashburn, Pianta, Hamre, et al., 2008; Bransford, Barron, Pea, et al., 2006). Figure
2008). A fairly large proportion of the classrooms 3 conceptually depicts how much time is spent
were observed to have a “positive emotional in more and less formal learning environments
climate.” Far less frequent were instances of across a child’s life span (Banks et al., 2007).
teachers intentionally promoting student learning More than two thirds of all preschoolers now
and providing the high levels of instructional spend time outside of the home during the day
13— a major shift from past generations. This is learning broadly as life-long, life-wide, and
due largely to the rise of women’s employment life-deep can help stakeholders address the
since 1970 and the desire of many families to challenges and capitalize on the opportunities
provide socialization and different learning offered by rapid advances in information and
experiences to children before formal schooling communication technologies (Banks et al., 2007).
begins. Although great variation exists across Council members are convinced that activities
individuals, a significant amount of learning engaging children in problem solving and
clearly takes place outside of school. Further, creating their own expressions and products
such learning is becoming easier all the time via technology help to prepare them for the
due to networked technologies. future. For designers, teacher educators, and
policymakers, it will be helpful to consider
Learning can also be said to be life-deep, reflecting how teachers and young children learn both
values, beliefs, and interests that are linked within specific settings and across the multiple
to broader cultural patterns. Conceptualizing settings where they spend their time.
Figure 3: Life-long and life-wide learning
16 waking hours
9.25%
18.5% 7.7% 5.1%
0-5 K Grade Under- Grad Work Retirement
1-12 grad
Formal learning environments Informal learning environments
Source: This image by the LIFE CENTER is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-Noncommercial-Share-Alike 3.0 United States License
1415
technology integration in the early childhood classroom: a review of programs and research Technology and young children Younger and younger children are becoming immersed in the consumption of media and the early adoption of technology in their homes. According to studies conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation (Rideout, Foehr, & Roberts, 2010), Sesame Workshop, and others recently synthesized in the Cooney Center’s report Always Connected: The New Digital Media Habits of Young Children preschool and primary grades children typically consume between 4 (for preschoolers) and 7.5 hours (for 8-year-olds) of media on a typical day. More than half of all children under 5 use some type of electronic learning toy, and watch an average of 3.5 hours of television in an average day. By the time they are 8, more than 70% of all children play video games on an average day, and 67% use the Internet on a daily basis. (Gutnick, Robb, Takeuchi, & Kotler, 2011)
Besides examining the environments in which the well-researched Building Blocks curriculum.
young children live — including connected Evidence suggests that well-conceived digital
involvement with media and digital technologies media do in fact enable young children to gain
— the task of thoughtfully integrating technology greater awareness and more control over their own
in and out of education settings requires careful thinking and actions (Sarama & Clements, 2004).
consideration of what is known about childhood When a child clicks on a computer icon to rotate
development and learning. a shape on the screen, they are not performing
an unconscious or intuitive manipulation as they
To learn and develop well cognitively, emotionally, might when physically putting together a puzzle
physically, and socially, young children need to or building with blocks; use of the icon tends to
do a wide variety of things. Every day they should make the student more aware of rotation and
be interacting with one another and with adults, thus “mathematizes” the experience.
moving and exploring, manipulating objects,
constructing, reading and creating representations, In a project created by the Elliot Pearson Children’s
listening to (and then reading) books, engaging in School at Tufts University that focused on the
pretend play, conversing, and forming relationships. Boston Marathon, kindergartners created a
This information about children’s needs is the storyboard and eventually made their own movie
basic reason that early childhood teachers often about the parts of the marathon that they found
believe that computers and “screen time” have most interesting. Students assigned roles such
little place in the early childhood setting; they are as camera crew, directors, writers, and editors;
correct that technology should not replace these considered the sequence of the scenes; and
vital experiences of childhood. Rather, technology addressed a variety of real-world problems
is most productive in young children’s lives when while shooting the video. All of the kindergarten
it enhances children’s engagement in these children were able to become active, thoughtful
activities, as well as their reflections about their participants in the experience (Mardell, 2009).
actions and experiences. A video documenting this curriculum titled
“Learning is a Team Sport” is used in Massachusetts
Integrating technology in early childhood education Charter Public School Association and NAEYC
can take many forms. One is the approach used in professional development workshops as a
the acclaimed Reggio Emilia schools in Italy, which paradigm of the use of technology with young
have inspired U.S. practitioners. A fundamental children to support the social nature of learning.
premise of the approach dictates that children
acquire and deepen their conceptual understanding Another simple but powerful way of extending
by representing ideas and actions using different children’s experiences through technology
media, similar to the learning and usage of new is through the viewing of video clips and the
languages (Edwards, Gandini, & Forman, 1998). execution of “virtual field trips.” Knowledge of the
Photography, videos, and computers also enable world undergirds children’s learning in science,
them to revisit prior experiences they seek to social studies, the arts, and other domains, and
represent and understand. In the process of increases the richness of the dramatic play so
creating representations (with the support of fundamental to their development of self-regulation
teachers), children not only demonstrate what and other abilities. Moreover, children must
they know but become more aware of problems have considerable background knowledge to
and possibilities and can deeply reflect on them. comprehend what they read. Children from low
income and immigrant families particularly need
Various education approaches and programs growth in background knowledge because their
capitalize on the capacity of digital media to extend stock of experiences often doesn’t match the
children’s thinking and learning. For instance, content and language they encounter in books
children advance in spatial and mathematical and other learning materials. Through digital
understanding when they use digital media to media, children from urban areas can easily visit
manipulate objects and shapes in space, as in places like a dairy farm or orchard, and rural
17students can explore a world-class museum or appealing), relatively few American teachers
experience a ride on a subway. Students can even regularly use them. Rather, whole-group instruction
take a virtual trip to another galaxy or a distant and seatwork fill most of the day in the majority
environment like a rainforest, follow a team of of K-12 classrooms (National Institute of Child
explorers through each step of their journey, and Health and Human Development (NICHD) Early
often have extensive opportunities to interact Child Care Research Network, 2005). Similarly,
with the environment. in many pre-K classrooms, too few intentional
teaching interactions take place, meaning that
Technologies such as educational video games, many early childhood teachers spend a good deal
handheld devices, and media production tools of time on transitions or create a situation lacking
may also enable children to broaden their in concentrated, scaffolded learning time (Early et
experiences and observe how language and al., 2005). So, what stands in the way of widespread
other symbol systems link in the world. Websites use of teaching methods that develop 21st century
connected to public media including PBS KIDS skills? Getting beyond standards and assessments
and SesameStreet.org also have the potential that emphasize only facts and basic skills is part
to increase vocabulary and concept learning — of the answer; however, dramatic changes in
especially the vocabulary and concepts of books teaching also need to occur. Promoting deep
and school materials — for children who need an conceptual understanding and higher-order
extra boost to get ready for school. It has also been thinking among students requires different
suggested that integration of highly engaging classroom organization and management skills,
technology may help to prevent the loss of curriculum, and pedagogy. Teachers must
interest that contributes to the prevalent fourth simultaneously engage with content, classroom
grade reading slump2 as students are introduced management, and the ongoing monitoring of
to more and more complex interactive software student progress. They need to be knowledgeable
that engages them and continues to build their about children’s learning paths, embrace a broad
critical thinking, problem solving, and content range of content and be prepared to make in-the-
knowledge (Gee, 2008). moment decisions as learning activities unfold.
Finally, they need to be comfortable with new
technologies and knowledgeable about how
Wanted: Effective 21st century teachers best to use them.
The goal of transforming U.S. education so that If a transformation in classroom practice is to
all children can perform to higher standards and occur, administrators and policymakers must
master 21st century skills has major implications not underestimate the challenge of enabling
for teacher pre-service and in-service education, teachers to make this change. Teachers need
and especially for the underdeveloped system far more robust training and support than they
of professional supports for teachers of young receive today, especially with regard to providing
children. Teachers need to gain facility in using learning experiences, as the cognitive development
technology for a variety of purposes, and this of children that must be taken into account, as well
challenge is just part of the broader undertaking: as the classroom organization and management
Becoming skilled in teaching methods that differ necessary to make such learning possible.
markedly from those generally used in the U.S
today. These approaches include more personalized Effective teachers look to other teachers for
formats and methods such as project-based inspiration, guidance, and support. Collaboration
learning that engages students in actively thinking, among teachers is common in high-performing
creating, and collaborating on authentic3 problems. countries such as Finland, New Zealand, and
South Korea, and in U.S. schools that attain
While these student-centered approaches are not excellent student outcomes (Schleicher, 2008).
novel (they appear in most teaching methods texts, In these settings teachers routinely work with
and teachers generally see them as effective and their colleagues to conceive and refine lessons.
Jeanne Chall first defined the fourth grade reading slump as the time when students fall behind in reading. The hypothesis is that the slump occurs
2
because starting around the fourth grade, reading shifts from “learning to read” to “reading to learn” (Chall, 1983).
18 Authentic learning refers to a type of learning and problem solving in which activities and tasks are situated in real world contexts (see Lombardi, 2007).
3They observe each other’s teaching; participate Transforming professional development
in formal, informal, and virtual communities of in early childhood education
practice4; and jointly conduct research. In fact,
teachers in countries including Japan, Taiwan, In recent years, the states have expanded their
and South Korea teach only 35 to 60% of the early childhood presence with more funding of
time they are in school. Their remaining time is public prekindergarten, for which bachelor’s
dedicated to working with colleagues, planning level credentials are typically required. Also,
and assessing, and participating in a variety of Head Start, which employs over 50,000 teachers,
professional growth experiences (Paine & Ma, has significantly raised teacher qualification
1993; Schmidt, McKnight, & Raizen, 1996). requirements. Together these changes have
created demand for a much larger pool of
Developing this kind of professional environment formally qualified early childhood educators.
for teachers poses real challenges. For example,
the issue of time: when in the day can schools find In providing professional development for those
the release time for such collaboration? Technology working with children under age five, the challenges
can help, though only as part of broader efforts differ significantly from those for K-12 teachers.
that restructure use of teacher and student time The pre-K teaching force is more diverse both
and foster new learning approaches. Well planned in educational background and in the array of
changes to technology infrastructure will enable settings where individuals work. Among these
teachers to more easily collaborate not only with settings are private and parochial preschools, child
colleagues in their building but those across town care centers, Head Start, state prekindergarten in
and around the country. Importantly, teachers can the schools, family child care homes, and many
more readily communicate with those teaching other combinations and variations on these. Only
in the preceding and subsequent grade levels, 24% of the early childhood workforce are based
sharing information about children and working in centers; the majority work in licensed (28%) or
to increase the continuity and coherence of learning unregulated (48%) home-based settings (Burton,
across age levels. Moreover, as students spend Whitebook, Young et al., 2002). As a result, providing
more time in highly interactive and personalized more effective professional development and
learning experiences aided by technology, teachers’ support in the early childhood world will require
time may be reconfigured to allow for more team using a more complicated array of venues and
work as well. strategies than in the K-12 sphere.
Building and maintaining high-quality websites, With respect to education level, about half of all
wikis, and digital resources to support teacher teachers of 3- and 4-year-olds have a bachelor’s
development is not a trivial challenge, but work degree. This figure differs widely by setting,
is underway that offers promise for getting tools however with close to 90% of college-educated
and resources into teachers’ hands. For example, teachers in public school prekindergarten programs
a variety of tools and web resources for teachers and less than 40% in for-profit child care settings
of children across the age spectrum are available (Saluja, Early & Clifford, 2002). Separately, family
on sites such as Reading Rockets, an initiative child care providers, who serve large percentages
of WETA (which produces for PBS; http://www. of low-income children, have less formal education
readingrockets.org/), WGBH’s Teachers’ Domain and access to training opportunities than their
(http://www.teachersdomain.org/), PBS’s Teacher counterparts in center-based settings.
and Parent sites (http://www.pbs.org/teachers/
and http://www.pbs.org/parents/), and The To compound the difficulties of producing a stable,
Literacy Web at the University of Connecticut well-qualified workforce in the U.S., present
(http://www.literacy.uconn.edu/). Such sites capacity to prepare people for positions in early
offer professional development resources for care and education is low. Fewer than 30% of the
teachers, as well as links and resources that higher education institutions offering two-year
their students can use. and four-year degrees even have early childhood
Communities of Practice (CoP) refer to groups of people who come together to share knowledge regarding an interest, craft, or profession.
4
CoPs can exist in physical settings and/or through virtual interactions (Wenger, 1998). 19programs (Early & Winton, 2001). Moreover, a other forms of distance learning is a viable and
shortage exists in the pipeline of early childhood rapidly growing sector of the field, especially at the
researchers and faculty at institutions of higher community college level where a large proportion
education, and few sources of funding assistance of early childhood teacher education takes place.
are available for individuals seeking to gain Use of online learning and other digital media for
qualifications in the field. purposes of staff development is also growing in
Head Start, child care in the military, and for-profit
In a comprehensive report, the Committee on child care — three significant sectors of the early
Early Childhood Pedagogy concluded: childhood universe (Donohue & Neugebauer,
2004; Bright Horizons, 2011).
There is a serious mismatch between the
preparation (and compensation) of the average To be effective, professional development through
early childhood professional and the growing digital technologies must reflect adult learning
expectations of parents and policy makers. principles, particularly when learners have
Teachers of young children are being asked to concerns about using technology — an issue
promote high levels of achievement among all more common among early childhood educators
children, respond sensitively and appropriately to than among teachers in general (PBS & Grunwald,
a wide array of diverse student needs, implement 2011). In discussions of the usage of technology
complex pedagogy, have a deep understanding however, there is wide agreement amongst early
of subject-matter disciplines, engage in serious childhood professionals that distance education
reflection about their practices, and work should facilitate interaction among members of a
collaboratively with colleagues and families group, connecting them with others and helping
(National Research Council, 2001, p. 261). them develop relationships (Bates, 2005).
Many teachers working with young children Even well-conceived distance learning programs
(indeed with any age group), have inadequate face barriers in attracting teachers’ participation.
knowledge of development and learning. Teacher Challenges exist relating to the program’s perceived
preparation programs often have insufficient credibility and participants’ discomfort or anxiety
coursework in child and adolescent development about using the technology involved in distance
despite the fact that developmentally focused learning. As a remedy, programs and courses
approaches to learning reliably produce gains can boost their credibility by associating with
in student achievement of over ten percentile a university program, ensuring that courses
points (National Council for Accreditation of are credit-bearing (both at the pre-service and
Teacher Education, 2010). As such, the nation in-service levels), and providing clear guidelines
faces the significant challenge of ensuring that on how courses can fit into a larger career plan.
early childhood teachers have knowledge of Useful too is offering technical support to teachers
child development and learning, plan and even before online courses start so that individuals
implement a valid curriculum that includes are more comfortable participating.
all developmental areas and subject areas,
use intentional teaching strategies, assess
children’s progress, and communicate with Taking on the challenges of in-service
families (NAEYC 2008; NCATE 2010). education
Given the disparity between the preparedness Providing in-service education in the early
of the early childhood workforce and the level of childhood field tends to be even more difficult
effective practice needed to achieve desired than providing pre-service education. One issue
outcomes, new technological possibilities in is the venue for training. Participants typically
professional development bring real opportunities work in widely scattered locations and have
and, at the same time, present special challenges. less release time and compensation for time
Providing online professional development and spent in professional development than do
20their counterparts in K-12. If staff can participate Publicly available teacher professional development
in these experiences at or near their workplace, resources for early childhood educators
their involvement is facilitated. For example,
ease of access to training was one of the positive The Better Kid Care Program: Provides
features of the model used in HeadsUp! Reading, a professional development opportunities and
30-hour literacy course that reached approximately educational information on caring for children
10,000 teaching staff working with children from at http://betterkidcare.psu.edu/
birth to age 5 over a four-year period (Jackson,
Lazerlere, St Clair et al., 2006). In this program, over HeadsUp! Reading: HeadsUp! Reading is no
the course of a semester, groups of participants longer broadcast live, but is still available
observed live satellite TV broadcasts featuring through Ready to Learn Providence at
literacy experts, videotapes of excellent practice, http://www.r2lp.org/matriarch/MultiPiecePage.
and participated in call-in opportunities. A trained asp_Q_PageID_E_61_A_PageName_E_WhatIn-
on-site facilitator mediated the learning experience, vestingHeadsUpReading
and web-based support was also offered. Although
HeadsUp! Reading is no longer broadcast live, PBS Teacherline: Offers standards-based
many community college faculty continue to use graduate-level courses for teachers. Sign up
its archived programs because of its powerful at http://www.pbs.org/teacherline/
video images of good practices.
Raising Readers: Lessons, articles, and curricula
Two online professional development courses available at http://pbskids.org/island/teachers/
from PBS target early childhood teachers: Raising
Readers: Preparing Preschoolers for Success, and Tools of the Mind: A research-based early
Raising Readers: Ready to Read and Write with Digital childhood program that builds success in
Media. PBS Teacherline develops, distributes, and preschool and kindergarten children by
facilitates these courses, which focus on how promoting their intentional and self-regulated
early childhood educators can promote children’s learning. Learn more at http://www.mscd.edu/
reading and writing skills. In an evaluation of these extendedcampus/toolsofthemind/
two courses, preschool teachers were found
to learn more about early literacy, have more
positive attitudes about several literacy-related Observing good teaching practices in action is
areas, and spend more time engaged in literacy a key ingredient in a number of the programs
activities in the classroom when compared with and approaches described above and in various
a control group. The second course also instructs other online courses, websites, and professional
teachers on how to use Ready to Learn digital development venues. An exciting new spin on
resources. The teacher participants reported that using video examples of teaching in professional
they did intend to use these resources in the development practice is the practice of bringing
classroom following the course (Goldenberg, these resources directly to the teacher in the field
Strother, Meade et al., 2010). via an iPad. With this technology, when a teacher
wants to better understand a certain kind of
A group of early childhood educators frequently scaffolding, for example, they can see classroom
neglected in professional development is home- examples immediately, at the very moment when
based caregivers (including family child care they are seeking to understand the strategy or
providers and family members, friends, and principle. A Vygotsky-based approach called Tools
neighbors) — especially in rural populations. of the Mind, which is used in preschool and
The Better Kid Care Program at Pennsylvania kindergarten classrooms around the country and
State University targets these groups by providing promotes children’s self-regulation and cognition,
videos, workbooks, and assignment questions as is currently exploring this use of the iPad with very
part of professional development courses, which favorable response from teachers and coaches (D.
can be done through the mail or online. Leong, personal communication, March 2, 2011).
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