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Gadgets useful tools but not teachers
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The usage of electronic devices in the classroom has been debated for over a decade. For many, computers and mobile devices are the future of education, for others they are out to steal our students’ minds.
At Fortune Kindergarten we take a cautious middle way: Although we don’t see electronic gadgets as a “cure all,” we believe that they can be highly beneficial tools in certain contexts. Fortune Kindergarten puts great emphasis on communication, not only as a tool to teach both English and Chinese language, but also as a medium with which students can explore important values, such as empathy and cooperation.
We make sure our usage of electronic gadgets never takes the center stage. In some classes, teachers will use tablets or smartphones hooked to TV screens to display theme-related visuals. Others play relevant music, videos or news clippings.
These resources are always presented and used as a stimulus rather than the main activity itself.
We use a variety of websites and educational games, often at the school library, to develop the students’ hand eye coordination as well as early math concepts, Mandarin literacy or English reading and phonics. Programs such as Google Earth or Street View have often been used to support themes related to geography or culture.
At Fortune Kindergarten we use gadgets to assist with different aspects of learning, but the main gadget we rely on is the human mind.
(Itai Michaelson is co-principal of Fortune Yaohua Kindergarten.)
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