There's a lot of Digital Learning going on in schools right now! But is it in the best interest of the children?
Developmental Psychology was my favorite course in college.
I really loved learning about the stages that children went through as they developed. Piaget was my favorite! Do you remember these stages?
The Sensorimotor Stage: the babies! These are the little ones that are just learning about how their bodies work! They learn to interact with the world by using their senses.
Then there is the Concrete Operational Stage. These are the upper elementary school age children: about second grade through sixth. They are becoming capable of some logical thought, but these children still need lots of hands-on learning!
The Formal Operational Stage begins around middle school and extends into adulthood. These children are beginning to be able to think in an abstract manner and manipulate ideas in their heads. But, you know, even adults love those hands-on experiences, and it will enhance learning!
As teachers, we all know there are children who develop faster than their peers, and many who develop much slower.
In the past couple of years, laptops and devices have become a bigger part of the classroom. Honestly, the children LOVE them, and there's a whole lot of learning that can happen with them! (Plus, they often make life easier on the teachers, too!) Plus, digital learning is a necessity during remote learning!
I'm sure you know how much the children love learning on a digital device! I'm a huge fan of Boom Learning activities, as they provide fun learning as well as easy record keeping for teachers! Plus, there's an amazing variety of learning that can happen on this platform! Check some of these out HERE!
Those of us who work with children in the preoperational as well as the concrete operational stages of development know the importance of internalizing learning with hands-on experiences! Please make sure they get plenty of these experiences!
I've recently developed some resources for place value that are the best of both worlds: digital learning and hands-on learning!
Level one gives the children practice finding a number by counting tens and ones! Cuisenaire Rods Place Value Fun Level 1 Tens and Ones Boom Learning
Level two gives the children practice finding a number by putting together tens, then counting tens and ones! Boom Learning Making Tens with Cuisenaire Rods Level 2: Hands-on and Digital
Level three gives the children practice finding a number by regrouping to make thens, then counting tens and ones! Boom Learning with Cuisenaire Rods Level 3 Regrouping Tens: Hands-on and Digital
Or go for the bundle:
How else can you maintain the important hands-on learning while using digital devices?
