Use of ICT in preschool education
Author: Liliya Aleksandrovna Popova, teacher at MBDOU No. 48
The use of ICT in preschool education allows children to develop their ability to navigate the information flows of the world around them, master practical ways of working with information, and develop skills that allow them to exchange information using modern technical means. The use of ICT in direct educational activities allows us to move from an explanatory and illustrated method of teaching to an activity-based one, in which the child becomes an active subject, and not a passive object of pedagogical influence. This promotes conscious learning by preschoolers.
The introduction of information technology into the education and training program in kindergarten is one powerful factor in enriching the intellectual, moral, and aesthetic development of a child, and therefore introducing him to the world of information culture.
The use of ICT in preschool education should be dynamic in nature, which is actually due to their properties, which make it possible to display and analyze huge amounts of information. A feature of these technologies at the modern level is working with images of objects. This corresponds to the physiologically determined, for older preschool children, transition from a visual-objective to a visual-figurative form of thinking.
The present time is characterized by the introduction of information technology into all spheres of human life and activity, a change in the role and place of personal computers in modern society.
A child’s psychological readiness for life in the information society should be formed from preschool age. That is why the processes of informatization in Russian schools begin with preschool education, which today is of particular importance.
The computer significantly expands the possibilities of presenting visual information and makes it possible to enhance the child’s motivation. Game components included in computer programs activate the cognitive activity of preschool children and enhance the assimilation of material.
Direct educational activities of children using computer technologies include four interrelated components:
- Children's active knowledge of the world around them.
- Gradually mastering increasingly complex gaming methods and means of solving gaming problems.
- Changing the subject-sign environment on the monitor screen.
- Activating the child’s communication with adults and other children.
The computer is also a tool for teaching important aspects of communication necessary for collaborative activities. It is known that the main motives of older preschoolers include establishing and maintaining positive relationships with adults and peers.
The use of ICT in educational activities causes an emotional uplift in children; even lagging children enjoy working with the computer, and the failure of the game prompts some of them to seek help from a teacher or independently achieve knowledge in the game.
According to the psychological aspects of the theory of personality development, depending on the dominant mechanism of thinking (right and left hemispheres), information technologies help create conditions for the simultaneous work of both hemispheres, which leads to the development of coordination, artistic and figurative development, balance, and effective development of mental operations in a child , his physical qualities.
The use of computer development programs during direct educational activities not only increases the speed of information transfer to students and increases the level of its understanding, but also contributes to the development of such important qualities as imaginative thinking. The developmental effect depends on the design of the program, a simple and understandable interface, and the correspondence of tasks to the child’s development level. Educational computer programs allow you to set and help your child solve cognitive and creative problems based on clarity (mediation) and the leading activity for this age – play.
When choosing computer development programs, it is necessary to take into account not only pedagogical, technological, but also psychological aspects of the child’s development. Therefore, software products undergo a comprehensive check by a teacher and a preschool psychologist. The software products used are aimed at developing:
- coordination of movement, eye, skills in using a mouse manipulator;
- panoramic attention;
- basic mental functions;
- logical thinking;
- information culture.
Recognizing that the computer is a new powerful tool for the development of mental operations in preschool children, it must be remembered that its use for educational purposes in preschool institutions requires careful organization in accordance with the age of the children and the requirements of the Sanitary Rules and Standards.
To maintain a stable level of performance and preserve health, the conditions in which direct educational activities take place are of great importance.
Direct educational activities using ICT can only be carried out in the presence of a teacher or teacher who is responsible for the safety of the child. To conduct this type of educational activity, a special office is required. The total duration of direct educational activities using ICT with children of senior preschool age should be 25–30 minutes. Of these, children can be at the computer for 5–7 minutes.
Information and communication technologies are firmly integrated into all spheres of human life. Accordingly, the education system makes new demands on the upbringing and training of the younger generation, the introduction of new approaches that should contribute not to replacing traditional methods, but to expanding their capabilities.
But, along with the advantages, various problems arise both in preparation for direct educational activities and during their implementation:
- Many preschoolers do not have a computer at home.
- Educators do not have enough time to prepare for conducting direct educational activities using ICT.
- There is not enough computer time for everyone.
- Provision of preschool educational institutions with modern ICT tools.
- There is a possibility that, having become interested in the use of ICT in direct educational activities, the teacher will move from developmental teaching to visual and illustrative methods.
Leading scientists and specialists in the field of preschool education (Dukhanina L.N., Volosovets T.V., Veraksa N.E., Dorofeeva E.M., Alieva T.I., Belaya K.Yu., etc.) express their position "for" and "against" ICT. Opponents of ICT cite data on the negative impact of prolonged sitting at a computer on the health of children as an argument. But experience shows that measured use of ICT does not affect the psychophysiological health of children.
The feasibility of using information technologies in the development of mental operations of older preschoolers is confirmed by the work of foreign and domestic researchers (S. Papert, B. Hunter, E.N. Ivanova, N.P. Chudova, etc.). Scientific work on the introduction of ICT in preschool education has been carried out in our country since 1987 on the basis of the center named after. A.V. Zaporozhets by researchers led by L.A. Paramonova, L.S. Novoselova, L.D. Chainova. In 2008, the theoretical foundations for the use of scientific information technologies in the educational work of preschool educational institutions were developed, and computer programs for preschoolers began to be actively created. Teachers who study the use of user environments in preschool educational institutions for the purpose of mathematical development (G.A. Repina, L.A. Paramonova) express the opinion that they are a factor in preserving the mental health of children due to the possibility of solving the following problems:
- development of psychophysiological functions that ensure readiness for learning (fine motor skills, optical-spatial orientation, hand-eye coordination);
- enrichment of horizons;
- providing assistance in mastering a social role;
- formation of educational motivation;
- development of personal components of cognitive activity (cognitive activity, independence, arbitrariness);
- formation of age-appropriate general intellectual skills (seriation, classification).
The use of a computer in preschool education is necessary, as it helps to increase interest in learning, its effectiveness, and is a new way of transferring knowledge that corresponds to a qualitatively new content of learning and the comprehensive development of a preschooler. Educational computer programs involve children in developmental activities and form culturally significant knowledge and skills. Children familiar with educational games prefer them to shooters and adventure games.
Thus, we can conclude that the use of modern information technologies is an effective means of developing creative abilities, personality formation, and enriching the intellectual sphere of older preschoolers. With proper use of technical means, with proper organization of the educational process using computer development programs for preschoolers, they can be widely used in practice without risk to children's health.
Recommendations for creating a multimedia presentation in a preschool educational institution.
Multimedia presentation as one of the forms of work using ICT in preschool educational institutions Computers have long become an integral part of our lives. Even in preschool institutions it is impossible to imagine life without computers. Using a computer, we write work programs, lesson notes, reports, reports, etc. etc.
The computer has become the teacher's best assistant both when working with children and parents.
When preparing for a lesson, the teacher thinks: “How to improve the educational process? " And a fairly obvious thought comes to mind - to fully implement the principle of visibility (with the help of ICT - this is very easy).
Today we will focus on the use of multimedia presentations in the educational process.
“Presentation” is translated from English as “presentation”. Multimedia presentations are a convenient and effective way of presenting information using computer programs. It combines dynamics, sound and image.
Special programs are designed for creating computer presentations. One of the most popular programs is PowerPoint (“Power Point”), which is part of the Microsoft Office suite.
Benefits of using a presentation
Multimedia presentations have great potential. The computer carries a figurative type of information that is closest and most understandable to preschoolers.
- makes it possible to simulate various situations
— activates the attention of preschoolers due to the possibility of demonstrating phenomena and objects in dynamics;
- promotes better assimilation of the material, since all channels of perception of children are included in this process - visual, mechanical, auditory and emotional;
- classes - presentations, especially in a playful form, arouse great interest among the children and attract attention for a long time.
- versatility and combination of various media: text, graphics, photo, video, audio, game, test - the result is a mini-program with different forms of work
Conditions for preserving a child's health
When using these technologies, the teacher, first of all, must be guided by the Sanitary and Epidemiological requirements for the design, content and operating hours of preschool institutions.
GCD using computers for children 5-7 years old should be carried out no more than once a day. After working with the computer, children are given eye exercises. Continuous duration of work with a computer for children 5 years old is 15 minutes and 6-7 years old - 20 minutes. With younger children, use 2-3 slides at the beginning of the lesson as a game motivation, a problem situation and at the end of the lesson to summarize. For children of older preschool age, more slides are used, but with a predominance of other methodological techniques.
To reduce children's fatigue, it is necessary to ensure a hygienically rational organization of the workplace: furniture that matches the child's height, a sufficient level of illumination, a distance to the screen no closer than 50 cm. A child wearing glasses should study with them on.
The most common mistakes in presentations.
There is no need to display words, goals and objectives, rules, words of the teacher, greetings and farewells. What can be said in words will be superfluous in the presentation.
Using animation distracts children and takes up precious time; it is better to use it for something useful.
There is no need to animate author data on the title page or headings on slides. This is inconvenient and disrespectful to the person who will be watching your work.
Hyperlinks are highlighted in presentations. Therefore, if a word is not a hyperlink, it is not recommended to highlight it with underlining - this will mislead users.
Everything is so bright and beautiful, everything moves! The children will be delighted. But our goal is to teach them something. This means we limit the variegation and brightness, and remove all animations. After all, this is an additional load on the eyesight and distracts children.
If your design requires a drawn background, and it is not possible to replace it with a less colorful one, you can make it less bright, for example, overlay a white rectangle over the entire background, making it translucent and setting the order to “Send to background.”
Anyone who creates a presentation must remember that they will be showing it to a large audience. Someone sits directly in front of the screen, and someone is 5-6 meters away from it. Accordingly, it is necessary to take into account that those sitting far away will be less able to see some objects on the screen, which means, again, there will be a strong strain on their vision. Do not place small text or pictures on the slide. The minimum font size for a presentation is 18. The text should be easy to read; for preschoolers, it is better to exclude text altogether.
Such blurry drawings should not be included in the presentation. This is unsightly and again strains the eyes.
It is not recommended to use graphic files of different formats on one slide, for example, photographs and drawings at the same time.
It is not recommended to use pictures with a white background. Let's look at how to remove it.
Select the picture, go to the “work with pictures” panel, on the left side of the panel we find “remove background”, click and work with the picture.
We see that on the first slide the picture is on a ready-made template with designer design, on the second slide there is a picture on a plain background. It is best to place objects on a plain background; sometimes you can make the background a gradient of two shades of color. Let's look at how you can create your own background.
Click on the small slide on the left side, a window appears, select the “Background Format” line, here we can select any filling methods for your presentation.
When selecting photos for a presentation, you need to pay attention to the quality: good resolution, good angle, absence of unnecessary, distracting details and inscriptions. It is not recommended to use pictures of aggressive animal behavior when working with preschoolers.
What is a hyperlink?
A hyperlink in computer terminology is a part of a text document that refers to another element in the document itself, to another object located on a computer or on the Internet.
Using hyperlinks you can make your presentation non-linear.
"Control buttons"
On the panel, find the “Insert” tab “Shapes”. Click on it and select the “Control Buttons” tab. After installing the button on the slide, “Action Setting” appears. Set the target where the button will lead - the next slide, the last or the first, any slide of your choice can be assigned to start music or video.
A hyperlink can also be assigned to any object on the slide: picture, text, word.
Based on hyperlinks, you can create a playing field for different games, from which the player can go to a task or description of an item.
Triggers in a presentation
A trigger, or “hot zone,” is an object on a slide that, when clicked, animates it or other slide objects.
The use of triggers in a presentation adds playfulness and interactivity to the presentation itself. Now pictures, texts, and individual words can appear not in order, but in a random order according to design and as the task is completed.
Now you have a game in front of you without using triggers.
The child’s task is to find fruits; they do not disappear; vegetables are given an exit animation. It is not comfortable! Since it is impossible to make a choice in any order.
Let's look at how to assign triggers. According to our plan, we need to make sure that the vegetables are removed and the fruits remain. So that children can make choices in any order and even make a mistake.
Select the image. Go to the “Animation” tab.
We select objects and assign animation to vegetables – output, fruits – selection “swing”.
In the animation area, click on the arrow next to the object name. In the window that appears, select the “Time” line.
We assign a trigger. In the window that appears, click the “Switches” button, move the label to the line “Start executing the effect when clicked” and select the desired object from the list.
Embedding audio files into a presentation
You can use two types of audio files in your presentation: MP3 and WAV files.
MP3 files are the most common. But these files are not embedded in the presentation itself, but are installed as hyperlinks to the file.
You can assign a sound to a slide or to an object on a slide.
Go to the “Insert” tab on the top panel, select the line “Sound” - “Sound from file”.
We are looking for a folder with the sound we need in mp3 format. Select a sound file.
After selecting a sound, the “Play sound...” window appears. Choose what is convenient for you at the moment.
You can also set the start time of the sound.
Go to “Animation Settings”. In the animation area field, the inserted sound is displayed, select the “Time” line, a window appears, select “Effects”. Here you can set the start time of the sound and the number of the slide after which the melody should stop. Sounds in .wav format
Conclusion
It must be remembered that a presentation is needed when only with its help a child can see something that he cannot see and feel personally, in practice. If there is an opportunity to demonstrate to children an experience, a phenomenon in reality, or to do it yourself, then it is better not to use a presentation.
Use in your presentation: large and clear pictures, font no less than 18, neutral background, only the necessary use of animation and effects. And of course, observe the time you work with the computer. Alternate computer work with “live” communication and practical activities.
