Emerging technology has changed the way children are learning, and education is being started at increasingly younger ages to prepare them for when they enter grade school.

The days of preschool-age children playing with building blocks and using markers in coloring books are now being replaced by the usage of interactive computer systems. Already a presence in the local school system, electronic whiteboards are also becoming additions to childcare centers.

Kids R Kids in Woodstock installed a SMART Board at its childcare center May 31 and teachers will be trained on the product this weekend. Center owner Hazel Woodard said the owners of Kids R Kids, which has more than 100 facilities nationwide, 40 or so of which are in the Atlanta area, have encouraged the local franchises to purchase the interactive whiteboards.

Children that never went up to the front of the class to use a chalkboard or dry erase board are “dying to get their fingers” on the interactive boards because it engages them immediately.

“It’s a very exciting piece of equipment,” Woodard said. “Basically, it’s designed for children ages 3 through 5, but children younger than that can utilize it. It will have over 1,100 interactive programs already in it and teachers have done many things with it.”

The approximately 5-by-4-foot touchscreen board Kids R Kids has will be part of a TeachSmart Learning System by Hatch Technology, and includes a projector system, boom mount, remote control, set of pens and an eraser. The system offers various strategies and activities to be used by early childhood teachers. Hatch estimates that at 1,100 applications and 25 minutes for each lesson, it will take 458 hours to complete all of them. Since the product is designed for children ages 3-5, if divided by three years, that equates to 152 hours per year, or 370 separate lessons per year. Children can move objects such as letters, numbers, pictures and words around, use diagrams and teachers can create digital student portfolios, capture individual work and progress as well as add notes and comments.

“There are so many things they’ll be able to teach in using the touchscreen, and it can be used by one child or a small group, or the entire class can actually use it all at the same time,” Woodard said. The curriculum Kids R Kids uses will be incorporated into the system. Woodard added that a webcam can added to the device.

“You can hook up a webcam with it and be in touch with a pre-k class, for instance, in China,” she said. “It has some really neat things that can be done, that can be expanded beyond what’s been developed for us. I think our teachers are going to be thrilled, especially pre-k, since the kids are more familiar with the SMART Boards with them being in the schools.”

In a study Hatch conducted, the technology is said to lead to significant gains for children in the areas of early literacy, print knowledge, phonological awareness, emergent writing and math skills. Children were surveyed at the beginning of the study, where 46 percent were determined to have been ready to learn to read in kindergarten. Surveyed six months later, 82 percent were ready. In the area of math, at the beginning of the study, 72 percent of children scored high enough during initial testing to be considered ready for that subject in school, while at the end of the study, the number had increased to 92 percent.

“I think a child learns more by the time they are 5 than they’ve learned for a long period of time,” Woodard said. “Those early years are very, very important because they’re just like sponges, soaking up the information. And that’s true in our infant class, our 1-year-old class, how quickly they learn and how quickly they learn from each other, in sharing and learning sign language. There’s no doubt about it, they understand.”

Bobby Blount, assistant superintendent of accountability, technology and strategic planning for the Cherokee County School District, said the district first began implementing the interactive whiteboards about eight years ago.

“We have the technology in all schools; we don’t have it in every classroom yet, but we hope to by the fall break,” Blount said.

Children that never went up to the front of the class to use a chalkboard or dry erase board are “dying to get their fingers” on the interactive boards, he said, because it engages them immediately.

“Technology is so prevalent ... when you look at our kids today, they’re a different breed of child,” he said. “You put an iPad or a smartphone in front of even the smallest of children ... it does something for them and that catches their attention right then and there.” Starting the learning process at an earlier age will help children be more prepared when they enter school for the first time, Blount said. “It’s so natural to them. They’re not afraid,” he said. “You’ll find a lot of older people that are intimidated by technology and everything, but the younger generations, they have no fear whatsoever.”

Cherokee Ledger-News