Introducing touch-based technologies to low-income early childhood students

This article was about introducing touch-based instructional technologies in an early childhood education classroom.  It brings up the point about using technology as part of the educational experience for low-income preschool children who are at risk for failure due to poverty (McManis & McManis, 2016).  By using instructional technology at such a young age, teachers are finding that it can bridge the gap between where the children are when they start school in relation to where they should be academically when starting school.  

Touch-based technologies are more easily operated by younger children as opposed to the older desktops and laptops previously used.  There are decades of researching showing the positive outcomes in literacy and math using desktops that had a mouse connected to it, but limited knowledge of how touch-screen based devices such as an iPad can reflect a positive outcome on math and literacy skills.  Some studies have found that low-income students did improve their literacy, phonics and print knowledge with the use of an interactive whiteboard.

I currently teach preschool at a local private elementary school.  I can say that they all have access to technology at home and most of them know how to use the iPad’s and Chromebooks we have available to them. They like the use of technology because it’s definitely more engaging to learn phonics as a game because they don’t really realize that’s what they’re learning.  At that age, I find that most children learn by play, so any kind of educational game or application on a tablet that is easy for the kids to use can help increase fine motor skills, phonics and literacy skills.

McManis, M. H., & McManis, L. D. (2016). Using a touch-based, computer-assisted learning system to promote literacy and math skills for low-income preschoolers. Journal of Information Technology Education: Research, 15, 409-429. Retrieved from http://www.informingscience.org/Publications/3550