Integrating Media and Technology into Curriculum

Help Children Reflect and Make Connections

Before watching this video, read the text below. When instructed, watch the video from the beginning to end.

Effective use of media and technology helps children connect what they have seen in the video to experiences they are having in their learning environment or elsewhere. In this way, the media or technology either models or reflects what children are learning. 

• Invite children to answer questions or elaborate on ideas that were presented before viewing. (Before we watched, I asked you to tell me which items rolled down the ramp. What did you find out?)
• Help children make connections to their own experiences. Explain and discuss how the ideas they see on screen connect to their own experiences in and out of the learning environment. (Did you ever see a building being built? How was it similar to what you saw in the video?)
• Choose follow-up activities that connect to a hands-on or real-world experience. (If you were going to build a house for our class pet, what kinds of materials would you use to make sure it was sturdy?)

In this video, you’ll see the educators model how to guide children in reflecting and making connections between what they see and their real-world experience. As you watch, look for effective strategies used by the educators in the video and jot down answers to these viewing questions in your Learning Log.

• What strategies do the educators use to help children reflect?
• How do the educators help children make connections between on-screen and off-screen activities?

Review

Why do children need to reflect and make connections after viewing media?

• Young children learn best when they make connections to their own lives. If they can connect what they are learning to something they already know, it helps the new learning “stick.”

What strategies can be used to help children reflect on what they have seen?

• Ask questions that prompt children to reflect, such as:
  • What did you notice?
  • Why do you think that happened?
  • How do you think we can do that?
  • What do we know now about                          that we didn’t know before?
  • What are you still curious about?
• Model your own reflection so children understand what it sounds like. (I noticed that the marble rolled all the way into the tube after it rolled down the ramp. I didn’t know that the marble would roll so far.)

How can educators help children make connections between on-screen and off-screen activities?

• Ask children to answer questions or comment on the questions that were asked before viewing. (What did we learn about ramps? Did we learn anything that might help us figure out what will rolls and what slides?)
• Help children remember what they saw and then make connections to their own experiences. (Why did the ice melt in the video? How did we get our frozen paint to melt?)
• Choose follow-up activities that connect to hands-on experiences. (We’ve seen what happens when the children in the video experiment with force and make a bowling game with their ramp. Let’s experiment with force and make a bowling game with our ramp to see what happens!)

Reflect

Think about the learning environment in your own program as you answer these reflection questions in your Learning Log.

• What strategies do you use to support children’s viewing?
• What did you learn that you will take back to your learning environment and put into practice?