How do we best support young children’s learning in the 21st

century digital world?

V R JAYAPRASAD

Abstract

In recent years, screen technology has found itself outpaced our young brain to aggression,
desensitization to violence, and lack of obsession also associated with poor school
performance. Early experiences literally shape how the brain gets built. A strong foundation
encourages creative play, physically active play, and give-and-take interactions connect the
young with nature and opportunities to initiate explorations of their world. This article
explains the need for sustainable education to preschool leaders.

21st century child experiences wondrous technologies sometime beyond

imagine. Beginning in infancy, screen technologies dominate the lives of
many young children, and they have significantly altered childhood (Comstock,
G. & Scharrer, E.,2007). The rapid incursion of new screen devices (smart boards,
Smart phones, Tablets, E-books, and more) poses unusual challenges for the early
childhood community.

As new technologies assimilated with 21st century breakthrough,, arriving at a

true child-centered solution are complicated. Scholars like Lillard.A.S (20111)
and Peterson.J (2011) opined, for preschoolers, watching just 20 minutes of a
fast paced cartoon show has been shown to have a negative impact on
executive function skills, including attention, the ability to delay gratification,
self-regulation, and problem solving. Extensive screen time is linked to a host
of problems for children including childhood obesity, sleep disturbance,
(Thompson, D. A. & Christakis, D. 2005 ) and learning, (Pagani, L., Fitzpatrick, C., Barnett, T. A.,
& Dubow, E. 2010).attention,(Swing, E. S., Gentile, D. A., Anderson, C. A., & Walsh, D.A.
2010) and social problems. (Pagani, L., Fitzpatrick, C., Barnett, T. A., & Dubow, E.
2010).

In the last few decades, researches in the neurosciences have made clear
that the basic architecture of the human brain develops through an ongoing,
evolving, and predictable process that begins before birth and continues into
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adulthood. Early experiences literally shape how the brain gets built. A strong
foundation in the early years increases the probability of positive outcomes
later. A weak foundation does just the opposite (Harvard University (2007).

In fact, behavioral research shows that the more time young children spend
with screens, the more they watch later on, and the more difficulty they have
turning off screens as they become older. As children grow and develop,
everything they experience affects which neurons get connected to other
neurons. Repeated experiences strengthen those connections, shaping
children’s behavior, habits, values, and responses to future experiences. The
experiences young children don’t have also influence brain development.
Neurons that aren’t used—or synaptic connections that aren’t repeated—are
pruned away, while remaining connections are strengthened (Schonkoff, J. &
Phillips, D. (Eds.), 2000).

There is no substantiation to support the popular view—heavily promoted by

companies that sell electronic media—that children must start early if they
are to succeed in the digital age. Some educators and occupational therapists
are reporting that many school children now need special therapy to develop
the use of their hands.

Tinkering, a creative form of hands-on exploration and play, has been found
to be of great importance for later problem solving in engineering and other
fields (Brown, S. & Vaughan,C. 2009). Because such hands-on experiences foster
creativity and constructive problem solving, they are especially important for
young children whose lives are dominated by screens. Research suggests
that, as a society, our creativity is declining (Britannica Editors ,2010, October 18),
yet it is central to leading a meaningful life and to success in the workplace.

Technological know-how is one kind of intelligence. But, as human being,

there are many other forms that need to be developed in early childhood,
including physical skills, social-emotional learning, the cognitive development
that stems from active exploration and problem solving in a child’s own
physical environment, oral language skills, and the creative use of a wide
variety of play objects.

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Compatibly researchers on all period opined children are natural learners,
they learn through the experiences they have with objects and people.
During play children reaching and grasping become more purposeful, and not
just accidental, the infant soon discovers cause/effect relationships. They
begin to understand that their hands are tools for interacting with the
environment. Longitudinal research shows that experiential learning—where
teachers engage young students in physically active, creative ways, combined
with ample time for child-initiated play—is essential for children to thrive
developmentally in preschool and kindergarten (Almon. J. & Miller, E. 2011).

The “theme-based-experienced-learning” (TEL) persuade many different

activities linked together by the content. It offers wide repertoire of
resources, activities for children of all abilities, pair and group work. Theme
based teaching seems to be natural especially may be focused on one topic
where all aspects of the topic appear. The theme is structuring often
superficial, as grammar or functional sequence is usually highlighted. Using
theme-based teaching can extend teaching and learning outside the
textbook.

TEL helps the teacher (alone or with children sometime ) chooses the topic,
and then plans the activities to experience, and how other subjects, like math,
science, art, language, history, geography, music and so on can be
incorporated. When the teacher began to engage the pupils in the activities,
s/he is giving an opportunity to experience learning and make it enjoyable. A
well defined ‘theme’ cultivates hands-on-exploration and experience learning
to ‘deep learning’ through creativity and constructive problem solving skill.

TEL teaching explores new vocabulary enriching the topic from theme and
experience. Words will appear in the experience of new context of a theme.
New meanings can be added. Children can detect the meaning themselves.
Words will appear in different types of discourse, both spoken and written.
The discourse types can be history, science, cookery, reports, recipes, graphs,
charts, and commentaries. When children want to express something about
the theme they try to be accurate. As we go on working with the theme,
pupils will start producing sentences, poems, pictures, reports, graphs etc.
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Theme-based-experienced-learning actualize strong foundation in the early
years increases the probability of positive outcomes. TEL learning settings
involves children mind, the emotions and the body, including senses. Such
programs should be designed to be responsive not only to the children’s
interests, but include learning objectives based on children’s skill levels and
abilities. Children thrive in environments where stress is reduced through
their curiosity what comes next.

Peer interactions are another important context for TEL. When engaged in
peer play, children are in proper socialization which encourages positive
social, emotional, and cognitive development.

TEL occurs everywhere in school and after-school settings. Taking advantage

of these opportunities helps children make connections to the larger world.

This intentional approach can be done while playing with toys/robot, playing
outside classroom, reading a story and discussing the characters, arranging a
dining table, or during a science experiment through the problem solving
experience. TEL covers all the 8 learning domains-- social emotional,
language, English, math, science, social science, ICT visual and performing
arts, Heath and physical development.

Reference (journals/articles)

1. American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Communications (2011). Media use by children

younger than 2 years. Pediatrics, 128(5)
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media and children’s outcomes. Australian Journal Of Education,
3. Brown, S. & Vaughan, C. (2009). Play: How it shapes the brain, opens the imagination, and
invigorates the soul, pp. 9-11. New York, NY: Avery-Penguin.
4. Comstock, G. & Scharrer, E. (2007). Media and the American child. Burlington, MA:
Academic Press.
5. Haugland S. W. & Wright J. L. (1997). Young children and technology: A world of discovery.
Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon
6. Laporte, N. (2012, July 10). Where iPads have toddler-proof cases, and toy design is child’s
play: Prototype. International Herald Tribune,

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 7. Lewis, L.H. & Williams, C.J. (1994). In Jackson, L. & Caffarella, R.S. (Eds.). Experiential
Learning: A New Approach. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
8. Lillard, A. S. & Peterson, J. (2011). The immediate impact of different types of television on
young children’s executive function. Pediatrics, 128(4)
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irregular sleep schedules among children less than 3 years of age. Pediatrics, 116(10)
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questions for educational psychologist Kyung Hee Kim. Encyclopedia Britannica Blog.
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learners’ (https://media.neliti.com/media/publications/192130-EN-none.pdf)
17. The Impacts of Theme-Based Language Instruction: A Case Study of an Advanced Chinese
Intensive Program, Song Jiang University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa
http://www.ncolctl.org/files/Jncolctl-vol-21/The%20Impacts%20of%20Theme-
Based%20Language%20Instr
18. Improving Student Learning Through Theme Based Curriculum Design and Team
Teaching: An Action Research Study
(https://arrow.dit.ie/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=ltcdis )
19. Theme-based Teaching and Learning (based on Lynne Cameron: Teaching Languages
to Young Learners) https://is.muni.cz/el/1441/jaro2010/AJ1RC_DI2B/um/Theme-
based_Teaching_and_Learning.pdf
20. Nurturing Writing Proficiency through Theme-based Instruction
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1065714.pdf

V R Jayaprasad

Director, Centre for Action Research in Education and Pedagogy Training

(www.careapt.com)
Resource Person, Centre of Excellence, CBSE
Former Principal CBSE School
vrjayaprasad@gmail.com www.careapt.com
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