ICT @ HT
At Holy Trinity we pride ourselves on how we build our student's 21st century skills by using technology to enhance our inquiries.
Hands on and play based inquiry is a big focus in our Kindergarten and Year 1 classrooms. Technology is generally introduced to assist with using ICT as a tool, producing creative responses and finding information.
Currently in Kindergarten the students have been learning how to manipulate the camera function on the iPad, record audio to explain inquiries and work with their Year 5/6 buddies to use technology effectively and post to Seesaw.
In Year 1, the students have been exploring how to give and follow directions to familiar locations. They have been programming Beebots (basic robots) to follow their commands. This has been an engaging way to support the Mathematics curriculum and also an introduction to the use of coding and computational language.
Good habits start young- Part 1
A guide for parents and carers
Parents and carers play an important role in helping children to develop digital intelligence — the social, emotional and practical skills needed to successfully navigate the digital world.
As your child gets older, it is useful to keep reminding them of these basic digital intelligence principles: respect, empathy, critical thinking, responsible behaviour and resilience. These are also principles you can emphasise with your child when things go wrong.
How to build digital intelligence
- Encourage your child to use the same positive manners and behaviour they would use offline, understanding that others may have different cultures, backgrounds or points of view. If it is not OK to say or do something face to face, it is not OK online.
- Remind them to avoid responding to negative messages and to tell you or another trusted adult if they receive them. Tell them it is OK to report others who are not being nice.
- Emphasise the positives. For example, ‘I know what a kind and respectful person you are, and it makes me so proud to see you acting the same way when you're online. You are such a great friend — I can see how much everyone looks up to you at school.’
- Help your child to imagine being in someone else’s shoes, so they can relate to diverse opinions and understand what might make people behave in different ways.
- For example, you might say something like: ‘I noticed that Sam seemed a bit sad when she came over yesterday. Have you noticed anything? What do you think is wrong? Would that make you sad? What can we do to help?’
- Encourage your child to think critically about what they see online. Teach them to ask questions so they can identify content or messages that may be misleading or exploitative.
- Talk to them about ‘fake news’, or false information that is designed to look like a trustworthy news report, and how quickly it can spread on social media.
- Teach them to fact check news sources and do their own independent searches on issues, so they can see the variety of opinions on a particular issue and make up their own mind.
Regards,
Rebecca Casey- ICT Coordinator
