Technology and Child Development

I read an article What Research Says About Technology and Child Development (www.nwrel.org/request/june01/child.html). It was interesting to read how much technology can increase the childrens development in social/emotional, language, physical well-being and motor , cognition and general knowledge, and approaches to learning. In the social emotional development some strategies that could be used would be placing two seats at the computer and encourage children to work together to facilitate learning and sharing of ideas. In language development technology has some major strengths. Computer play encourages longer, more complex speech and fluency, also they enage in spoken communication and cooperation, such as turn taking and collaboration. In the physical domain, fine and gross motor skills are developed. With computers children are more able to compose letters and according to the research spend less time in front of a computer than watching television or playing video games. Cognitively, children gain in verbal and nonverbal skills, problem solving, and conceptual skills. Children can reveal hidden strengths while using a computer and learn from a variety of perspecitves. Used appropriately, computers can be a positive element of children's play and learning.