Building sandcastles – digitally that is.

I read the article by Idit Harel titled Sand Castles Go Digital to learn more about how children learn through the Constructivist theory. She identifies that children learn best and naturally through play.

In this piece, the author uses the construction of sand castles to explain how this example of play provides children with good learning experience with discussions about the tides, sand, waves and seashells naturally occurring throughout the process.

However, the author does believe that the real life sand castle example does have its limits as the child can not return to the sand castle they built at a later time to build on and extend its development and their learning.

The author does offer a suggestion whereby children can be engaged in play naturally and be able to return at a later date to add to their designs by: GOING DIGITAL!

She highlights the benefits of using digital resources such as the Internet/Web:

* it allows children to make changes to their designs as their knowledge about topics grows

* it is more open-ended

* instantly exchange ideas with others from around the world (which is only possible when it is digital)

* revise and refine their creations

* express themselves

With this in mind, my aim when I am a teacher is to remember the value of play and how naturally progressing experiences offer effective learning opportunities for children, i.e. constructionist learning. Emma also discusses this topic and her own experiences with children where a constructivist approach could have been used.  

Reference:

Harel, I. (2003). Sand castles go digital. Retrieved August 4, 2006 at:
http://www.mamamedia.com/areas/grownups/new/21_learning/sand_castles.html 

Photo sourced from:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7466508@N06/1229196499