Celebrating Eid
Technology helps in every part of our lives
and the daily activities are often somehow related to digital and non digital
technology. My home centre is a multi cultural centre where we give respect to
all culture existing in Aotearoa. Amidst Eid celebration, I decided to extend
children’s interest in cooking as I have many the children in my room are
interested in playing at the family corner using different utensil doing pretend
cooking.
As Eid is celebrated by Muslims and cooking “sevian”
and coconut sweets are a part of Eid celebration. “Cooking is a technological activity
or system developed, used by early childhood teacher services to meet children’s
need (Smorti,1999, p.6) .Then I involved a group of children in the cooking activity.
As I set up the table with fry pan and serving spoon, the children start
gathering around me and I invited them to join me in cooking sweets and “sevian”.Although some children belonged to
Fiji Muslim community so they know about their food items and join others, but
other have no idea what is going on. We used different technological tools to
increase for our cooking as a bowl, spoon, serving spoon, electric fry pan and
cups. Children helped me to arrange
the packets of “sevian”, white sugar, milk bottles and measured water in the cup.
I placed the electric fry pans and with the help of children put milk in pan
with “sevian”.The children mixed white sugar to add taste. Then children
received their technological understanding of working of electric appliance and
how the heating mechanism works and how the water evaporates from food. Therefore
the learning outcome of using technology was met by the provision of using
tools, which enabled “children to recognize that different technologies may be
used in various places and setting” (Ministry of Education,1996, p.25).
Lastly, children made the “sevian, as long as the basic technological
tools and the equipment are available. “Technology is influenced by the culture
or the society in which it occur” (Smorti, 1999,p.6). By celebrating different
cultural events in the centre, we are acknowledging and recognizing the
different cultures that the children and their families come from. To build on
this teachable moment, each child in the centre was given a receipe copy to
take home. These “sevian” would make a great special for children’s families/whānau
for the Muslims culture as part of Eid celebration. We all enjoyed eating the “sevian”
with everybody at the centre.
To conclude, this non-digital technology of
cooking with children enhance their understanding of some typical science
concept which are really useful and present in our everyday lives and these
scientific contribute in the children healthier growth and better understanding
of their natural surroundings.
Reference
list
Ministry of Education.
(1996). Te Whāriki: He whāriki mātauranga
mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa : Early
childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.
Ministry of Education. (2007). The
New Zealand curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: Learning Media.
Smorti
, S. (1999) Technology in Early Childhood. Early Education, 19, 5-10.
Celebrating Eid at your centre would have been fun Jasmeet, so jealous of you. Love how you follwed children’s centre and how your centre encrourges cultural diviserity. It is a part of technology, I totally agree with your refrence from Smorti (1999) “Cooking is a technological activty”. Utinsils are so technical to use sometimes and for children plastic ones shouldn’t be places in the centre, if they get a chance to use the real deal then it is better for children to expereince on their own how to use it and problem solve. Ofcourse you would make sure that the utinsils are appropraite for the children but I think it’s a great technological tool for children. I also enjoyed how you explain the process of the cooking was that is the best technology of them all. Great social actiivty to do with the children, this actiivty would have been great to get children to make decisions and ask questions this is linked to “Children develop a sense of responsibilty and respect for the needs and well-being of the group, including taking responsibilty for group decisions”(Ministry of Education, 1996, p.70).
ReplyDeleteThank you Jasmeet for sharing the Amidst Eid celebration with us. It is a great reflection on technology learning and teaching. I like food. From your reflection, I have learnt about your culture, but also the purposeful way to teach young children technological knowledge about food. I am really impressed that you set up the cooking environment based on children’s interests. Arthur, Beecher, Dockett, Farmer, and Death (2007) point out that experiences should be “planned based on the interests and questions of a group of children and result in a series of interest-based investigations or a long-term project” (Arthur, Beecher, Dockett, Farmer & Death, 2007, p. 311). You also illustrated a good example on how to teach children food technology. In the cooking process, children learn how to use the digital-technology and non-digital technology to make food, which in turn they learn how technology make their life easier and better. Te Whariki states that “growing experience in solving problems together develops children’s understanding of how technologies can help them and others” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 96).
ReplyDeleteHi, Jasmeet! It is a great reflection as you integrated technology (cooking) and culture! “Technology is influenced by the culture or the society in which it occur” (Smorti, 1999). You know I like the culture things as they always make me have lot opinions to share! ^.^ ..
ReplyDeleteThe cooking process with children looked fantastic and I am sure children enjoyed that with you. By using of tools, children were able to recognise the different technologies involved in this the process; by using the appliance, children were able to enhance their understanding of some typical science concept like what you said.
Thank you for sharing your culture and now I knew what a “sevian” is, ^.^
It was great to read that your centre is open to celebrating different cultural day. Personally, I have not heard of EID celebration but I do know that culture and food do complement each other and agree when you quoted Smorti (1999) saying “technology is influenced by the culture or society in which it occurs”. Cooking is a great activity to develop a child from a holistical standpoint. So many aspects of development are being exercised within a child, such as language, social skills, problem solving, science, mathematics and literacy skills (Smorti, 1999). At my home centre we try and do a cooking activity at least once a week. In terms of it being a aspect of technology it is more about the process of the cooking rather than the product, however I’m sure children love the end result as well (Smorti, 1999). I believe teachers should do more cooking and encourage children to get involved. I like that part where you gave each child a copy of the recipe to take home so they can involve there family also there may be other cooking utensils at home they can discover.
ReplyDeleteHi Jasmeet! I like your reflection. The New Zealand Curriculum (MoE, 2008) emphasizes that society and culture influences the development and use of technology and that technology influences social and cultural structures and relationships. You put them togethter. Cooking provide children a variety of learning experience. Cooking with children is a way to teach children basic life skills. It encourages interaction and communication between teacher and children. Allowed children to cooking with you, it can boost children’s self-confidence. It make children feel important because they are contributed something. Show children how the combined efforts of more than one individual can produce greater results. Cooking gives a child a sense of responsibility and compliment. Let children to mix the ingredients together. Even though things can get a bit messy when little hands pitch in, it’s worth it to see a proud, confident child show off her culinary achievement.
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