Author(s):
Mesquita, Cristina 
; Lopes, Rui Pedro
Date: 2013
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10198/8497
Origin: Biblioteca Digital do IPB
Document details
Preschool observation supported by smartphone applications
Description
Quality evaluation in early childhood education is fundamental to contribute to children’s sound future life. In this context, benchmarks to evaluate the quality of contexts has been developed, based on qualitative research methods such as interviews, field notes, observations among others. The resulting data allows the teacher to redefine strategies to improve the overall education process. One of these methodologies, developed under the Effective Early Learning Project, is the Child Tracking Observation Schedule. The observer records his perception about the concentration, persistence, motivation, energy, satisfaction, complexity and creativity, reaction time and language, trying to establish how the child really feels and experiences the overall learning process. The results are, essentially, translated into a paper based table, summarizing the human perception in a condensed form. Many details persist only in the memory of the observer, although they are typically lost and it is not possible to pass them to another observer, to discuss results as well as to train new observers. The flexibility of smartphones is well known by the general population, allowing their users to make phone calls, check e-mail, get directions, take photographs and many other operations. Our proposal is to use smartphones to assist kindergarten teachers in observations. A custom made application, to allow observers to register observation details in the smartphone, is described. This application also allows them to record other type of material, such as video, photos and sound, thus making a complete record of each observation.
Quality evaluation in early childhood education is fundamental to contribute to children’s sound future life. In this context, benchmarks to evaluate the quality of contexts has been developed, based on qualitative research methods such as interviews, field notes, observations among others. The resulting data allows the teacher to redefine strategies to improve the overall education process. One of these methodologies, developed under the Effective Early Learning Project, is the Child Tracking Observation Schedule. The observer records his perception about the concentration, persistence, motivation, energy, satisfaction, complexity and creativity, reaction time and language, trying to establish how the child really feels and experiences the overall learning process. The results are, essentially, translated into a paper based table, summarizing the human perception in a condensed form. Many details persist only in the memory of the observer, although they are typically lost and it is not possible to pass them to another observer, to discuss results as well as to train new observers. The flexibility of smartphones is well known by the general population, allowing their users to make phone calls, check e-mail, get directions, take photographs and many other operations. Our proposal is to use smartphones to assist kindergarten teachers in observations. A custom made application, to allow observers to register observation details in the smartphone, is described. This application also allows them to record other type of material, such as video, photos and sound, thus making a complete record of each observation.
Document Type
Article
Language English
Language English
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