Online Workshop: iPads in the Early Years: Connection & Documentation

In this two-hour online workshop, explore the potential of iPads in early childhood education and the rich opportunities it provides for both teaching and learning. Learn how children can use iPads as a canvas to express their creativity and engage with the world around them (as opposed to passive entertainment). Discover also how educators and teachers can use iPads to cultivate a more collaborative STEM learning environment and involve children in the documentation process, for instance by inviting them to take photos, record narrations, and document their own discoveries and experiments. 

In this practical session, we’ll explore ideas for creative iPad-based learning projects, such as stop motion animation (for children in preschool and the foundation years), and taking and editing photos using programs such as Snapseed or Pixlr.  

You’ll also learn more about how you and your service can partake in “iPad Pals” — a Little Scientists initiative that connects each participating service with a buddy service (ideally, from a different part of the country) so that the children can arrange a video chat, share interesting things about where they are located, and also plan and deliver an iPad guided tour of their service. 

This online workshop is aligned with the EYLF 2.0 and aims to be as interactive as possible by inviting educators attending live to ask questions, share ideas, and enthusiastically engage.  

Purchasing a ticket allows you to tune in live or via a recording. While we strongly encourage you to attend live so that you can participate in the conversation, a recording will be shared via email following the event and can be viewed for 3 days after the email is sent. This workshop will be held on:

Tuesday 16 April 2024  

Time zones: 3-5pm (AEST), 1-3pm (AWST), 2:30-4:30pm (ACST) 

This online workshop will introduce the concepts, methods, and skills of inquiry-based STEM education to early childhood educators and teachers. Together, we will explore a range of simple techniques to cultivate children’s skills and excitement for STEM exploration and you will come away with a suite of hands-on STEM provocations to enrich your practice in your service or classroom.    

STEM Learning Outcomes   

• Overview of early STEM education and inquiry-based learning.   
• Discover everyday phenomena and explanations of basic scientific concepts.   
• Uncover the importance of playfulness and joy as impetuses to scientific discovery and research.   
• Create rich learning environments that stimulate discovery, sustainability learning, and nurture curiosity. 
• Learn how STEM education is much more than having factual answers to complex questions.   
• The confidence to tap into, guide, and focus children’s natural interests and abilities.    
• The confidence to pass on your new knowledge and skills to colleagues and to become a STEM champion in your service.