Technology has always been an important aspect of England's Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). Children should be able to recognize that a diversity of technologies used in settings such as homes and schools' and 'select and use technology for certain reasons' by the end of the Reception year, according to the expectations (DFE, 2017: p. 12).

 As many of you are familiar, there will be a new statutory framework in place in September 2021 that will eliminate the technological strand. According to the government's own research response on the Early Years Foundation Stage reforms, "a central theme was a concern that technology is lacking" (DfE, 2020:9), and "a consistent perspective was that the elimination of technology as an ELG would be a bad step" (DfE, 2020:14). However, no reference of technologies is made in the revised paper. Others may be apprehensive that something is lacking. Practitioners are still unsure what to do with technology in the future. 
Technology is currently, and will very certainly always be, an important part of children's life in some form or another (Caldwell, 2021). We can't turn back the clock and disregard the ubiquity of technology in society, whether we think it's a good thing or a terrible thing. It would seem necessary to assist children in understanding how technology is employed in both school and in their everyday life (Caldwell, 2021). We've progressed from treating technology as an isolated novelty to smoothly integrating a number of edtech tools into our lessons during the last fifty years (Caldwell, 2021). 
Digital technology is all around today's children. This encompasses a wide range of novel paradigms that are as a result not fully understood. Educational academics have been striving to grasp the impact of these changes on children's development, but they've been surpassed by technology advancements. One technology is replaced by another by the time it is studied scientifically (Bennett et al, 2008).
What is clear, nevertheless, is that young children have a fluidity with digital technology that previous generations lack, and that this fluency indicates cognitive and behavioural development that is distinctive to this era (Palfrey and Gasser, 2013). Although the specific impact of digital media on development has yet to be discovered, the digital component is thus a very essential feature of child development (Zimmerman et al, 2007) 

In behaviourism, education is viewed as a response to a stimulus. Humans and other animals have been taught to react to certain signals in specific ways, for as drooling when the dinner bell sounds (Skinner) or reciting a memorised line to receive a reward. Teaching and learning, then, is a method of improving individuals' ability to respond appropriately to stimuli, and technology can help with this instruction by providing educational motivation, such as games or other rewards, or by providing appropriate mitigation to effectively establish stimulus-response conditioning, such as drill-and-kill practises. Positive and negative reinforcement have a correlation between behaviourism, instructional methodologies, and technological technologies. According to Berkeley Graduate Division (2017), "the transmission of information from teacher to student is fundamentally the transmission of the proper reaction to a certain stimuli" from a behaviourist perspective (Berkeley Graduate Division, 2017). Constant repetition of material, little incremental tasks, and ongoing reinforcement make up an effective reinforcement plan (Berkeley Graduate Division, 2017).

This concept combines behaviourist theory with efficient teaching methods. Students' learning is supported by strategies and technology tools that prepare them for their next learning experience (Flippen, n.d.). Technology has changed to support student learning throughout the twenty-first century. Dr. Michael Orey addresses the usage of technology and how it connects to behaviourism tactics after listening to him (Flippen, n.d.). Students could, for example, take part in an online lesson that provides small chunks of material followed by a guided question (behaviour), quick feedback, and ongoing reinforcement (Flippen, n.d.). By representing content and reinforcing it, this type of technology is linked to behaviourist theory. Direct instruction, lecture, behavioural target as classroom management, behavioural reward system, positive reinforcement, and individualised instruction, among other conceptions, were all developed as a result of behaviourism as an educational learning theory (Flippen, n.d.). 

 

The website BrainPop is an example of behaviourism in a purer sense in Educational Technology. This educational website features films that explain a range of educational topics and are immediately followed by a brief quiz, which allows students to assess their own understanding of the video and content material based on the results (Flippen, n.d.). The results are displayed shortly after completion and provide brief explanations to assist students in understanding. Following the reinforcement of higher scores, students will be more willing to put up greater effort (and thus, positive results) (Flippen, n.d.). The key is immediate feedback and grades, which can serve as a source of praise or criticism, both of which are important variables in student achievement (Flippen, n.d.)

.By viewing humans as thinking machines rather than animals to be educated, cognitivism for teaching and learning focuses on assisting people in developing successful education and learning approaches that would enable their brains to make substantial application of supplied knowledge (Flippen, n.d.). In this light, technology can assist the mind in storing and recalling information by providing informational and research tools such as mnemonic devices or a variety of modalities (Flippen, n.d.). The cognitive approach is overly mechanical; it compares humans and computers by comparing their processes (Flippen, n.d.). This is a flaw because humans are more complex than computers; emotions, for example, can influence a human's output (Flippen, n.d.)

Asking questions to help students develop their thinking and realise where they may be mistaken is the ideal way for a teacher to approach practising cognitivism in the classroom. You want to approach themes that they may believe they already know about and give a new angle that will cause them to reconsider something (Flippen, n.d.). Alternatively, before challenging current beliefs (schema) and creating learning toward enlargement or modification of those conceptual frameworks, you should draw on additional info for wholly innovative subjects (Flippen, n.d.). Online games and reinforcement activities, such as sorting games, puzzles, and flashcards, are outstanding instances of Cognitivism in educational technology. These games frequently offer past knowledge schema in a novel way, resulting in imbalance and the need to adjust and learn new concepts in order to progress (Flippen, n.d.)

According to constructivism, students generate their own learning based on their prior situations, dispositions, and opinions. This means that, in order for education to take place, new learning experiences must consider these human factors and facilitate the individual in assimilating new information into their prior conceptual structures (Flippen n.d). By rooting complicated conceptions and statistics in human experiences and cultures, as well as allowing individual learners' educational surroundings to be altered, technology can enhance the constructivist learning process (Flippen, n.d.). Technology can help students and teachers design and construct external models that represent internal mind models using resources and opportunities not available in the real world (Flippen, n.d.). Students can, for example, use a simulation to build any structure or machine without the use of expensive materials, or they can use a simulation to learn about supply and demand economic principles by creating a simulated community that allows them to influence supply chains in ways that would not be possible in the real world (Flippen, n.d.). 

 

Because learners are now consistently affiliated to information publications and other resources through their electronic devices, such as smartphones or laptops, connectivism claims that the method and aspirations of learning in a digitally transformed and connected world differ from learning in a predigital world (Kimmons 2018). Learning does not have to be limited to the mind, according to the connectivist perspective, but becoming a knowledgeable and capable citizen in a digital society necessitates learners becoming tied to one another in such a way that they can use the infrastructure as an augmentation of their own mind and body (Kimmons 2018). Thus, the purpose of education, from a connectivist perspective, is to more fully and efficiently connect learners with one another and with information resources in a durable manner, so that learners can continue to use the network to solve problems (Kimmons 2018).. Technology, in this view, can be utilised to improve learning experiences by more fully linking students with one another and with information resources in a consistent manner (Kimmons 2018). Critics like Verhagen, who wrote Connectivism: A New Learning Theory? in his paper. Connectivism, rather than being a learning theory, is argued to be a pedagogical technique. Connectivism is still being defined if a Connectivist learning network is decentralised and learners choose their own learning route. As a result, the idea can appear hazy, and it's unclear how instructors who construct education around it would handle the existing standardised testing system's content-specific criteria (Kimmons 2018). 

Even with these conflicting theories, some people argued that learning experiences and processes in the real world were not properly represented, which is especially true given that we live in a culture that is heavily networked and connected through electronic and social media. All traditional views of learning had deposited understanding and learning squarely in the student's mind or body, but modern technologies, in particular, have led us to wonder if all memory, information processing, and other aspects of learning that have traditionally been ascribed to the mind could not also be dispersed through external devices. 

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Practitioners should direct children's attention to the technology that is employed in the world around them, from mobile phones to pedestrian crossings, as they are developing their awareness of these technologies. Practitioners should also serve as positive role models for children by demonstrating how adults utilise technology for their own reasons and discussing the value they place on it with them. Children will witness technology used for actual purposes in this way, and they will learn that technologies are tools to be used when they are needed, not just for the sake of using them. They will acquire a favourable attitude toward technology and a desire to employ it in the present and future. 

Young children are naturally intrigued about measurement, but they must first grasp the fundamental ideas before using them to achieve predictable results. Children show a strong interest in measuring from an early age. In role play, they frequently use equipment like tape measures, scales, and timers without fully understanding their purpose. Early childhood educators must expand on this early awareness during the Foundation Stage to help children comprehend the main measures they will learn about in school and use later in life, including weight (or mass), length, volume and capacity, and time.  

It is important for youngsters to understand how technology works. Whether it's operating a light box, turning a CD player control, or studying a torch. It might be utilising magnification glasses or understanding how to turn light switches on and off. We can fall into the trap of believing that we need computers, iPads, and digital tables to complete a task on the curriculum. Scales are a fantastic piece of technology for determining the weight of an object. As the item is inserted into the bowl, the dial changes. To identify the weight, see the bowl lower and the dial swing. Technology is about funding how things operate, as well as cause and effect. This is also a good one for arithmetic concepts like weight, form, and measure. Number recognition and counting. 

Children are increasingly immersed in contexts where digital technology provide new learning and development opportunities (McKenney and Voogt, 2010). We've learned a lot about children's experiences (Sackes et al., 2011) and teacher views (Hinostroza et al., 2013) in regards to innovative techniques for facilitating children's engagement with digital devices (Wohlwnd, 2015). This growing collection of research provides a foundation for understanding how teachers and children use digital devices. However, little is known about the type of pedagogy required to support children's early years play and learning with digital devices. Using a cultural-historical understanding of research (Vygotsky, 1997). 

Connectivism is a relatively recent learning theory that proposes that students link their ideas, theories, and general knowledge in a productive way (Western Governors University 2021).It recognises that technology is an important element of the learning process and that our constant connectivity allows us to make decisions about our education. It also encourages group cooperation and discussion, allowing for multiple perspectives and viewpoints when making decisions, solving problems, and making sense of data (Western Governors University 2021). Connectivism encourages learning outside of the classroom, such as through social media, online networks, blogs, and information databases. George Siemens and Stephen Downes, two thinkers, originally presented connectivism in 2005. In 2004, Siemens published Connectivism: Learning as Network Creation online, and Downes published An Introduction to Connective Knowledge the following year (Western Governors University 2021). The papers discuss how technology plays a significant role in the learning process and how the digital age has accelerated students' access to information. Siemens and Downes have continued to write and lecture on the subject since then. Each, however, has slightly different perspectives (Western Governors University 2021). Downes focuses on non-human appliances and machine-based learning, whereas Siemens focuses on the social components of connectivism (Western Governors University 2021). Learning, according to connectivism, is more than our own internal knowledge production. Rather, we can learn from what we can access through our external networks. Two terms nodes and links have become widely used to describe how humans acquire and connect information in a network based on this principle. Students are viewed as nodes in a network under connectivism (Western Governors University 2021). Any object that can be connected to another object, such as a book, webpage, or person, is referred to as a node. Connectivism is founded on the idea that humans learn by making connections, or links, between various nodes of information, and that we continue to build and maintain these connections in order to form knowledge (Western Governors University 2021). 
With its revolutionary methods of generating images of how our brains function, neuroscience is now giving a new source of insight into human behaviour. These approaches and visuals are essential tools for understanding ourselves and our interactions with technology, but they can also be a cause of public misunderstanding. For example, headlines claiming that the internet is rewiring our brains may appear worrisome, implying that the internet is altering the connectivity of our otherwise hard-wired brains. However, according to neuroscience, even the adult brain has some plasticity, meaning that a wide range of daily experiences can alter its connectivity, function, and even structure. Any encounter that leaves a memory must have altered our brain since memories must have a biological substrate. As a result, observable alterations in the brain may not necessarily suggest permanent effects. Instead, they serve as a source of evidence to be used in conjunction with psychological and behavioural data to answer specific issues. When all of these kinds of information 'align,' we can be more confident in the conclusions and recommendations that they individually and collectively contribute to. 

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