Health and Safety Needs
HEALTH IS WEALTH
Ko te Hauora te Taonga
There are always various needs required in every classroom. In this blog, I would like to discuss how to effectively respond to students’ health & safety needs which is one of the major issues present in the digital technology classroom.
In the digital classroom, learning takes place in a way that the students need to sit in one place and learn by looking at the computer screen for a long period. This can cause health issues like injury, due to poor sitting posture. The computer screen can contribute to eye strain and fatigue during learning. Donaldson (2019) and Cullen (2018), clearly show the impacts caused by screen time on students and the findings were alarming for health professionals. Health & safety is one of the key factors and more important to promote the wellness of students.
A wise teacher should have the competency to identify potential harms that may happen in the classroom. “Teachers involved in technology education activities are expected to assess the likelihood of an incident occurring and the potential severity of harm caused by that incident prior to carrying out the activity” (Ministry of Education, 2017).
I believe my below example, and how I responded to overcome can be one of the tools in the beginner teacher’s toolbox to solve health and safety needs present in the digital technology classroom.
Normally in my school, students have their digital technology class after the lunch break. I noticed that students were not able to concentrate much in digital class compared to other classes. That’s mainly because of the physical strain to the body and eyes from the poor sitting posture and not having breaks in between the class from the computer screen. This makes their brain tiring as well. Hence they cannot concentrate and this impacted their learning outcome. To overcome this, I came up with two plans of action.
The first plan of action is, by explaining the importance of correct sitting posture and showing them the ways to maintain it while working on a computer. Usually, this is done as soon as the students enter the classroom and seated in their seats in front of the computer. I explain to the students using A3 laminated copy of good and poor sitting posture information with pictures, which is a perfect guide while working in a sitting position. Then, I demonstrate and show them the good and poor sitting posture. Once I finish explaining and showing them the sitting posture, I conduct a game of good and poor sitting posture for 5 minutes. For example, I ask one student to show the class the good sitting posture on how to hold the mouse. I ask another student to show the poor sitting posture on how to rest the back against the chair. This helps the students to know about both the good and poor sitting posture while working on the computer.
The second plan of action is, having various fun-filled physical activities in the fields and bushes at our school. Usually, this is done in between the class for 10 minutes in an innovative way by engaging them in physical activities outside the class. For example, I give a paper and glue gun to each student. I ask them to collect any 10 things from the bush and stick it in the paper to express their creativity regarding digital technologies innovatively. I reward the best creative work with some attractive stationeries and give opportunities for the students to present their work in the school assembly. By doing this, students learn the best by facilitating shared learning (NZCurriculum, n.d.). Also, a little break of 10 minutes not only gives them some relaxation to their eyes and brain, but it also stimulates innovativeness and interest in digital technology. This way, the relevance of new learning was enhanced (NZCurriculum, n.d.). Because of these activities, students started looking forward to participating in digital technology classes and it helped to keep them more engaged in the classroom. As a result, it creates a strong teacher-student relationship.
This whole below experience has helped to promote student learning and boosted my self-efficacy as a beginner teacher.
- by identifying the students’ needs in the digital technology classroom
- coming up with the plan of action to overcome the need
- engaging with the students to bring their innovativeness in a fun-filled way
- increasing their interest in the learning process
- Resilience in improving students’ well-being
I see an opportunity for the students to do inquiry-based learning, which I would try to do with my students in the future. That is, I would encourage students to do a project like coming-up with the resource on health and safety awareness for the digital classrooms. This can be done using technologies like visual graphics, youtube videos, tik-tok videos, etc or with innovative posters/charts. This will improve student learning when teachers inquire into the teaching-learning relationship (NZCurriculum, n.d.).
References
NZCurriculum. (n.d.). Implementing an Inclusive Curriculum: Effective Pedagogy for All Students (pp. 32). https://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/Inclusive-practices/Implementingan-inclusive-curriculum/Effective-pedagogy-for-all-students
Donaldson, R. H. (2019, April 1). What too much screen time can do to kids. Newsroom. https://www.newsroom.co.nz/what-too-much-screen-time-can-do-to-kids
Cullen, J. (2018, October 23). Technology and our tamariki – are we getting it right? Education Central. https://educationcentral.co.nz/technology-and-our-tamariki-are-we-getting-it-right/
Ministry of Education. (2017, April). Safety in Technology Education. https://education.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Ministry/Initiatives/Health-and-safety/SES-Safety-in-Technology-Education-AW.pdf
Beginner Digital Teacher Toolbox 