juliannrosizky

Current Mood: sick

I really enjoyed reading this article, due to the fact that when I was little, I was always interested and intrigued by cameras and movie cameras.  The article questions the reason as to why children are so interested in cameras.  As they did their study, they found out that most children, under the age of six have taken a picture with a camera at least once.  In my own experience with working with children and being a child myself, I always found that it was the excitement of trying something new.  I always saw my parents and other grown ups using cameras, and I believe this is what drew me into wanting to take pictures myself.  That, and the fact that it involved pushing a button.  As everyone knows, pushing buttons can be a huge thrill for younger children (just like pushing the buttons in an elevator).  I don’t personally think that when children use a camera at such a young age, they have any concept of what they are doing.  When we were growing up, this was probably more evident, due to the fact that digital cameras were not invented.  When I took pictures, I was simply taking them because it involved “pushing a button”.  Now, however, children can take a picture, and look at it right after.  It is much easier for them to pick up the concept of snapping a picture, where as without digital cameras, children would take pictures, and once they were developed, the child has probably forgotten all about it.

            Throughout this first article, I found their findings very interesting.  It was very interesting to me to see which age group took more pictures of their friends, and which age group took more pictures of their surroundings, animals, pets, etc.  It seemed as though as the children got older, they took more precise pictures.  This makes me ask the question as to: who taught them how to take pictures?  At some age point, the child has to realize the true concept of taking pictures, however if no one teaches them, how do they find out.  Going back to when I was younger, I remember taking pictures just for the sae of it, however once I reached mid elementary school age, I started taking pictures of friends at school, interesting things I saw on trips, etc.

            This article was very different from any of the other articles in this class.  I found it very interesting to see their results from their study and to read about what the children thought about their own pictures in which they took.  I think it would be a very interesting and fun activity to do with my children in placement, but to give them a camera to use on recess or within a period of the day, and see what they capture on film.

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