Young children are increasingly using tablets as well as smartphones and other devices with touch screens in early education (1) and with family members.
Tammy and Rose, age 4, have been studying sunflowers with their classmates. They want to sing and record a song about sunflowers while creating a drawing, using a(n) (2) on the tablet. The girls have coordinated their efforts and are happy with the result.
To help the class learn more about sunflowers, Kathryn, Tammy and Rose’s teacher, used the tablet to find online (3) with photos and facts. She then took the children on a (4) tour of Van Gogh’s sunflower paintings. They read and discussed an electronic picture book about Van Gogh’s life. The children had already examined real sunflowers and their parts, made sketches, read informational texts and stories, counted seeds, and (5) a variety of investigations, touching on every learning domain. The teacher’s use of the tablet together with early practical learning activities expanded the children's (6) . Activities offered on the tablet provided new (7) for the children to represent and share what they learned.
Tablets have the (8) to be powerful tools for early learning. The choices we make about how they are used determine (9) the technology is helpful or not. We need to develop “digital literacy” skills and decide how to use these new tools in ways (10) can support every child’s healthy development and learning.

Look around your classroom. Do you see students sitting at desks? Are teachers writing on a board and giving lectures? At Southern Cross School, near the famous Kruger National Park in South Mrica, things are different. Here, nature is the classroom.
Both the park and the school are home to wild animals such as giraffes, impalas, and warthogs. Students at the school study the same subjects as other students in South Mrica. But at Southern Cross, the staff and students go out into the wild to learn.
In one lesson, students apply the principles of mathematics to the study of local wildlife. Younger students count how many kinds of animals drank at the nearby water troughs during the night. Older students measure the amount of water the animals drank, and calculate how much water the animals will need over weeks or months.
In language classes, a common topic is conservation. In one recent debate, students discussed an important question: should people give water to wild animals during a drought? Another project might consist of finding out how an animal died.
The director of the school is Ant de Boer. His aim is for students to learn the importance of caring for the environment. De Boer says, “When they leave school, we want them to be champions of the natural environment.” As the school motto says, Southern Cross aims to be a “School for the Planet.”
(Reading Explorer 0 - student book)

WHAT IS YOUR LEARNING STYLE
If you find yourself learn better by making notes during the lecture, or when the teacher uses a new word, you want to see it written immediately, then you are very likely to be a more visual learner. You prefer to see the written words. You learn by reading and writing. Visual learners often think in pictures. If you find a particular task or text difficult, look for sources that will suit your learning style, e.g. sources with illustrations, charts, tables, or videos.
If you prefer recording the lecture and listening again to taking notes, or you memorize something by repeating it aloud instead of writing it out several times, you are probably a more auditory learner. You prefer to learn by listening and speaking. Auditory learners often learn best from lectures, discussions, by reading aloud, and by listening to audio material.
However, it is probably that you, like most people, learn through a mixture of styles. Sometimes you may prefer to learn by reading, at other time by listening. Ask yourself which is the best style for the particular task you are doing.