SALISBURY — Partners In Leaning Child Development and Family Resource Center will use new technology to instruct the center’s oldest children thanks to a grant.
The five-star licensed center received a grant from the Salisbury Community Foundation for $2,000 to purchase five iPads.  These devices will be used in the center’s three-year-old class and four pre-kindergarten classrooms. 
“The new technology will allow us to teach to the children’s world and to have the world at their fingertips,” said Executive Director Norma Honeycutt. “This will open a world to new possibilities for our children.”
Honeycutt said technology is a natural part of today’s early childhood experiences.  
“When technology is balanced with a healthy dose of outdoor play, messy art, and other kinds of interactive, hands-on experiences, technology can be a valuable part of the early childhood experience. iPads are 21st Century learning at its best,” she said. 
Technology also supports children develop cognitively, socially/emotionally, and physically, Honeycutt said.
“Research suggests that cognitively, technology supports learning by giving children the opportunity to see or visualize that which is not possible,” she said. “Technology also provides children the opportunity to manipulate 3-D images allowing them to see in-side and around geometric objects such as cubes.
“And, an application such as Google earth allows children to see earth, space, stars making the mysterious more accessible.”
Situated on the Catawba College campus, Partners In Learning serves as the Model Inclusive Center providing care to children six weeks through five years of age in Rowan County.
The center cares for more than 200 children. It is the only National Association for the Education of Young Children accredited program in Rowan County.
The organization serves children on-site and throughout the community, as well as in the children’s homes.
The center also has a regionally-recognized wellness program that includes an on-site community garden and athletic programs. The center has after school and summer camp programs.