taking another look: the affordances of new technologies for early childhood education christine...
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Taking another look: the affordances of new technologies for early childhood education
Christine Stephen
School of Education, University of Stirling
EECERA Conference 2015
© Christine Stephen
Research Studies and Publications
The research baseOur story: investigating the potential of an iPad app
Young children learning with toys and technology at home
Entering e-Society: Young children’s development of e-literacies
Interplay: Play, learning & ICT in preschool settings
Already at a disadvantage?
Come back in two years! A study of the use of ICT in preschool settings
Selected PublicationsStephen, C. (2015) Young Children Thinking and Learning With and About Digital Technologies. In S. Robson &S. Flannery Quinn (Eds.) The Routledge International Handbook of Young Children’s Thinking, Abingdon: Routledge.
Stephen C. & Plowman L (2014) Digital Play, In L. Brooker, S. Edwards and M. Blaise (Eds.) Sage Handbook of Play and Learning in Early Childhood, London: Sage.
Stephen, C., Stevenson, O. & Adey, C. (2013) Young children engaging with technologies at home: the influence of family context .Journal of Early Childhood Research, 11(2):149-164.
Plowman, L., Stephen, C., & McPake, J. (2010). Growing Up With Technology: Young Children Learning in a Digital World. London: Routledge
Taking another look: the affordances of new technologies for early childhood education
• Debate about young children using technologies
• Discourse of play and digital technologies• Nature of learning afforded by with
technologies • Mediating influence of pedagogy, families and
children
Debate about young children using technologies
UK media use by 3-4 year olds 2014*• 51% DVD/Blu-ray recorder/player (21% )
• 29% PC/laptop/netbook with internet (48%)
• 28% tablet computer (26%)
• 18% mobile phone (including smartphone) (19%)
• 14% handheld games player (11%)
• 11% learning games system (e.g. Vtech/Leapster) (2%)
• 5% MP3 player (e.g. iPod) (28%)
• 3% digital book reader (14%)
% in black – in home & child uses/ % in green in home & child does not use*Ofcom (2014) Children and parents: Media literacy tracker for April to June 2014.
Debate about young children using technologies
‘it is not necessary any more to prove that ICT matters in early childhood education. New digital technologies have entered every aspect of our reality, including families and the lives of young people.’
Kalaš (2010) Recognizing the Potential of ICT in Early Childhood Education. Moscow: UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education
Debate about young children using technologies
• Slide removed – limited consent for use of image• Image used to raise questions about whether children experience as playful what
adults refer to as ‘playing with the computer’
Discourse of play and digital technologies
• Epistemic digital play– Exploration– Problem-solving– Skill acquisition– Intentional use
• Ludic digital play– Symbolic– Innovation/creative
Edwards S & Bird J (2015) Observing and assessing young children’s digital play in the early years: Using the Digital Play Framework. Journal of Early Childhood Education DOI: 10.1177/1476718X15579746
Learning afforded by digital technologies
• Cognitive operations– Matching, sorting, counting, categorising– Listening, re-telling &acting, navigating content– Developing emerging concepts– Painting, drawing
Learning afforded by digital technologies
• Evidence of acquiring – operational skills– extending and using knowledge and
understanding of the world– developing dispositions
Learning afforded by digital technologies
• Acquiring operational skills– Needed adult help to show him what happens
when clicked on various bits [of PC screen]—then able to produce work with no further intervention. (Peter, extract from practitioner observation notes)
– Showed Ben how to use the controls. Listened to tape. Ben pressed stop, ‘I stopped it’ and then re-wound the tape. (Ben, extract from practitioner observation notes)
Learning afforded by digital technologies
• Extending knowledge and understanding– Linking spoken and written language & re-telling
stories• Anna and Abigail at listening centre—using fabric fruit to
count out items mentioned in a story—‘he ate four strawberries and there is grapes’. (Anna and Abigail listening to ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’, extract from profile notes)
– Developing mathematical knowledge • Duncan’s developing mathematical competencies noted as
he played a game on the computer. His matching skills allowed him to perform confidently on the first two levels but the third level was too difficult. (From progress log)
Learning afforded by digital technologies
• Developing positive learning dispositions– Increased confidence and independence
• Josh struggled with the headphones and held them up for help . . . he needed lots of instruction on how to work the listening centre. . . . He then listened well. Next day he said ‘I need to listen to the story, do I push this?’ [putting finger on the green button] (Josh, practitioner observation notes)
– Willing to persevere in the face of initial difficulties• After help to learn where to click Malcolm was happy to persevere
and print independently (Malcolm, practitioner observation notes)
– Shared pleasure and enhanced interest• Look at the delight on his face . . . He is delighted to have completed
the [photograph] process (Innis, profile extract)
Mediating influence of pedagogy, family and children
• The technology alone is not enough• Positive, sustained encounters need Guided
Interaction– Distal – Proximal
Distal Guided Interaction
Distal guided interaction Practitioner actions Arranging access to the technology Devising ways of structuring turn-taking e.g.
providing a sand timer Sourcing and selecting a broad range of technologies to meet individual interests
Ensuring access to help Arranging staff rotas to make sure a practitioner is available to support children using technologies Accompanying a child’s return to a technology they have abandoned
Planning Ensuring balance across curriculum areas Identifying learning needs for specific children
Setting up activities Choosing an appropriate location in the playroom for each technology Adding props to technologies e.g. puppets at the listening centre
Proximal Guided Interaction Proximal guided interaction Practitioner actions
Demonstration How to use a software tool such as the paintbrush or eraser How to frame a picture in viewfinder
Interpersonal engagement and prompting Sharing pleasure in features such as animation Suggesting a child tries something new Staying close by a child for emotional support
Reading Reading dialogue box on screen Reading out choices on screen menu
Modelling Using a pretend mobile phone to order a taxi Making purchases with a toy bar code scanner and credit card reader
Providing verbal and non-verbal feedback Smiling when child succeeds in typing in own name Admiring photographs taken
Instructing or explaining Telling child how to use a digital camera Setting out the routine to begin using electronic musical keyboard Discussing what can be seen on a microscope slide
Mediating influence of family
• Dimensions of difference– Family perspectives on educational efficacy of
technologies– Perspectives of parents on appropriate ways of
supporting learning– Family practices and interactions
Mediating influence of family
• Images removed to comply with limited consent for use.
Children: personal preferences some images removed to comply with consent for use
Children: discriminating users
• It’s hard to move the arrow because sometimes you can’t get the arrow to move . . . (Grace)
• using the controller can be hard because there are so many buttons it’s hard to use them all at once (Kenneth)
• I’m good at the Bob the Builder game (Catriona)• I die on that one, it’s rubbish (Freddie)
In Summary
• Digital technologies - welcomed as additional resources but not replacing traditional activities and playthings
• No definition of digital play – more productive to focus on what these resources afford for children
• Is evidence of encounters with digital resources supporting– operational learning– knowledge and understanding of the world– positive dispositions to learn
In Summary
• Positive encounters with digital technologies need guided interaction
• Educators and families mediate digital experiences and children are discriminating users with distinct preferences
Taking another look: the affordances of new technologies for early childhood education
• To Follow
Children, Educators and Early Learning in a Digital Age
Christine Stephen and Susan Edwards
Dr Christine Stephen School of Education University of [email protected]
