Digital Technologies and Their Application in a Child’s Life

Abstract

Introduction: This research aims to examine pedagogically significant applications of digital technologies and attempt to identify certain principles of educational influence in pre-primary education. A qualitative methodology was used for this purpose. Methods: The research is focused on in-depth interpretive analysis and identification of the meanings of the use of digital technologies for didactic purposes from a pedagogical point of view. The research was conducted in a kindergarten in Šaľa, Slovakia; the research group consisted of 12 children aged 5-6 years and 10 parents of children of preschool age from 3 to 6 years. Results: The results have shown that through the constant comparative strategy and the sampling of extreme and similar cases we were able to analyse particular occurrences and mutual connections between them as interpreted by children and parents. Discussion: We know that there are disagreements and conflicts between parents and children in the area of using digital technologies by children. In the application of digital technologies, we see not only a typical feature of contemporary society´s behaviour (communicating, presenting, etc.) but also certain support of development-forming aspects of children’s personalities. Limitations: The research was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic when the kindergartens were attended by a limited number of children. The interviews with parents were carried out online without a closer social contact. Conclusion: We identified identical and non-identical categories in opinions between children and parents relating to the use of digital technologies by children. We discovered that parental educational principles related to the use of digital technologies are opinion-determined.