“I can imagine myself being inside PC and driving”: Greek pre-schoolers drawing meaning of computers for them

Abstract

As technology quickly and recklessly alters the way children interact, it also changes the way children learn and come to terms with this world. The present research considers the leading role of the computer in the lives of children and asks preschool children to draw their own concepts of the computer to shed light on what computers mean for them. Building upon Kress and van Leeuwen’s theoretical framework of visual grammar, 70 drawings by children from kindergartens in Thessaloniki were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. Children’s pictorial depictions of their understanding of computers suggested they ascribe to them a powerful and multidimensional face, since, while they admire what a PC can do, at the same time they feel quite distant from their superpower.