Re-imagining Play with New Technologies

The data reported in this paper are part of a larger case study with children from 2 to 12 years of age, that took place over 4 years. The data reported here pertains to children in the age range 4–8 years of age in Australia. The children were from low socio‐economic schools in one Australian state. The study was concerned with providing empirical evidence about learning ecologies in which teachers designed multimodal experiences to support young children to become literate in the 21st century. Using a participant observation methodology, both the pedagogical strategies and learning experiences of young children were documented in the form of narratives of early childhood practices. The aim was to consider the potential for new learning [Kalantzis, M., & Cope, W. W. (2012). New learning: elements of a science of education (2nd ed.). Melbourne: Cambridge University Press] with new technologies, and to support teachers to use tablets to transform their pedagogies and practices in the early years. The approach taken was to use the theoretical constructs of new learning and a pedagogy of multiliteracies [New London Group (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies. Harvard Educational Review, 60, 66–92] as the focus for designing the new learning ecologies. In this way, we moved away from an emphasis on digital childhoods to create contexts for multimodal learning in the 21st‐century childhoods. In doing this, the documented learning stories have multimodality as a uniting element, and digital technologies are viewed as being complimentary to other resources, rather than alternatives, or in competition with, traditional modalities. The paper illustrates the ways in which these multimodal learning ecologies can work to support emergent literacy which is viewed as a foundational skill needed by all children in order to thrive in their learning.

Section: Practitioner Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Young children and multimodal learning with tablets

Yelland¹

2018

“…Rather, digital technologies are part of the larger set of resources (blocks, bundles of sticks, dress up clothes, etc.) available for children to use as they play (Fleer, ; Yelland & Gilbert, ). A range of anecdotal feedback from educators provides us with a high degree of confidence that the ERA heuristic is a powerful mechanism for encouraging play‐based STEM learning in ways that incorporate children's digital and non‐digital experiences in authentic ways.…”

Section: Concluding Commentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experience, represent, apply (ERA): A heuristic for digital engagement in the early years

Lowrie¹,

Larkin²

2019

This paper presents an heuristic that underpinned the development of a range of early years applications (apps) as part of the Early Learning Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Australia (ELSA) project (2016–19). The heuristic was developed to address a range of challenges that accompany the use of digital technologies in the year before formal schooling. These include the role of digital technologies in play‐based learning environments, screen time and the importance of agency when young children are using digital technologies. In an increasingly digital world, the issue of screen time looms large as a particularly contested aspect of technology use by young children. The ELSA project responded to this challenge by developing a pedagogical framework that embedded digital technologies into context‐rich, play‐based STEM learning. The Experience, Represent, Apply (ERA) heuristic discussed in this paper is a component of the project's overall pedagogical framework and provides early years educators with the opportunity, and the know‐how, to integrate digital technologies into STEM activities through intentional teaching and play‐based engagement. It was evident from educator feedback at the four days of workshops we delivered, and in other comments throughout the year long trial, that the educators were able to embrace the cyclic nature of the ERA heuristic and ensure that the time spent on the tablet (Represent) was connected to contextualised learning opportunities (Experience and Apply). Importantly, the tablets provided affordances for the children to utilise User Generated Content (UGC) to support active engagement when using the tablets.

“…Fourth, although less is known about teachers’ digital pedagogy and practices in free play settings, there is growing interest in better understanding the use and place of digital devices and apps in the naturalistic settings of pre‐schools (Palaiologou, ; Yelland & Gilbert, ), where working and nonworking digital technologies are now more commonly featured (Bird, ). In these contexts, a great deal of discussion is directed towards the nature of digital play across a range of activity settings, for example, using devices in the outdoor area (Johnston & Highfield, ), the nature of digital play to support subject area learning, for example, numeracy skills (Levy & Sinclair, ), the unfolding nature of talk and interaction around digitally enabled pre‐schools (Theobald et al ., ), the social interactions needed and promoted around screen use (see Wohlwend, ), and how children and teachers’ social worlds are expanded through social media in kindergarten settings, such as collectively constructed tweeting (see Knauf, ).…”

Section: What Is Known About Digital Playmentioning

confidence: 99%

Digital animation: New conditions for children's development in play‐based setting

Fleer¹

2018

There is increasing recognition of digital childhoods [Danby, S., Fleer, M., Davidson, C., & Hatzigianni, M. (Eds.). (2018). Digital childhood. Amsterdam: Springer] and a corresponding body of research into young child's engagement with digital devices across a broad range of contexts [Marsh, J. A., Plowman, L., Yamada‐Rice, D., Bishop, J., & Scott, F. (2016). Digital play: a new classification. Early Years, 36, 242–253. doi:10.1080/09575146.20161167675]. What is missing from the literature is an understanding of if and how these devices, when used with animation apps in play‐based programs, change pre‐school practices and the developmental conditions of children's play. In drawing upon Vygotsky's [(). Play and its role in the mental development of the child. Voprosy Psikhologii, 12, 62–76] conception of play as the leading motive of pre‐school‐aged children, the naturalistic study reported in this paper seeks to address this gap. Video observations of children (3.3–5.8 years) and teachers digitally engaged across five sites during free‐play time (413.8 h of video observations) were studied using a cultural–historical conception of play [Vygotsky, L. S. (2005). Appendix: from the notes of L.S Vygotsky for lectures on the psychology of preschool children. Journal of Russian and East European Psychology, 43, 90–97]. The findings show that digital animation in a free‐play program where role‐play is featured can enrich the play opportunities of children which in turn promote play complexity and increase social and cognitive demands on children, which together can be theorized as a positive force for children's development. These developmental conditions emerged as a profile of five interrelated key digital practices and psychological characteristics, adding to our understandings of digital play.