Enhancing learning with information and communication technologies in pre-school

Citation

Stephen C & Plowman L (2008) Enhancing learning with information and communication technologies in pre-school. Early Child Development and Care, 178 (6), pp. 637-654. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430600869571

Abstract
Earlier observations suggested that young children’s engagement with information and communication technologies (ICT) could be unproductive. Interplay: Play, Learning and ICT in Pre-school Settings set out to explore how practitioners can enhance three-year-olds’ to four-year-olds’ encounters with new technologies in the playroom. The study took place in pre-school settings where practice was characterised by free-play and child-initiated activity. Practitioners and researchers worked together in a process of guided enquiry with staff planning and implementing technology-based interventions in their playrooms. The concept of guided interaction is used to describe the kind of adult support necessary to enhance young children’s learning with a range of ICT. In this paper we present an elaborated understanding of guided interaction (considering both distal and proximal interactions) and our findings about children’s and practitioners’ learning when adults proactively support learning with ICT in the playroom.

Keywords
computers; pre-school children; adult mediation; guided interaction; Technology and children; Computers and children; Technology Study and teaching (Elementary)

Journal
Early Child Development and Care: Volume 178, Issue 6

People

Dr Christine Stephen

Honorary Research Fellow, Faculty of Social Sciences