Scaffolding preschool children’s multiliteracies through the use of iPads: bridging home and (pre)school practices

Abstract

This paper presents findings from a study that examined and described young children’s early multiliteracy experiences at a laboratory preschool affiliated with a research-intense university in a large city in western Canada. The study first identified the different forms of technology and literacy practices that young children participated in within their homes. It then examined how young children engaged in multiliteracy practices in preschool contexts, with a focus on how these practices were scaffolded by their teachers. These experiences were documented over a four-month period in which the children were involved in an ongoing inquiry project on puppets. During the period of the study, there was evidence of teacher and peer scaffolding, as well as independent use of iPads and apps in the classroom. This paper is focused on the process of teacher scaffolding to support children’s use of iPads in their learning and creation of multimodal texts and videos as part of the puppet inquiry project. The study, grounded in Vygotsky’s (1978) sociocultural theory of learning and Green’s (1988, 2012) three-dimensional view of literacy, was guided by the following research questions: What multiliteracy practices do preschool children bring from home, and how do teachers build on and scaffold these practices in a preschool environment