A 'benign addition'? Research on ICT and pre-school children

This paper reviews the international research evidence on the ways in which information and communication technologies (ICT) are used in both formal and informal pre-school settings. The review addresses the debate over the value and desirability of young children using computers and computational toys; the relationship of these technologies to a media environment which encompasses television, video, books and magazines; the literacies involved in using these media; and interface design and interactivity

Using ICT to Foster (Pre) Reading and Writing Skills in Young Children

This study examines how technology can support the development of emergent reading and writing skills in four- to five-year-old children. The research was conducted with PictoPal, an intervention which features a software package that uses images and text in three main activity areas: reading, writing, and authentic applications. This article reports on the effects of the PictoPal intervention on pupil literacy and communication skills. Two small-scale studies were conducted. Observation results from the first study showed that children are able to work independently with the program after a few instruction sessions. The second study showed a statistically significant learning effect of experimental versus control group scores after two months of using PictoPal in the classroom under the guidance of a parent volunteer. Further research is needed to arrive at a better understanding of these learning gains with a larger group of pupils

Supporting learning with ICT in pre-school settings

The introduction of ICT (information and communication technologies) to the playroom can present challenges. How can practitioners respond to changes and create opportunities for learning with ICT? Practitioners and researchers worked together in the project Interplay to address these questions. They reflected on ways in which children’s encounters with ICT could be enhanced. They used the concept of guided interaction to initiate small projects which explored different approaches to supporting learning in different settings, and shared their findings with each other

Travel through the oceans: augmented reality to enhance learning in early childhood education

Early education plays an important role in the education system and students success in a digital society. Kindergarten pedagogy innovation by integrating technology is recognized as lacking research, however an area which needs to be improved. In this context, augmented reality showed an unprecedented growth, particularly in what regards society and marketing purposes, being recognized as having great potential this decade in the educational innovation area. This ongoing research-based methodology aims to understand both students and educator’s perceptions, abilities and difficulties in using augmented reality. The Case study reports to a Portuguese kindergarten with a class of five-year old students (N=24). The project was designed to enhance children's knowledge about the ocean species´ characteristics (habitat, length/ size, food). A world map was produced and augmented reality was added to improve their motivation in the learning process and to acquire research skills. Furthermore, the study provides evidence of AR capabilities to promote interactive and collaborative work

Integrating Computer Technology in Early Childhood Education Environments: Issues Raised by Early Childhood Educators

The purpose of this study was to assess the educators’ perspectives on the introduction of computer technology in the early childhood education environment. Fifty early childhood educators completed a survey and participated in focus groups. Parallels existed between the individually completed survey data and the focus group discussions. The qualitative data provided a richer understanding of the issues faced by these educators. Thematic analyses of the focus group discussions revealed that many of the educators’ concerns involved the effect of technology on the educators themselves, with secondary emphasis on how computers affected the students and parents. Although educators generally supported the integration of computers, they also identified critical concerns and limitations. L’objectif de cette étude était d’évaluer les points de vue des éducateurs relatifs à l’introduction de la technologie informatique dans un milieu d’éducation des jeunes enfants. Cinquante éducateurs de la petite enfance ont complété une enquête et ont participé aux sessions de groupes de discussion. La recherche a trouvé des correspondances entre les données des enquêtes individuelles et les discussions de groupe. Les données qualitatives ont permis une meilleure connaissance des enjeux auxquels sont confrontés ces éducateurs. Des analyses thématiques des discussions de groupe ont révélé que plusieurs des préoccupations des éducateurs portaient sur l’effet de la technologie sur les éducateurs eux-mêmes et, en deuxième lieu, sur l’influence des ordinateurs sur les élèves et les parents. Tout en indiquant qu’ils appuyaient globalement l’intégration des ordinateurs, les éducateurs ont également identifié des préoccupations et des limites importantes

Educational Painter for Preschool Children

A lot of people are trying to educate their children via ICT from the early stages of their age. Thus, the learning by drawing using computers is important to promote children skills because drawing develops children imagination. There are a lot of educational programs about the education of children on the drawing, but these programs are designed at a high level in which it is difficult for children to use it. The proposed painter application is designed to teach children drawing, by providing relevant drawing tools. It is also equipped with alphabet learning and it is pronunciation, so that can learn letters while drawing

CREATIVITY AND EDUCATIONAL FREEWARE CHOSEN BY FUTURE EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATORS

This research aims to study the prospects of cultivating creative thinking of pre-school children from the perspective of the use of educational software by potential pedagogues of pre-school children. The survey involved 104 future educators who chose freeware spontaneously in order to utilize it in the pre-school children's learning process. They analyzed, evaluated and prioritized the software in their discretion through an assessment grid developed by the researcher. In this context, the prospects for the cultivation of children's creative thinking in the development of the use of technology by future pedagogues were studied. According to the results, the potentially positive perspective of cultivating creative thinking of children is examined in view of the intention of educators to exploit learning software. It seems that the spontaneous choice of freeware aims to cultivate children's creativity. The pursuit of creative thinking seems to be one of the main criterion for educators' software selection. They, also, estimate positively the software which is designed to practice creativity. Moreover, future educators seem to identify and recognize the added value that new technologies offer in cultivating creative thinking of pre-school children.  Article visualizations

EDITORIAL. CHILDREN'S LEARNING WITH DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

This issue includes a dossier about children’s learning with digital technologies, focussing in particular on early childhood (EC) education. ICTs are ubiquitous in the environment around children, and they are exposed to technologies in different contexts and ways; for this reason, concerns have been raised by parents and educators on their impact on children’s health and development and the use of ICT in early childhood education has attracted a great deal of attention of different stakeholders, at educational and policy level. The use of ICT in children education, especially in EC, has been debated (Plowman & Stephen, 2003) due, indeed, to their potentially detrimental effects on children’s cognitive, physical, social, and emotional development. Although concerns cannot be disregarded, the view that has prevailed over the years is that ICTs can usefully support children education provided that they are used appropriately. A significant contribution to the field was yielded by the literature review commissioned in 2004  by  the  Ministry  of  Education  of  New  Zealand (Bolstad, 2004), that concluded that ICT use can provide a context for collaboration, cooperation, and positive learning experiences between children, or between children and adults, as long as educators are well-aware of the kind of interaction they want to stimulate and adopt suitable pedagogical strategies to support them.  An important principle expressed in the same years is that of developmental appropriateness (Siraj-Blatchford & Whitebread, 2003), which resulted in a framework based on nine general criteria to guide both teachers and decision-makers in the identification and application of the most appropriate ICT tools for EC education. Another seminal work is the UNESCO report (2010) on ICT potential in EC education, analysing state of the art research in the field. The report highlights the capability of ICT to support some of the fundamental areas of development that should be stimulated during the preschool period (creativity, learning to learn, linguistic and mathematical skills, etc.). Besides the above-mentioned advantages, the report focuses also on the role of educators in the identification of the appropriate ICT resources and the pedagogical implications of their use. The trait d’union of these works reside not just in focusing the attention on the appropriateness of the technologies for the specific context but also on the pedagogical implications of technology integration in the curriculum and on the importance of educators’ and teachers’ professional development. In 2015, Kerckaert and colleagues commented that, despite the open debate, research on the use of ICT in early childhood education was still in its infancy (Kerckaert, Vanderlinde,  & van Braak, 2015); currently, as editors of this issue, we can observe that the call has attracted a limited number of contributions, this is perhaps indicative of the fact that, although some progress has been made, research in this specific area is not as far-reaching as in others. This dossier stems from the efforts within the Animated Learning for Transitions - Early Recognition 2.0 (Alt-Er 2.0) Erasmus+ project (https://earlyeducationgame.com) to stimulate the reflection on the use of ICTs and creative strategies to help children in their learning and development and includes three papers that deal with different aspects of ICT adoption. [...

CREATIVE APPROACH TO COMPUTING THROUGH MUSIC IN THE EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

This paper applies an experimental case study aiming at the assessment  of the effectiveness of computer science teaching, when it is framed by activities with clear direction of "creation and expression" and in particular music. The research goes beyond the view that computers are a tool and examines them as a subject of the curriculum of the kindergarten through a creative didactic intervention. The sample was divided into two groups, the experimental group that implemented a training program for teaching basic computer concepts supported by alternative creative musical education activities and the control group which implemented a corresponding program that utilized “tutorials” and “drill and practice” software. The analysis of the data shows that computer literacy combined with music education activities had improved learning outcomes compared to the method used by guided teaching through software. The research supports the proposal for the development of educational approaches to computer science, which escapes from the narrow contexts of interaction with the PC, and is accompanied by alternative activities and adapted as well to the particularities and characteristics of early childhood.  Article visualizations