At home with the future : influences on young children's early experiences with digital technologies

Early years curricula encourage practitioners to build on children's home experiences. Research into the kinds of activities that young children engage in at home and considerations of how to link these to their experiences in pre-school settings can therefore make an important contribution to practice. This chapter, which draws on studies investigating young children's home experiences with digital technologies, seeks to identify some of the key factors that influence the nature and extent of these experiences. Although digital divides - reflecting classic social divisions of economic status, gender and ethnicity - have been extensively explored in order to understand the causes of inequalities in access to digital technologies, our research concluded that parental attitudes towards these technologies are more influential than economic disadvantage in determining young children's experiences. To explore this issue in greater detail, we have drawn on the concept of prolepsis, a key influence on parents' interactions with their children deriving from the projection of their memories of their own idealised past into the children's futures (Cole, 1996). Parents' assumptions, values and expectations are influenced by their past experiences, enacted in the present, and are then carried by their children into the future as they move from home to formal education. We argue that prolepsis has powerful explanatory force for understanding the kinds of decisions parents make about activities such as the extent to which children engage in technological play

The home as a technological learning environment: children's early encounters with digital technologies

Today's children are growing up in homes with an ever-growing array of technologies supporting families as they work, play, communicate and learn. How have recent rapid changes to the home as a technological environment influenced what and how preschool children learn? This paper, based on a series of studies of young children's experiences with digital technology at home, identifies key factors - including the structure and layout of the home, family practices, family values and family interactions - which shape the ways in which children: a) learn to use technologies; b) learn about the world via the medium of technologies; c) develop learning dispositions; and d) learn about the role of different technologies in family and community contexts

Just picking it up? Young children learning with technology at home

We describe a two-year empirical investigation of three- and four-year-old children's uses of technology at home, based on a survey of 346 families and 24 case studies. Using a sociocultural approach, we discuss the range of technologies children encounter in the home, the different forms their learning takes, the roles of adults and other children, and how family practices support this learning. Many parents believed that they do not teach children how to use technology. We discuss parents' beliefs that their children 'pick up' their competences with technology and identify trial and error, copying and demonstration as typical modes of learning. Parents tend to consider that their children are mainly self-taught and underestimate their own role in supporting learning and the extent to which learning with technology is culturally transmitted within the family

Seven myths about young children and technology

Parents and educators tend to have many questions about young children's play with computers and other technologies at home. They can find it difficult to know what is best for children because these toys and products were not around when they were young. Some will tell you that children have an affinity for technology that will be valuable in their future lives. Others think that children should not be playing with technology when they could be playing outside or reading a book

Already at a disadvantage? ICT in the home and children's preparation for primary school. (ICT Research Bursaries 2004 - Final Report)

The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of socio-economic disadvantage on pre-school children's development of competences in information and communications technologies (ICT). The study focuses on children's experiences of ICT in the home and in pre-school settings in the year before they begin formal education, and seeks to investigate concepts of advantage and disadvantage in this context. The study also aims to investigate teachers' perceptions of children's ICT competences on entry to school

Digital technologies, play and learning

This paper gives an account of the findings of a series of qualitative research studies which explored the technologies with which children aged 3-5 years old play, the forms of learning related to these activities and the conditions which shaped their experiences with digital resources. Three forms of learning were observed in educational settings and an additional form identified when children engaged with technologies at home. However, the proactive support of adults was identified as crucial if children were to have the kind of positive encounters with technology which support learning. We found no evidence that playing with technologies dominated the everyday experience of young children but their individual preferences, the attitudes of their parents towards technologies and ways of learning and their family practices all make a difference to what is played and the opportunities for learning

Children and teachers engaging together with digital technology in early childhood education and care institutions: a literature review

The purpose of this literature review is to identify patterns and discuss key perspectives from empirical studies published during the last decade that explore how young children (birth to six years old) and teachers together engage with digital technologies in early childhood education and care institutions. An inductive thematic analysis results in five key perspectives: 1) digital play is real play; 2) disconnected contexts; 3) teachers’ knowledge and beliefs; 4) learning with and from technology; and 5) children as creators. The findings demonstrate the importance of defining digital technology in a broad way. Further, several of the articles highlight teachers’ reflections and judgements regarding how they can implement and embed digital technology into their pedagogical practice. Based on the findings, I suggest that a more explicit focus on digital technology be embedded into pedagogical practice in national ECEC curricula, as well as in national guidelines for EC teacher education.publishedVersio

Young children engaging with technologies at home: the influence of family context

This paper is about with the ways in which young children engage with technological toys and resources at home and, in particular, the ways in which the family context makes a difference to young children’s engagement with these technologies. The data reviewed come from family interviews and parent-recorded video of four case study children as they used specific resources: a screen-based games console designed for family use, a technology-mediated reading scheme, a child’s games console and two technological ‘pets’. We found the same repertoire of direct pedagogical actions across the families when they supported their children’s use of the resources, yet the evidence makes it clear that the child’s experience was different in each home. The paper goes on to present evidence that four dimensions of family context made a difference to children’s engagement with technological toys and resources at home. We argue that understanding children’s experiences with technologies at home necessitates finding out about the distinct family contexts in which they engage with the resources

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