Russian and Indian preschool educators’ beliefs about play activities: a comprehensive study

In this study, preschool teachers’ beliefs regarding play in preschool children in its various forms (role-play, rough-and-tumble play, digital play), and the process of its development in groups of children based on samples of Russian and Indian educators were examined. From Russia, 3,013 respondents (all women), aged 18–77 (M = 41.57; SD = 10.02) took part in the study, and 116 respondents (10.34% men), aged 23–50 (M = 36; SD = 9) from India also participated. An original questionnaire aimed at assessing attitudes toward different types of play in preschool educators was used. This instrument consisted of various sections which focused on the understanding of play and its place in the everyday routine of the child group, role-play patterns characteristics (i.e., preferred plots, play materials, course of the play), rough-and-tumble play practice, attitudes toward digital play, and educators’ play competence (self-assessment regarding difficulties with joining the play, suggesting a plot or materials for play, etc.). Our main finding was that although the vast majority of educators in both cultures recognize the value of play for child development, this belief does not find practical expression in the daily life of the child group. Our data showed that Indian educators are more likely to be mediators of children’s experience in play, while their Russian counterparts are more likely to be engaged in the role-play with the children. The content characteristics of play among children in Russia and India were also described. There are differences in attitudes toward digital play: more experienced teachers have a more positive attitude toward the activities of children with digital devices, they see opportunities for the development of a child in digital play. At the same time, teachers in whose groups children enter into digital play not only have a positive attitude toward this type of play but also evaluate themselves more positively in the process of playing with children

Early childhood practitioner beliefs about digital media: integrating technology into a child-centred classroom environment

Early childhood practitioner beliefs about digital media: integrating technology into a child-centred classroom environment Charlotte Vidal-Hall, Rosie Flewitt and Dominic Wyse UCL Institute of Education, University College London, London, UK ABSTRACT The effective integration of educational technologies into early childhood education remains a significant challenge. An important element of this challenge is how practitioner beliefs about pedagogy relate to how digital technologies are used in the early years classroom. Focussing on early childhood practitioner beliefs in relation to pedagogy and digital technologies, this paper reports on a doctoral study where Educational Design Research (EDR) methodology was used to investigate how a technology- focussed intervention might lead to changes in one teacher’s approach to integrating digital media into her child-centred pedagogy. The data included reflective discussions over a period of 18 months, video observations of digital media use, and scrutiny of relevant documents. The intervention resulted in a change from the teacher being sceptical about the relevance of digital media for early childhood education to her developing effective strategies to integrate digital media into her child- centred pedagogy. This shift in pedagogic approach was made possible by the teacher changing her beliefs about the value of digital technologies in early education. Findings suggest professional learning should address practitioner beliefs about digital media and early years pedagogy, including providing time and space for teacher reflection

Technology to Increase Peer Interactions in Preschool

Adding technology to the preschool classroom without interfering with social interactions is a dilemma for educators. Peer interactions are an important developmental goal in preschool age students. Increased pressure to include technology in education at earlier ages is often viewed as a hindrance to social interactions in play-based curriculum, with many educators feeling unprepared in the methods to incorporate technology. The goal of this literature review is to analyze current research to discover methods that can increase social interactions among peers with the addition of technology tools in the preschool classroom. This review looked at forty-seven studies of social interactions in children and technology uses in classrooms. Examination of this research showed the importance of social interactions, the barriers for adding technology in early childhood classrooms, and techniques in which technology use been used to show social benefits. The research demonstrates that technology has the potential to increase social interactions among preschool peers. Based on these findings, it is recommended that educators receive ongoing professional development in methods of adding technology into the social curriculum. Further research is needed to develop the most effect procedures for educator education

Usos y posibilidades de los Videojuegos en Educación Infantil

Los videojuegos permiten a las personas tener una interacción con el mundo digital y virtual con gran variedad de posibilidades. Esta tecnología lleva cuatro décadas extendiéndose en la sociedad y sigue en crecimiento, pero en el ámbito educativo es muy escasa su utilización. Este Trabajo de Fin de Grado tiene como objetivo dar a conocer el nivel de desarrollo y provecho de los videojuegos. Se quiere explicar con él, los medios que puede ofrecer los videojuegos en la educación, y más concretamente en Educación Infantil. Además cómo estos juegos trabajan emocionalmente en los niños, ayudando en su motivación o aumentando su autocontrol ante dificultades. Para esto, se ha efectuado la búsqueda y estudio de documentos publicados desde 2014 a 2021 inclusive, con experiencias en contextos educativos. A este efecto se han seleccionado y analizado 12 documentos de importancia, con el objetivo de conocer el estado de los videojuegos en entorno de la educación y asentar las futuras bases de implementar trabajos con esta metodología. Se ha encontrado que los videojuegos tienen efectos beneficiosos en los niños en su utilización con fines terapéuticos y pedagógicos, como aumento en el autocontrol y la focalización de la atención. En conclusión, los videojuegos pueden ser utilizados en las aulas como apoyo educativo y emocional, habiendo siempre un control en su uso.<br /

Digital Smarts: Enhancing learning and teaching

Why 'Digital Smarts'? We chose digital smarts as the key phrase for the book because we have appropriated it to encompass the following ●an emphasis on pedagogy ●agency, or students' active participation in their learning. This includes any learner in early childhood through to secondary and tertiary learning contexts where learners exercise agency over the focus of learning, generate content and resources, and are encouraged to provide feedback and feedforward to each other ●creativity ●risk-taking, experimentation, inquiry ●challenging the publishing status quo—managing our own workload, using open review processes, viewing assessment as learning, posing challenges for teachers and seeking open access to research publications. We think it is important for digital technologies to be seen as the servants of learning, providing opportunities for all learners to be adaptive help-seekers and agents of their own lives as they appropriate these technologies as cultural tools