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

Dialogical PISA: correct answers are all alike, every incorrect answer is incorrect in its own way

Why do students give incorrect answers in PISA? What are the reasons for giving incorrect answers? Do all incorrect answers reflect only the lack of competence or might even a competent child make a mistake? The aim of this article is to contribute to a better understanding of these issues. In the current investigation, we selected six students who responded incorrectly to one PISA question in mathematics or science when they solved it individually. Then, we analyzed their understanding of the PISA task and their reasoning about it through a dialogical problem solving in triads to identify why they made an incorrect answer. Moreover, we tried to determine how the shared peer interaction might change the understanding and reasoning of the child and enable her/him to solve the task. The results of this study illustrate the differences between incorrect answers reflecting lack of competence and those incorrect answers, which appear for some other reasons. Based on the dialogical problem solving approach, we analyzed these two types of incorrect answers and the reasoning trajectories behind them

Design issues in cross-cultural research: suggestions for researchers

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