ERIC Number: EJ1111775
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2016
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0957-5146
EISSN: N/A
An Ecological Exploration of Young Children's Digital Play: Framing Children's Social Experiences with Technologies in Early Childhood
Arnott, Lorna
Early Years: An International Journal of Research and Development, v36 n3 p271-288 2016
This article outlines an ecological framework for describing children's social experiences during digital play. It presents evidence from a study that explored how 3- to 5-year-old children negotiated their social experiences as they used technologies in preschool. Utilising a systematic and iterative cycle of data collection and analysis, children's interactions with 24 technological resources were examined over a nine-month period and across three phases. Findings reveal that children played in clusters, exhibiting a multitude of social behaviours and interactions and varied degrees of social participation, and assumed various social status roles and technological positions. These behaviours formed part of a Digital Play System, which in turn was influenced by the Preschool System, which comprises children and practitioners as active agents, technological affordances, and the cultural systems, routines and practices of the early childhood setting. Ultimately, children's social experiences during digital play cannot be determined by any single element of the ecological system.
Descriptors: Play, Young Children, Technology Uses in Education, Educational Technology, Preschool Education, Social Behavior, Interaction, Social Status, Child Behavior, Foreign Countries, Observation, Games, Interviews, Preschool Teachers
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Preschool Education; Early Childhood Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A