"It´s Not For Real": The Tablet as Palette in Early Childhood Education

This qualitative study investigated how a group of three-year-old preschool children use the drawing application Doodlecast on iPads. The smoothness, rapid response, and distinctive digital visual expressions of the tablet provided visual feedback that influenced the children's preferences for colors. Doodlecast seemed to encourage the children to explore colors and superimpose and fill-in the iPad's screen. In addition, they painted very precise shapes and lines, which seemed to facilitate pattern making and discovery of signs and relations. The children used the eraser tool to correct, reveal, remove, and create shapes. Irrespective of the method – erasing, superimposing, or filling-in the screen – the clear and professional result seemed to provide a visual confirmation that the children were able to master formulas.

"Although Doodlecast was a new application for these preschoolers, they easily mastered the techniques, so the orientation towards colors and shapes were not hindered by mastering unfamiliar and difficult techniques, as is the case with traditional painting material.... Still, there is something new and unknown about the drawing application: it is not clearly associated with what something should look like, which can be liberating." (Author, 16)