The tablet computer as a mediational means in a preschool art activity
Publication details
| Year: | 2015 |
| Issued: | 2015 |
| Language: | English |
| Start Page: | 139 |
| End Page: | 154 |
| Editors: | Garvis S.; Lemon N. |
| Authors: | Nilsen M.; Lundin M.; Wallerstedt C.; Pramling N. |
| Type: | Book chapter |
| Book title: | derstanding digital technologies and young children: An international perspective |
| Publisher: | Routledge |
| Place: | London, UK |
| Topics: | Internet usage, practices and engagement; Learning; Other |
| Sample: | 33 children and 5 teachers in 1 preschool in 1 city in Sweden. |
| Implications For Educators About: | School innovation; Professional development; Other |
Abstract
In this chapter we will study what happens when a new technology in the form of a tablet computer enters into a well-established early childhood education practice: an art activity. Whether, and if so how, the use of this technology transforms this practice, what challenges it poses to the participants (child and teacher) and how they take on these, are analysed. Sociocultural theory is used to analyse the evolving activities and the participants’ projects. In the studied activity, one child (four-year-old Vera) is to use a biology app to locate a bug that will serve as a template for her art-making activity where she tries to construct a butterfly. The results show that the hardware and software of the technology delimit her project and that she and the teacher have difficulties establishing intersubjectivity due to them being engaged in partly different projects. The technology is used in accordance with an established tradition rather than engendering a new kind of art activity.
Outcome
"The results show that the hardware and software of the technology delimit her project and that she and the teacher have difficulties establishing intersubjectivity due to them being engaged in partly different projects. The technology is used in accordance with an established tradition rather than engendering a new kind of art activity." (Authors, 139)