An ecological exploration of young children’s digital play: framing children’s social experiences with technologies in early childhood

Abstract

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.     

All the Nines: Creativity in English Curricula in England in 1919, 1989 and 2019 as a Reflection of Britain’s Place in Europe

ABSTRACT

Just after the First World War the English Association published The Teaching of English in Schools. It argues that developing children’s ‘creative spirit’ is fundamental to maintaining peace in Europe. Seventy years later, the first National Curriculum promotes a creative, unitary English appropriate for ‘a European context’.

In contrast, today’s national curriculum contains no reference to the role of English in international relations; simultaneously, all references to creativity have disappeared.

As Britain struggles to cope with the fallout from Brexit, this paper – written from a hermeneutic perspective – discusses the correlation between how each of the three documents positions English in an international context and how they value creativity. Without wishing to over–simplify complex issues, it questions how to what extent a curriculum might echo or shape national politics. It calls for a new curriculum that embraces a creative, internationalist view of English to inspire communities of the future.     

'Personal Effectiveness' as a Cross-Curricular Goal: Catalysts, Barriers and Varying Perceptions

The focus of this paper is a piece of research which sought to evaluate a pack of materials designed to support the introduction of core transferable skills into the subject-based curriculum. The writers contextualize their work with a brief historical review of the development of this area over the last two decades, highlighting both the ambiguity and the continuing confusion that have surrounded the idea of generic skills. Apart from giving general support to the aims which informed the programme's development, the outcome of the investigation identifies a significant difference in the way teachers and students conceptualize the curriculum.     

Teaching for Conceptual Change in a Density Unit Provided to Seventh Graders: A Comparison of Teacher- and Student-Centered Approaches

Research in Science Education - This mixed-methods study was designed to compare the learning gains of seventh-grade students (N?=?417) taught a 4-week conceptual change unit on density...     

The Home Literacy Environment as a Predictor of the Early Literacy Development of Children at Family-Risk of Dyslexia

The home literacy environment (HLE) predicts language and reading development in typically developing children; relatively little is known about its association with literacy development in children at family-risk of dyslexia. We assessed the HLE at age 4 years, precursor literacy skills at age 5, and literacy outcomes at age 6, in a sample of children at family-risk of dyslexia (n = 116) and children with no known risk (n = 72). Developmental relationships between the HLE and literacy were comparable between the groups; an additional effect of storybook exposure on phoneme awareness was observed in the family-risk group only. The effects of socioeconomic status on literacy were partially mediated by variations in the HLE; in turn, effects of the HLE on literacy were mediated by precursor skills (oral language, phoneme awareness, and emergent decoding) in both groups. Findings are discussed in terms of possible gene–environment correlation mechanisms underpinning atypical literacy development.     

Equality of educational access reconsidered: The postsecondary case in Ontario

This paper is divided into four sections. The first discusses a recent report of the Department of University Affairs, which suggests that, in terms of combined family income, economic differentials in access to postsecondary education have been greatly reduced in the past few years. The second section reviews some recent studies concerned with equality of access and suggests that variables other than income or financial need may well be equally relevant in any definition of what constitutes equality of access. The third section analyzes an existing pool of data to test and evaluate hypotheses set forward in the second section. The last section develops final conclusions from the findings and develops the authors' point of view.

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Résumé La présente communication se divise en quatre sections. Le premier traite d'un rapport récent du Ministère des affaires universitaires. D'après ce rapport, il semble que, au cours des dernières années et enfonction du revenu familial combiné, il y a eu une forte réduction dans les disparités économiques qui affectent l'accès à l'enseignement post-secondaire. Le deuxième section passe en revue certaines études récentes consacrées à l'égalité d'accès à ce niveau d'enseignement. Les auteurs estiment que des variables autres que le revenu ou le besoin financier pourraient être tout aussi valables lorsqu'il s'agit de définir ce qu'on entend par égalité d'accès. Quant au troisième section, il comprend une analyse de l'actuel pool des données destinées à vérifier et à évaluer les hypothèses éconcées au deuxième section. Le dernier section est consacré aux conclusions définitives tirées des observations recueillies et à l'exposé du point de vue des auteurs.

     

Combined strategy and attributional training for seventh grade average and poor readers

This paper reports on a study examining the effects of combined strategy and attributional training through small-group intervention in a specific reading task context. The training aims to provide instruction in the use of reading strategies while at the same time to convince students that their reading performance is attributable to their use of effective strategies, which is under their personal control. Four grade 7 (13 year old) classes, consisting of 40 poor readers and 56 average readers, participated in the study. Students were randomly allocated to one of four instruction conditions involving different combinations of strategy instruction and attributional training. Instruction was provided in small groups of 6 to 8 students over nine one-hour sessions. Results indicated that teaching poor readers use of effective reading strategies, while convincing them that reading successes and failures were attributable to use of effective or ineffective strategies, not only improved their comprehension performance and increased use of reading strategies, but also reduced their perceptions of learned helplessness.