Abstract
This chapter reports on our exploration of families’ perspectives on the role and place of the tablet technologies in their children’s educational and recreational activities. We report on interview data from parents within 17 purposively sampled families with children aged between 3 and 5 years who regularly used various tablet technologies in their homes. Thematic analysis of individual and focus group interview transcripts reveals that all the parents appreciated the opportunities that tablet technologies provide for enhancing their children’s experiences of learning and play. All the parents saw the importance of early learning for their children’s future academic success; many also acknowledged that digital play is part of the “basic” knowledge that children should experience prior to formal schooling. However, none of the parents were sure about the criteria in selecting software applications beyond common-sense criteria of affordability, online information and word-of-mouth recommendations. In the chapter we aim to share the perspectives of parents in relation to the ways that they judge the best practices of using the tablet technologies in young children; their choices of appropriate applications for their children’s recreation and learning, and the ways that they monitor the use of these technologies with their families.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Alliance for Childhood. (2004). Tech tonic: Towards a new literacy of technology. College Park: Alliance for Childhood.
Bruner, O., & Bruner, K. (2006). Playstation nation: Protect your child from video game addiction. New York: Center Street.
Byron, T. (2008). Safer children in a digital world: The report of the Byron review. Annesley: Department of Children, Schools and Families Publications.
Holloway, D., Green, L., & Stevenson, K. (2015). Digitods: Toddlers, touch screens and Australian family life. Media and Culture, 18(5), 1–7. Retrieved from http://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/view/1024/0.
Howard, V., & Wallace, M. (2016). Today’s tech literacy tools: Parental perceptions of apps for preschoolers. Children and Libraries, 14(1), 3–9. doi:https://doi.org/10.5860/cal.14n1.3.
Huh, Y. J. (2014). What makes young children active game players; Ethnographic case study. DiGRA’14 – Proceedings of DiGRA International Conference. Retrieved from http://www.digra.org/digital-library/publications/
Johnson, J. E., & Christie, J. F. (2009). Play and digital media. Computers in the Schools, 26(4), 284–289. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/07380560903360202
Kervin, L., Verenikina, I., & Rivera, M. C. (2015). Collaborative onscreen and offscreen play: Examining meaning-making complexities. Digital Culture & Education, 7(2), 228–239. Retrieved from http://www.digitalcultureandeducation.com/cms/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/kervin.pdf.
Lee, S. J., & Chae, Y. G. (2007). Children’s internet use in a family context: Influence on family relationships and parental mediation. Cyber Psychology & Behavior, 10(5), 640–644. doi:https://doi.org/10.1089/cpb.2007.9975
Livingstone, S., & Helsper, E. J. (2008). Parental mediation of children’s internet use. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 52(4), 581–599. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/08838150802437396
Marsh, J. (2006). Emergent media literacy: Digital animation in early childhood. Language and Education, 20(6), 493–506. https://doi.org/10.2167/le660.0.
Matsumoto, M., Aliagas, C., Morgade Salgado, M., Correro, C., Galera, N., Roncero, C., & Poveda, D. (2015). Young children (0–8) and digital technology: A qualitative exploratory study (National report). Spain.. Retrieved from http://ddd.uab.cat/pub/estudis/2016/145656/Aliagas_Poveda_08SpanishReport_Finalv3_Feb2016.pdf
McLean, K., Edwards, S., Colliver, Y., & Schaper, C. (2014). Supported playgroups in schools: What matters for caregivers and their children? Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 39(4), 73–80.
Melhuish, E. C., Phan, M. B., Sylva, K., Sammons, P., Siraj-Blatchford, I., & Taggart, B. (2008). Effects of the home learning environment and preschool center experience upon literacy and numeracy development in early primary school. Journal of Social Issues, 64(1), 95–114. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.2008.00550.x
Neumann, M. M. (2014). An examination of touch screen tablets and emergent literacy in Australian pre-school children. Australian Journal of Education, 58(2), 109–122. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/0004944114523368
Pahl, K. (2010). Changing literacies: Schools, communities and homes. In J. Lavia & M. Moore (Eds.), Cross-cultural perspectives on policy and practice: Decolonizing community contexts (pp. 58–71). London: Routledge.
Plowman, L., McPake, J., & Stephen, C. (2010). The technologisation of childhood? Young children and technology in the home. Children & Society, 24(1), 63–74. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1099-0860.2008.00180.x
Rosen, L. (2008). The association of parenting style and child age with parental limit setting and adolescent MySpace behaviour. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 29(6), 459–471. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2008.07.005
Stephen, C., Stevenson, O., & Adey, C. (2013). Young children engaging with technologies at home: The influence of family context. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 11(2), 149–164. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/1476718x12466215.
Valcke, M., Bonte, S., De Wever, B., & Rots, I. (2010). Internet parenting styles and the impact on internet use of primary school children. Computers & Education, 55(2), 454–464: doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2010.02.009
Verenikina, I., & Kervin, L. (2011). iPads, digital play and pre-schoolers. He Kupu, 2(5), 4–19. doi:http://www.childrensdiscovery.org.au/images/research/Digital_Play.pdf.
Verenikina, I., Kervin, L., & Murphy, C. (2013). Conceptualising digital play: The role of tablet technologies in the development of imaginative play of young children, Australian Research Council Discovery Project. Wollongong: University of Wollongong.
Yelland, N., & Gilbert, C. (2011). iPlay, iLearn, iGrow. London: IBM Paper. http://www.ipadsforeducation.vic.edu.au/userfiles/files/IBM%20Report%20iPlay,%20iLearn%20%26%20iGrow.pdf.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kervin, L., Verenikina, I., Rivera, C. (2018). Digital Play and Learning in the Home: Families’ Perspective. In: Danby, S., Fleer, M., Davidson, C., Hatzigianni, M. (eds) Digital Childhoods. International Perspectives on Early Childhood Education and Development, vol 22. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6484-5_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6484-5_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-6483-8
Online ISBN: 978-981-10-6484-5
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)