Abstract
In this chapter it will be argued that digital visual tools when conceptualized from a cultural-historical perspective and applied to the study of child development will allow researchers to document and analyze a child’s intentions and engagement across a variety of activity settings. As children move between home, community, preschool, and school, different practice traditions create conflicts and demands that create different conditions for children’s development which can be captured in motion using digital video observations (Fleer, Interpreting research protocols – the institutional perspective. In: Hedgeaard M, Fleer M (eds) Studying children: a cultural-historical approach, pp 65–87. Open University Press, Berkshire. 2008a; Interpreting research protocols – the child’s perspective. In: Hedegaard M, Fleer M (eds) Studying children: a cultural-historical approach, pp 88–103. Open University Press, Berkshire, 2008b;Using digital video observations and computer technologies in a cultural-historical approach. In: Hedegaard M, Fleer M (eds) Studying children: a cultural-historical approach, pp 104–117. Open University Press, Berkshire, 2008c). How these shape children, and how children contribute to these demands, conflicts, and transitions, can be studied in new ways and theorized differently when using digital video tools conceptualized by cultural-historical theory.
In the first part of this chapter, it will be argued that standard approaches to making observations of children have been dominated by traditional views of development where progression is captured as a linear movement following maturational developmental norms constituted in Western middle class communities. It is well understood within the field of early childhood education that these child development theories are limiting and have been called into question. Digital video observations and simple computer video editing tools give the possibility for conceptualizing development differently. I theorize how this might be possible.
In the second part of the chapter, a theoretical discussion will ensue, framed as a methodological rationale focused specifically on the use of digital visual technologies for researching children’s development. The social situation of development for Louise, an 18-month-old toddler (Fleer, Concepts in play. Cambridge University Press, New York, 2010), will be used to illustrate the different features of a cultural-historical methodology for the use of digital visual technologies for studying young children’s development.
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Acknowledgment
Monash University Research Committee provided funds for inviting a professional writing consultant, Dr. Barbara Kamler, to contribute to building writing expertise within the Faculty of Education. A methodology chapter is very different to writing an empirical paper and hence very difficult to write. I am very appreciative of the amazing expertise of Dr. Kamler and wish to acknowledge her insightfulness for the redevelopment of my chapter.
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Fleer, M. (2014). Beyond Developmental Geology: A Cultural-Historical Theorization of Digital Visual Technologies for Studying Young Children’s Development. In: Fleer, M., Ridgway, A. (eds) Visual Methodologies and Digital Tools for Researching with Young Children. International perspectives on early childhood education and development, vol 10. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01469-2_2
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