International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, 2021
Parental deployment and frequent relocations exert significant stress on children from military f... more Parental deployment and frequent relocations exert significant stress on children from military families. This stress can be extremely disruptive to young children’s social, cognitive and behavioural development. It can result in negative social, emotional, and physical responses. There are a broad range of programs, resources, and services available mainly in the US, but also internationally. The programs endeavour to mitigate the impacts of military life on young children by providing support to families. This paper explores the programs for families with young children and the need for culturally and age-appropriate resources. It also discusses how the Early Childhood Defence Programs (ECDP) project is responding to this need by developing three free, online Australian early childhood programs for parents, family workers and educators. This scoping review of currently available programs and resources will determine how the project, and others wanting to support children from military families, can best address this need.
Encyclopedia of Education and Information Technologies
Books and the way they are read have not changed much over the past centuries, since the first kn... more Books and the way they are read have not changed much over the past centuries, since the first known manuscript written in the thirteenth century called the Dresden Codex. Unsurprisingly, books began changing in form, access, and content just before entering the millennium in 2000. Since then, books have been transformed into electronic books or ebooks, which provide fast, easy, and downloadable reading matter. Digesting written materials in this form can be more convenient and portable.
As a teacher my use of technologies with children was mainly by trial and error and from hearing ... more As a teacher my use of technologies with children was mainly by trial and error and from hearing the experiences of other educators. As technologies increased in the community, children started sharing stories about using them at home and I realised I needed to offer more opportunities. I now research children's use of technologies in early childhood, exploring how children engage with technologies (iPads, computers, still cameras, video cameras) and the different influences on technologies provided to them (see Bird, 2012). The lessons from my research have application across many learning situations.
The aim of this project was to make children's activities on digital devices visible, in orde... more The aim of this project was to make children's activities on digital devices visible, in order to be understood, which could then assist educators to extend these activities, thus potentially increasing children's learning. The purpose of the study was to explore the children's activities as they used a range of digital technologies. The research was framed by two research questions: a) 'what activities do children engage in around digital devices within an early childhood classroom?' and b) 'how do these activities relate to elements of Vygotsky's theorisation about young children's play?' By examining these questions the study, which will inform early childhood education practices through four implications in learning with and through technologies in early childhood settings. Historically, the research literature in early childhood technologies has focused on educators' use of technological devices with a focus on using desktop computers. Re...
As an educator, I am interested in children's play, the props they use and stories they creat... more As an educator, I am interested in children's play, the props they use and stories they create. I have always been fascinated in how children engaged imaginative play with whatever is available. I try to provide the optimal props for the stories they want to create and offer natural materials whenever possible.
Contents: 1. Want to improve what you do? Try Action Research (p.2) 2. Utilising the Digital Play... more Contents: 1. Want to improve what you do? Try Action Research (p.2) 2. Utilising the Digital Play Framework to support early childhood educators and children's learning (pp.2-5) 3. Learner agency and assessment capability in new generation learning environments (pp.5-7) 4. Bringing students in from the margins (pp.8-11
In early childhood education children increasingly have access to digital technologies to play on... more In early childhood education children increasingly have access to digital technologies to play on and with. Research often centers on using traditional play theories to understand what is occurring, but some theorists are now using a social-cultural lens to explore digital play in a way that is meaningful for the children and educators involved. In this paper we present a new conceptual framework to understand how children learn to use technologies through play. The framework is called the Digital Play Framework and is informed by the sociocultural concept of tool mediation (1997) and Hutt’s (1966) ideas about explorative and ludic play. The framework is pedagogically useful because it explains the relationship between technology-as-tool and children’s play-based behaviours. It is important to understand this relationship in early childhood because play is the basis for curriculum provision. With play as the basis for curriculum provision, educators need a way to assess and plan for...
Drawing on their reflective conversations, the authors argue that existing educational research p... more Drawing on their reflective conversations, the authors argue that existing educational research paradigms may be insufficient for understanding how researchers are mutually affecting, and affected by, encounters with both the human and more-than-human, as spoken of in Rautio and Jokinen, whilst engaging in ethnographic research with pre-school children. Through empirically grounded reflections in the social and material spaces of kindergartens and family homes, we aim to reflect and raise critical questions about existing educational research paradigms, focusing on: 1. The intrinsic tensions between child-centered and post-human paradigms. 2. The (in)stability of researcher identity in the Anthropocene. 3. The unique research context(s) of early childhood play. The chapter concludes by proposing for debate several new norms for the kind of ‘identity work' in which researchers grappling with the emergent post-human and Anthropocentric traditions might consider engaging.
Early childhood education settings are characterized by the use of play-based learning and the as... more Early childhood education settings are characterized by the use of play-based learning and the assessment of children’s play by teachers to promote further learning. A problem with technology use in early childhood settings is that little is known about how children learn to use technologies through play. This lack of knowledge makes it difficult for teachers to observe and assess how young children in their settings are learning to use technologies. In this article, we report on the use of a new framework we have previously developed to help educators observe and assess young children’s learning to use technologies through play. Known as the Digital Play Framework, the framework draws on Vygotsky’s ideas about tool mediation to position technologies as tools that children learn to master according to Hutt’s conceptualization of epistemic and ludic play. We suggest that the Digital Play Framework holds potential for supporting educators to identify children’s learning to use technol...
International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, 2021
Parental deployment and frequent relocations exert significant stress on children from military f... more Parental deployment and frequent relocations exert significant stress on children from military families. This stress can be extremely disruptive to young children’s social, cognitive and behavioural development. It can result in negative social, emotional, and physical responses. There are a broad range of programs, resources, and services available mainly in the US, but also internationally. The programs endeavour to mitigate the impacts of military life on young children by providing support to families. This paper explores the programs for families with young children and the need for culturally and age-appropriate resources. It also discusses how the Early Childhood Defence Programs (ECDP) project is responding to this need by developing three free, online Australian early childhood programs for parents, family workers and educators. This scoping review of currently available programs and resources will determine how the project, and others wanting to support children from military families, can best address this need.
Encyclopedia of Education and Information Technologies
Books and the way they are read have not changed much over the past centuries, since the first kn... more Books and the way they are read have not changed much over the past centuries, since the first known manuscript written in the thirteenth century called the Dresden Codex. Unsurprisingly, books began changing in form, access, and content just before entering the millennium in 2000. Since then, books have been transformed into electronic books or ebooks, which provide fast, easy, and downloadable reading matter. Digesting written materials in this form can be more convenient and portable.
As a teacher my use of technologies with children was mainly by trial and error and from hearing ... more As a teacher my use of technologies with children was mainly by trial and error and from hearing the experiences of other educators. As technologies increased in the community, children started sharing stories about using them at home and I realised I needed to offer more opportunities. I now research children's use of technologies in early childhood, exploring how children engage with technologies (iPads, computers, still cameras, video cameras) and the different influences on technologies provided to them (see Bird, 2012). The lessons from my research have application across many learning situations.
The aim of this project was to make children's activities on digital devices visible, in orde... more The aim of this project was to make children's activities on digital devices visible, in order to be understood, which could then assist educators to extend these activities, thus potentially increasing children's learning. The purpose of the study was to explore the children's activities as they used a range of digital technologies. The research was framed by two research questions: a) 'what activities do children engage in around digital devices within an early childhood classroom?' and b) 'how do these activities relate to elements of Vygotsky's theorisation about young children's play?' By examining these questions the study, which will inform early childhood education practices through four implications in learning with and through technologies in early childhood settings. Historically, the research literature in early childhood technologies has focused on educators' use of technological devices with a focus on using desktop computers. Re...
As an educator, I am interested in children's play, the props they use and stories they creat... more As an educator, I am interested in children's play, the props they use and stories they create. I have always been fascinated in how children engaged imaginative play with whatever is available. I try to provide the optimal props for the stories they want to create and offer natural materials whenever possible.
Contents: 1. Want to improve what you do? Try Action Research (p.2) 2. Utilising the Digital Play... more Contents: 1. Want to improve what you do? Try Action Research (p.2) 2. Utilising the Digital Play Framework to support early childhood educators and children's learning (pp.2-5) 3. Learner agency and assessment capability in new generation learning environments (pp.5-7) 4. Bringing students in from the margins (pp.8-11
In early childhood education children increasingly have access to digital technologies to play on... more In early childhood education children increasingly have access to digital technologies to play on and with. Research often centers on using traditional play theories to understand what is occurring, but some theorists are now using a social-cultural lens to explore digital play in a way that is meaningful for the children and educators involved. In this paper we present a new conceptual framework to understand how children learn to use technologies through play. The framework is called the Digital Play Framework and is informed by the sociocultural concept of tool mediation (1997) and Hutt’s (1966) ideas about explorative and ludic play. The framework is pedagogically useful because it explains the relationship between technology-as-tool and children’s play-based behaviours. It is important to understand this relationship in early childhood because play is the basis for curriculum provision. With play as the basis for curriculum provision, educators need a way to assess and plan for...
Drawing on their reflective conversations, the authors argue that existing educational research p... more Drawing on their reflective conversations, the authors argue that existing educational research paradigms may be insufficient for understanding how researchers are mutually affecting, and affected by, encounters with both the human and more-than-human, as spoken of in Rautio and Jokinen, whilst engaging in ethnographic research with pre-school children. Through empirically grounded reflections in the social and material spaces of kindergartens and family homes, we aim to reflect and raise critical questions about existing educational research paradigms, focusing on: 1. The intrinsic tensions between child-centered and post-human paradigms. 2. The (in)stability of researcher identity in the Anthropocene. 3. The unique research context(s) of early childhood play. The chapter concludes by proposing for debate several new norms for the kind of ‘identity work' in which researchers grappling with the emergent post-human and Anthropocentric traditions might consider engaging.
Early childhood education settings are characterized by the use of play-based learning and the as... more Early childhood education settings are characterized by the use of play-based learning and the assessment of children’s play by teachers to promote further learning. A problem with technology use in early childhood settings is that little is known about how children learn to use technologies through play. This lack of knowledge makes it difficult for teachers to observe and assess how young children in their settings are learning to use technologies. In this article, we report on the use of a new framework we have previously developed to help educators observe and assess young children’s learning to use technologies through play. Known as the Digital Play Framework, the framework draws on Vygotsky’s ideas about tool mediation to position technologies as tools that children learn to master according to Hutt’s conceptualization of epistemic and ludic play. We suggest that the Digital Play Framework holds potential for supporting educators to identify children’s learning to use technol...
Integral to the global nature play movement, nature play programs have flourished over the last d... more Integral to the global nature play movement, nature play programs have flourished over the last decade, both in Australia and internationally. Internationally, there are two prominent schools of thought in this movement, Danish Nature Kindergartens, and British Forest Schools. The underpinning philosophy of Danish Nature Kindergarten programs has been translated worldwide, raising questions about implementation, and possible decontextualisation, post-translation. Specifically, there are claims that the British translation known as Forest School, has become a marketable commodity and a 'McDonaldised' set of practices that educators have been trained in worldwide, including Australia. In this review article we examine Australian outdoor, nature play programs in early childhood education (ECE) settings to identify the relevance of these claims to Australian ECE contexts. These contexts appear to be diverging from the two international schools of thought, forging a uniquely, Australian 'Nature Play' pathway contextualised to social, cultural, political and educational landscapes. However, we acknowledge the limited Australian nature play program research to date has only been conducted in government regulated ECE settings. In such settings, legislation mandates that early childhood (EC) qualified educators implement programs underpinned by philosophy and pedagogy. Although not infallible, this likely minimises the potential for commodification. Whereas among private-for-profit, outdoor, nature play programs without the same legislated requirements, we argue the potential for commodification may be greater. We identify the need for research to examine the philosophical and pedagogical basis of such private-for-profit programs. As there is no Australian research in these settings, we recommend a research agenda to explore this gap.
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Papers by Jo Bird