DIGITAL PRACTICES AND SKILLS OF CHILDREN UNDER 6

Crianças, famílias e tecnologias. Que desafios? Que caminhos?, 2019

The special issue aims to investigate the digital literacy of young children (0-to-8-year-olds) in the everyday life contexts (home and pre-school) which are increasingly saturated with touchscreen mobile devices. The following contributions adopt different theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of how younger children’s are appropriating touchscreen and digital media. All the articles are open acces on registration at http://riviste.erickson.it/med/

Perspectiva, 2021

App-learning in the digital era: knowledge in the school context When this dossier was first thought, the world was different. Regardless of the type of legacy we will have in the school environment and in our social life, the fact that we have gone through a worldwide pandemic, which prevented millions of children from going to school, boosted the use of educational technologies in a dimension and with consequences that only time can show us. However, there is no fear whatsoever in stating that applications (or apps) are already present in our lives in an irreversible way, even if in different proportions for each individual. Howard Gardner and Katie Davis, in their book The App Generation (2014), provocates us; they defend the theory that the young people of today "Not only do they grow up surrounded by applications, but they have also come to understand the world as a set of ordered applications or perhaps, in many cases, as a single application that lasts over time and that accompanies them from the cradle to the grave." (2014, p.21). For the authors, this new generation would have their life organized as a "super app", in which everything they need for their daily lives is quickly accessible: tasks of the day, access to music, news, traffic, social networks, games or weather forecasting, among many others, being able to select and organize them in a personal and individualized way (GARDNER & DAVIS, 2014). The only requirement is that they are fast and that they take us exactly to the point where we want to go. This new Generation`s relationship with applications, not limited to it, brings a series of new and important discussions in different areas: in education, the central focus of this dossier, as well as in sociology, psychology, communication, computing , among many others. It is part of a large area of digital humanities, in which we need to discuss the role of technology in our lives, not only from a quantitative point of view, with an exponential increase in its presence year by year, but especially in quality, analyzing whether it appears as a facilitating element of our daily lives or if, on the contrary, it comes to exist as a centralizing and determining element of our actions.

MATRIZes

Algoritmos tornaram-se vetores sociais e constituidores de sentidos, pois tensionam e são tensionados pelas dinâmicas sociais da web. O artigo discute consumo e recepção online, e apresenta o Mapa do Sistema de Mediações Algorítmicas, a partir das proposições de Jesús Martín-Barbero, como um instrumento de apoio à reflexão sobre pesquisas em plataformas. O mapa é uma tentativa de alinhar os estudos culturais à contemporaneidade, permeada por fluxos algorítmicos, em que as plataformas digitais ganham importância como categoria de análise das mediações institucionais na recepção. Investiga-se como os conteúdos são consumidos em um cotidiano atravessado pelas práticas sociais originadas de outras mediações do sujeito.

2020

In the context of different opinions about the use of digital technologies in preschools, this paper presents a techno-enthusiastic approach to the subject. It discusses the possibilities of incorporating digital media into preschool daily life. The paper provides the overview of Reggio Emilia (Italy) practice with digital technology, which is aimed mainly at supporting the children’s learning process. The theoretical part is illustrated with visual documentation of the experience with digital media inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach.

Media socialization in preschool age presents an ever increasing phenomenon, which involves children from the first year of life with different intensity and in different ways. Digital natives, in fact, in contrast with the “Gutenberg” children, are naturally inclined to using new technologies and this inclination comes from the opportunity to live many and various experiences which also include the development of different brain structures. (Prensky 2001, Ferri 2011). This contribution comes from the reflection on preschool socialization shared within the cycle of in-depth seminars “Media before school. An empirical reflexion on the socialization 0-6” organized by the Mediamonitor Minor Observatory, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy within the project Inf@nzia DIGI.Tales 3.6. At the moment, American context appears to be the most researched one: here, the key findings from the main European research around the interaction of the “universe of minors” with technologies will be presented from a multidisciplinary point of view, which includes scientific areas which are necessarily related to this issue such as pedagogy, psychology and neuro-science. The current research intends to contribute to a reconstruction of a map of experiences of international research aimed at delineating the status quo of the methods and key results, as well as of the priorities and best practices that can be transferred and applied to the Italian context. © 2014 European Journal of Research on Education by IASSR. Keywords: Digital media, preschool age, socialization, family

Infancia_c, 2019

This report summarises the work carried out by researchers in Spain as part of the ‘A Day in the Digital Lives of Children Aged 0–3’ project research of DigiLitEY COST Action (IS1410) Working Group 1 ‘Digital Literacy in Homes and Communities’. 13 families from six European countries participated, and in the case of Spain, two families participated, being recruited one each from Madrid and Barcelona. The research methodology was mainly a qualitative case study approach drawing from the ‘Day in the Life’ approach (DITL) (Gillen et al., 2007; Gillen & Cameron, 2010) - using a combination of interviews, observational field notes and video recordings to collect data - focusing on one day in the life of the child and their family. Additionally, we collected comparable quantitative data in the form of inventories, such as those of technologies available in the home. In this report, we share the findings on the two cases from Spain, following a common report guideline drawn up for the project: 1) a summary of the process of data collection (recruitment, the first visit, the ‘day’, and the final interview); and 2) responses to the research questions. In appendices, additionally, we include the summary or transcription of the interviews with the parents and the ​inventories of digital devices and activities by ​the two focal children.

The objective of this research is to identify digital practices and skills with technologies of children up to the age of 6. The approach is qualitative, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 families (including parents and at least one child under 6) and observations. Families were selected varying their socioeconomic level and family composition. The following was explored: 1. what practical use and capacities do children obtain by using digital media and 2. what skills they acquire. Children are autonomous using digital media, especially when using their favourite devices, such as the tablet and smartphone. They search and install apps without knowing how to read or write, using the «store» suggestions and voice search features. Some of these apps need to be purchased, but most parents won't allow it, so children ingeniously switch user configurations on their devices as a work around. Some parents mention that children under 2 learn how to write the name of their favourite cartoon characters as to search them on YouTube. Parents renounce these learning's and notice that children are self-taught on the use of digital media. This use may favour the development of certain skills, like the ability to take decisions and problem-solving. Furthermore, children are cognitively stimulated and become more col-laborative, training fine motor skills and develop their reading and writing skills.

Comunicar, 2020

The presence and variety of mobile devices in Spanish homes, regardless of the social and economic context , has been widespread for years. Several studies focus on parental mediation in children's consumption of smart devices, however, there is a lack of scientific evidence about how the educational level and the professional profile of parents affect children's digital media consumption. This study analyzes the influence of the socio-educational level of families on the consumption of digital screens. The study deepens the understanding on the educational level of parents, as well as their professional category. A quantitative methodology was applied on a sample of 792 primary school children, between 5 and 9 years of age, in three Spanish cities. The consumption of television, smartphones, tablets, computers and videogames was analyzed. Results indicate that, the lower the level of education and professional category of the mother, the greater the consumption of content through smart devices by children. The study demonstrates, therefore , the importance of considering the educational and professional levels of mothers and fathers for a better understanding of the consumption of digital screens and, at the same time, as an opportunity for designing family strategies that encourage critical thinking and digital media education. Resumen La presencia y la variedad de dispositivos móviles en los hogares españoles, con independencia del contexto social y económico, es una realidad normalizada desde hace años. Diversos estudios se centran en la mediación parental en el consumo infantil de pantallas inteligentes, aunque existe una falta de evidencia científica sobre cómo el nivel de formación y el perfil profesional de las madres y de los padres inciden en las formas de consumo mediático digital de los menores. Este estudio analiza la influencia del nivel socioeducativo de las familias en el consumo de pantallas inteligentes. La investigación profundiza en el nivel de estudios de madres y padres, así como en su categoría profesional. Para ello se utiliza una metodología cuantitativa a partir de una muestra de 792 niños y niñas de primaria, de entre 5 y 9 años, de tres ciudades españolas. Se analiza el consumo de televisión, teléfonos móviles, tabletas, ordenadores y videojuegos. Los resultados señalan que, a menor nivel de estudios y menor categoría profesional de la madre, mayor es el consumo de contenidos a través de dispositivos móviles por parte de los menores. El estudio demuestra la importancia de considerar el nivel educativo y profesional de las madres y de los padres como oportunidad para entender mejor el consumo de pantallas inteligentes y para diseñar estrategias familiares que fomenten el pensamiento crítico y la educación mediática digital.

International Journal of Digital Literacy and Digital Competence

Contemporary children live in the digital environment and develop very quickly the natural ability in using technologies. At an international level, scientific research confirms the widespread use of mobile devices in the family and the increasing children exposure to these. This study mainly focuses on the following aspects: the benefits of touch devices for games and creativity and the risks related to possible delays in social and linguistic development and to addictions. In Italy, statistical surveys reveal a contradictory scenario: on the one hand, the digitization of citizens complies with international trends, especially regarding the use of the smartphone; on the other hand, there is a strong technological backwardness in the institutional area. The survey has analyzed the relationship between digitods and touch media, paying attention to usage profiles, usage behaviors, interaction, app selection and fruition processes. It has also been observed the parent-child interaction...