Digital peer play: meta-imaginary play embedded in early childhood play-based settings

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    1 Citation (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Digital childhood captures the everydayness of children growing up in many European and European heritage communities (Danby et al., Digital childhood. Springer, Amsterdam, 2018), where young children’s engagement with digital devices (Arnott, Digital technologies and learning in the early years. Sage, London. ISBN 978-1-41296-242-1, 2017) has become normalised. Despite the arguments for both positive and negative dimensions of increasing screen time (Walker et al., Use of digital technologies and cognitive self-regulation in young children. Findings from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. In: Danby S, Fleer M, Davidson C, Hatzigianni M (eds) Digital childhood, Springer, Amsterdam, 2018), little attention has been directed to how peers play together in early childhood settings where digital devices, such as touch screen tablets and animation apps, are being introduced. This chapter follows a group of 24 children (1.6–5.3; mean age 3.5 years) and their teachers (n = 10; 23.5 h of video observations) engaged in imaginary play (Hakkarainen et al., Eur Early Childhood Edu Res J 21(2):213–225. https://doi.org/10.1080/1350293X.2013.789189, 2013). The study found that digital meta-imaginary peer play situations appeared within the holistic context of peer-initiated play and adult-initiated play inquiry. The key drivers of this holistic conception of digital peer play featured digital placeholders and virtual pivots, and this dynamic evolved over time as the adults became players to support play development and as children became narrators of the digital play.

    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationPeer P Lay and Relationships in Early Childhood
    Subtitle of host publicationInternational Research Perspectives
    EditorsAvis Ridgway, Gloria Quiñones, Liang Li
    Place of PublicationCham Switzerland
    PublisherSpringer
    Chapter4
    Pages45-59
    Number of pages15
    Edition1st
    ISBN (Electronic)9783030423315
    ISBN (Print)9783030423308
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2020

    Publication series

    NameInternational Perspectives on Early Childhood Education and Development
    Volume30
    ISSN (Print)2468-8746
    ISSN (Electronic)2468-8754

    Keywords

    • Conceptual playworld
    • Cultural-historical
    • Playworlds
    • STEM

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