The aims of the research are:
• Discussing the ways in which three to six children use and explore new digital technologies and interpret their meanings and functions at home and in pre- school settings;
• Exploring teachers’ and parents’ ideas and representations with regard to the use of computers, at home and in preschools, and to their educational roles;
• Working out a methodological approach for the study of these issues in early childhood settings and for eliciting and making explicit the educational mod- els;
• Stimulating opportunities for dialogue and interpretation on issues like educa- tion and technologies, learning tools in the early years, collaborative learning, and so forth;
• Developing training materials based on this approach. with computers in the early years;
• Outlining some patterns for the development of “new” media education for teachers and schools.
The basic assumption of our research is that in order for teachers and parents to pro- mote a “good” use of new technologies in the early years (especially in preschools) they need to gain a deeper understanding of the way in which children spontaneously approach these technologies together with an improved awareness of adults’ rep- resentations and ideas (Ferri & Mantovani, 2006). Too often computers and digital technologies are introduced in early childhood contexts without adequate understand- ing of their cultural meanings, cognitive and social potentials, or constraints, which is particularly true in preschool settings as shown by in a constructivist perspective by Varisco (2002) and Albanense, Migliorini, and Piertrocola (2000).
On these grounds, our research focuses on exploring the way in which young children approach computers, how they relate to theses tools (both at an individual level and at a social level), what they do with them, and what they think about them. Along
with observing children, we aimed at understanding the way in which teachers and parents interpret the role of technologies in early childhood education and their educational responsibilities.
Having among its goals a broadening of our theoretical understanding and the devel- opment of training materials, our research is based on the assumption that creating dialogue opportunities (focus groups) may promote higher awareness and deeper understanding of the role played by new technologies in the early years. Creating this kind of dialogue may also help provide a sound basis to the design of a way “to mediate” the introduction of technologies in early childhood (Rogoff, 2003; Rogoff, Goodman Turkanis, & Bartlett, 2001; Siraj-Blatchford, 2004).
Observing the first natural approaches to computer and Web technologies, the changes in systematic use of tools, the cognitive strategies, and the relational patterns involved is a way to clean up our minds from adults’ prejudices on children’s use of technolo- gies. For example, videotaping and observing young children in front of computers helps us understand how the solipsistic concerns and the social exclusion concerns associated with the use of computers are only teachers’, parents’, and scholars’ fears:
young children always approach computers and networks in a cooperative way and get bored with them very fast. Obviously, we are talking about educational software and not about videogames (Ferri & Mantovani, 2006, pp.75-121).
As early as the 80’s, Robert Taylor (1980), in his book The Computer in the School:
Tutor, Tool, Tutee, put forward the idea that, at school, digital technologies could play three different roles: tutor, tool, and tutee. It’s clear that each of these roles depends on the kind of dialogue established between the computer, intended as a teacher, and the student. Some software thought to teach stimulates a real dialogue between children and computers. In the same way, on-line communication software medi- ates symmetrical and unsymmetrical communication between teacher and student through specific interfaces. In spite of that, nobody has yet defined the best way to establish a dialogue between children and computers and a way to understand educational and communicational patterns. This is a fruitful field of research, if related to the role digital technologies may play in different learning phases, even though deep cultural changes have meaningfully influenced learning processes in the last few years. Therefore, it will be very important to study the way children gain interest, explore, and use computers and get bored with technologies. And it will be very important to do so, observing children on their own, with other chil- dren, or with adults, because this melds with adults’ educational ideas, with related consequences in educational relations and in didactics, and with the behaviours of children as mediators of shared experiences in on-line environments of cooperative construction of knowledge.
To achieve these goals it will be necessary to consider critically and investigate video ethnographic field material also in order to understand some specific educa- tional aspects:
1 The meaning of the expression “projects for digital education,” both in CMC and hyper textual environments, with special attention to the design of hardware and software interfaces. Some software propose an institutional, repetitive use of technology, but is there an “effective” way for introducing computers in preschool settings and for promoting user-friendly patterns of interaction with these tools in the early years?
2 The way digital tools (hardware and software) can be approached by children of different ages. It is important to analyse the role of some tools (keyboard, mouse, and screen) and it is also important to study the best way to design these output and input peripherals according to children’s needs;
3 Analysing the best way to introduce children to usage of cooperative tools for on-line communication (LCMS for e-learning), in order to avoid communica- tive autism that some e-learning methodologies imply.
4 The definition of concrete learning paths with the aim to help teachers and families to be able to overcome the “digital divide” with their children.
Methodology
The core method of this study follows the approach taken by Tobin et al. (1989) in the seminal study “Preschool in Three Cultures” and combines the use of video as a “stimuli” to provoke discussions and sharing among adults with some qualita- tive research tools, such as narrative interviews and focus groups. We have done videotapes with three to six children and computers (at home and in preschool) and we have used them not “primarily” as data, but as tools to stimulate a multivocal dialogue (Bove, 2004). Three municipal preschools have been involved in our re- search and others will be involved in the future (Scuola Comunale Clericetti, Milan;
Scuola Andersen, Vimercate, Scuola Costa, Milan. These schools are also part of the “Bambino autore project,” www.bambinioautore.org). So far, videotapes have been discussed with teachers and the discussion will be extended to parents in the second phase of our research (Bers, New, & Boudreau, 2004).
We assume, from a constructivist point of view, that the way in which children explore and use computers (individually, and with other children or with adults) is strictly linked to the adults’ ideas and beliefs and to their educational models and representations. In our study, the voices of parents and teachers will therefore enrich our interpretations and extend the repertoire of possible educational practice with technologies. We also assume that by studying the way in which children approach computers we will promote higher awareness of how children can be considered as “mediator” of a broader collaborative experience of learning based on the use of digital technologies.
We will also conduct some micro-experiments using our previous findings as the starting point for creating settings of “semi-experimental observations,” which will help us create educational settings for cooperative learning and e-learning with children.