Playing and learning across the concrete and digital realms: a new context for the new learners

ABSTRACT

In this paper, the intersections of play and learning across the concrete and digital domains in early childhood settings are explored and illustrated. Play is an important component in the early years, expanding children’s opportunities for social interaction and engagement, essential constructs for overall development. The traditional setting for children’s play and learning has undergone major changes in recent years as a result of digital technological advances, and a new milieu for play and inquiry has emerged. The impact of these new mediums on children’s play and learning has created a multimodal environment providing and evoking different opportunities and understandings of play. The potential influences of the digital convergence on children’s play and learning, and the impending implications of these contemporary changes for both early childhood educators and early childhood curricula are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Play
• learning
• digital technologies
• iPads apps

Acknowledgements

The supporting data in this study have been implemented in the framework of the research project: Crayons and iPads: Understanding young children’s meaning-making processes in learning to be literate.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributor

Mira Bajovic, an Assistant Professor at Brock University, is interested in exploring how technology and twenty-first-century skills can be seamlessly integrated into the contemporary curriculum. She is also interested in exploring the media effects on social interactions, moral reasoning, and bullying in children. She has authored articles in Educational Media International, Critical Literacy: Theories and Practices, Journal of Research in Childhood Education, and the Canadian Journal of Administration and Policy.

ORCID

Mira Bajovic http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1189-2732

Additional information

Funding

This article was funded by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council-Insight Development Grant.