Preservice Teachers Reconfiguring Teaching Young Children in a High-Stakes Early Education Context Through the Use of iPads:A Case Study

ABSTRACT

Research Findings

Having practicing or preservice early educators employing iPads and their apps as part of their practices with young children in high-stakes teaching contexts is a challenging process. The case study examined in this article further unpacks this complexity by investigating how incorporating iPads into their high-stakes field placements might have affected a sample of preservice teachers’ figuring of how to instruct and document the learning of young children. Although these preservice teachers seemed to struggle with using iPads to instruct children in their field placements, these teachers did appear to generate improvised responses to documenting student learning. Practice or Policy: Such findings offer teacher educators the chance to consider how to assist teachers in moving beyond the dominant practices found in high-stakes teaching contexts. They also offer teacher educators the chance to aid their teachers in reconfiguring the politics and policy of high-stakes early education contexts.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the editors of Early Education & Development and the anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful suggestions for strengthening this article. We would also like to thank Heather Mathers for her assistance in recruiting participants as well as collecting and storing the participants’ assignments during the semester the study reported on in this article took place.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. This topic idea came from Dr. Jennifer Adair