Scaffolding Preschoolers’ Interactions With Educational Technology

• In Event: Roundtable Session 23
  In Roundtable Session: Early Childhood Classroom Technology Issues

Abstract

Our purpose was to examine preschool teacher-child interactions with iPads to discern effective scaffolding patterns. Five preschool teachers’ interactions were video-recorded and coded using an adapted Teacher-Child Interactions instrument. Results indicate that teachers naturally initiated and engaged in a significantly higher number of good fit interactions. Teachers modulated their scaffolding to match both the level of guidance needed by the child and the content of their discussions. Children needed only some guidance mostly (67%) and not much guidance (20%), or importantly no guidance (12%). During these interactions, teachers raised both open-ended and closed questions, neither of which was significantly correlated with good fit interactions. Implications for the classroom including instructional guidance on effective scaffolding are discussed in the paper.

Authors

• Sudha Swaminathan, Eastern Connecticut State University

• Ariel Levesque, Eastern Connecticut State University

• Erin Murphy, Eastern Connecticut State University

• Suzanne Slater, Eastern Connecticut State University