Developmentally Appropriate Hypocrisy? Understanding the "Screen Dilemma" in Early Childhood Education

• In Event: 66.080 - Roundtable Session 26
  In Roundtable Session: 66.080-10 - Possibilities and Vulnerabilities in Early Childhood Education STEM

Abstract

The increasing prevalence of digital, screen-based technology in contemporary society has made the question of how to use such technology in schools a pressing and important one. However we conceptualize the increasingly silicon-dependent nature of human life in the 21st century, the question remains whether or not an increasingly screen-based experience is what we want for our young children, and whether or not schools should contribute to the “technologization of childhood” by utilizing screens for educational purposes (Plowman, Stephen & McPake, 2010). This paper develops a critical approach for answering these questions and provides a summary of research and discourse surrounding the use of digital, screen-based technology to deliver curriculum to young children in schools (grades pre-K to 2nd grade).

Author

• Brad Kershner, Boston College