Parent-Child Interactions During Digital and Physical Playful Learning

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

Children’s play has gone digital. Electronic devices are omnipresent in children’s lives (Rideout, 2017) and families frequently use digital media together (Connell, Lauricella, & Wartella, 2015), with direct implications for behavior and learning (e.g., Wood et al., 2016). Thus, research is needed to understand parents’ and children’s experiences with digital devices and comparisons between digital activities and traditional physical toys. In particular, there are gaps in our understanding of how parents and children engage together in digital play, how digital and physical contexts impact parent-child language, and how children can support their parents’ learning from digital media. This symposium explores these questions in three studies that examine parent-child interactions during digital and physical types of playful learning. The first paper describes mother-child spatial language and maternal scaffolding during digital and physical spatial play. The second paper compares parent-child broad math talk during reading of a print book and various kinds of e-books. The third paper examines parent-child causal learning from a digital game and demonstrates a positive impact for adults of observing children’s explorations. A discussant will summarize with a discussion of the wide-reaching influence of digital toys, books, and games, comparisons to their traditional physical counterparts, and the implications for children’s learning.

Sub Unit

• Technology, Media & Child Development

Chair

• Sierra Eisen, Wesleyan University

Discussant

• Jamie J Jirout, University of Virginia - Charlottesville

Individual Presentations

• Spatial Talk and Question-Asking During Parent-Child Physical and Digital Play - Presenting Author: Sierra Eisen, Wesleyan University; Non-Presenting Author: Jamie J Jirout, University of Virginia - Charlottesville; Non-Presenting Author: Angeline S Lillard, University of Virginia - Charlottesville

• Parent-Child Broad Math Talk During Book Reading: Is Print Always Best? - Presenting Author: Erica L. Zippert, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Non-Presenting Author: Zachary Stuckelman, Vanderbilt University; Non-Presenting Author: Gabriella Noreen, Vanderbilt University; Non-Presenting Author: Gabrielle A. Strouse, University of South Dakota; Non-Presenting Author: Georgene L Troseth, Vanderbilt University

• Child-Led Play Supports Adults’ Exploratory Causal Inferences - Presenting Author: Koeun Choi, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Non-Presenting Author: Milagros Grados; Non-Presenting Author: Elizabeth Bonawitz, Rutgers University - Newark