14.7: Appropriate Use of Technology

Learning Objectives

By the end of this section, you should be able to:

• Explain the role of technology in early childhood education and its potential benefits and challenges for young children's learning and development.
• Identify guidelines and best practices for the appropriate use of technology in early childhood classrooms, ensuring it enhances, rather than replaces, meaningful interactions and hands-on experiences.

Using Technology and Media Safely

Developmentally appropriate use of technology can help young children grow and learn, especially when families and early educators play an active role. Early learners can use technology to explore new worlds, make-believe, and actively engage in fun and challenging activities. They can learn about technology and technology tools and use them to play, solve problems, and role-play. But, how technology is used is important to protect children’s health and safety. For children under the age of 2, technology use in early learning settings is generally discouraged. For children ages 2-5, families and early educators need to take into account that technology may be used at home and in early learning settings. For children ages 6-8 in school settings, technology should be a part of a diverse curriculum and used as a tool for children to explore and become active creators of content.

Technology can be a Tool for Learning

Families and early educators should determine when and how to use various technologies based on the Three C’s: the content, the context, and the needs of the individual child. They should ask themselves the following questions:

• Content—How does this help children learn, engage, express, imagine, or explore?
• Context—What kinds of social interactions (such as conversations with families or peers) are happening before, during, and after the use of the technology? Does it complement, and not interrupt, children’s learning experiences and natural play patterns?
• The individual child—What does this child need right now to enhance his or her growth and development? Is this technology an appropriate match with this child’s needs, abilities, interests, and development stage?¹²¹

Early childhood professionals should keep in mind the developmental levels of children when using technology for early learning. That is, they first should consider what is best for healthy child development and then consider how technology can help early learners achieve learning outcomes. Technology should never be used for technology’s sake. Instead, it should only be used for learning and meeting developmental objectives, which can include being used as a tool during play.

Figure 14.7.1 – These children and their teacher in a bilingual preschool classroom are using an app to create a “story” with photos of their recent field trip.¹²²

Active versus Passive Engagement

Early childhood professionals should understand the differences between passive and active use of technology. Passive use of technology generally occurs when children are consuming content, such as watching a program on television, a computer, or a handheld device without accompanying reflection, imagination, or participation.

Active use occurs when children use technologies such as computers, devices, and apps to engage in meaningful learning or storytelling experiences. Examples include sharing their experiences by documenting them with photos and stories, recording their own music, using video chatting software to communicate with loved ones, or using an app to guide playing a physical game. These types of uses are capable of deeply engaging the child, especially when an adult supports them. While actions such as swiping or pressing on devices may seem to be interactive, if the child does not intentionally learn from the experience, it is not considered to be active use. To be considered active use, the content should enable deep, cognitive processing, and allow intentional, purposeful learning at the child’s developmental level.

References

This page was adapted from 3: Creating Safe Indoor Environments by Paris. in Paris, J. (2021). Health, safety, and nutrition. LibreTexts.