Barns och lärares aktiviteter med datorplattor och appar i förskolan

Abstract

This doctoral thesis aims to examine how preschool children and teachers interact with tablets and apps, and contribute to a critical discussion about the role of digital technologies in preschool. The thesis consists of four empirical studies based on video observations of 42 children and six teachers, fieldnotes and interviews. Interaction Analysis is used in the analysis of the video observations, which allows for examination of both verbal and non-verbal communication between participants and technologies. A sociocultural approach is employed as an overarching theoretical framework for the analysis. The findings show that tablets and apps are used in different ways, and for different purposes, depending on the distribution of children’s agency in the activities. In the preschool activities studied, children and teachers show different motivations for using the technologies, thereby taking diverging perspectives on the activities, which leads to difficulties in establishing intersubjectivity. The role of the teacher is discussed as being pivotal for scaffolding and guided interaction in these activities. The findings also show that teachers use apps as substitutes for non-digital artefacts and as incentive for children to participate in educational activities. The findings contribute to a critical discussion about what happens when tablets and apps are used in activities in preschool, based on empirical research, rather than on what could or should happen. Therefore, the thesis adds new knowledge of relevance to a wide range of readers, including scholars, policy makers and teachers.