ÄR DET SKÄRM, ELLER ÄR DET INTE? En mikro-etnografi om barns delaktighet och språkutveckling i arbetet med digitala teknologier i förskolan.

Abstract

Aim: The aim of this study is to examine how digital technologies are used in preschool and the mediating role they play in interaction between participants. Furthermore, the study focuses on how digital technologies provide conditions for scaffolding children's participation and language development, as well as the opportunities and challenges perceived by teachers in their work with these tools, based on the revised Swedish national curriculum for the preschool (Lpfö18, 2025) Theory: Grounded in a sociocultural perspective viewing communication as fundamental to learning, the concepts of mediation, cultural tools, the zone of proximal development (ZPD), scaffolding, joint attention, and interaction have been applied in the analysis. Method: A qualitative approach with a micro-ethnographic design was employed. The empirical data consists of focus group interviews with two preschool teams and video-recorded participant observations. Observational data was coded thematically, while a sociocultural discourse analysis was applied to the interviews, highlighting both the staff's reasoning and the actual classroom practice. Results: The findings indicate that pedagogical scaffolding is crucial in digital activities to foster participation and language development. Using tablets, projectors, robots, and digital microscopes, these technologies play a significant role in mediating interaction, creating opportunities for shared focus and collaboration. Specifically, the projector facilitated joint attention through large-scale displays, supporting children who need assistance with visual imagination. Furthermore, the results reveal an ambivalence among staff regarding the curriculum revision. Ambiguous recommendations for reduced screen time have caused uncertainty, resulting in the exclusion of various digital technologies from activities. This suggests that staff are influenced by a prevailing societal discourse portraying children as in need of protection and less screen time. Consequently, 3 staff often discuss digital technologies as tools to be "mastered" rather than instructional tools used to achieve specific educational goals.