During the last decade, digital technologies have become an indispensable part of the Swedish educational settings. According to the Swedish media council (2015) 100 % of preschools in Sweden have access to the internet and 65% of internet use is related to activities with children. Over 80% of preschools have access to computers and tablet computers. The same report reveals that about 85 % of preschools have access to big screens projectors, TVs and digital whiteboards, of which over 20% relate to access to digital whiteboards (Findahl & Davidsson, 2015).

This article centred on the ways that interactive whiteboard (IWBs) mediate preschool teachers’ teaching. The continuously rapid development of digital technologies has created an interesting set of opportunities and challenges for learning and development but has also placed new demands on teachers and children’s knowledge and skills (Säljö, 2009). These technologies have changed the ways children behave in their everyday life, regarding playing, communicating and learning (Aarsand & Melander, 2016; Marklund & Dunkels, 2016; Nikolopoulou, 2014b; Siraj-Blatchford & Siraj-Blatchford, 2006; Yelland & Kilderry, 2010).

The Swedish curriculum (2018) has placed great emphasis on the use of digital technologies both in development and implementation of creative processes (The Swedish National Agency for Education, 2018). By putting emphasis on the preschool teachers’ role in the stimulation of children’s development and learning, the Swedish curriculum for preschool (2018), places particular importance of providing opportunities to develop children’s digital skills.

Cuban (2001) suggests that using digital technologies to their full potential can make teaching and learning processes more efficient and productive. Furthermore, it may transform teaching and learning processes and encourage children to participate in educational activities more akin connected to real life. Most importantly, it is assumed that digital technologies can prepare children’s digital skills as one of the core competencies for the twenty-first century information and knowledge based society (Voogt & Knezek, 2008). However, introducing digital technologies as Cuban (2013) argues may not magically transform educational practices. Therefore, questions about the possibilities and usefulness of digital technologies in educational settings can be seen as one of the key questions for the teachers, stakeholders and policymakers.

The preschool teachers play a critical role in integrating these digital technologies to change educational practices for the better (Aarsand & Melander, 2016; Ljung-Djärf, 2002, 2004; Moore & Adair, 2015; Nikolopoulou, 2014a; Nilsen, 2018; Plowman & Stephen, 2007, 2013). How these technologies, if at all, manage to transform or even make a difference in preschool teachers educational practices is little known (see Ljung-Djärf, 2004; Masoumi, 2015). There is very few studies down about how digital technologies mediate preschool teachers’ teaching. By focusing on the ways that IWBs mediate preschool teachers’ teaching, this study, accordingly, wishes to contribute to the current knowledge about how IWBs as a mediational means can mediate preschool teachers’ teaching. The meditational means can extend or constrain (Wertsch, 1991, 1998) what we know, and the kinds of problems we can solve in a particular practice. Taking socio-cultural perspective (Vygotsky, 1978), the teaching and learning processes are seen as situational and social processes which are facilitated by mediational means. By making distinction between mediational means and mediated action, Wertsch (1998) demonstrates the process, and the role which tools play in extending our abilities. Mediational means, as Wertsch (1991, p. 119) puts forward that these tools by themselves are not sufficiently effective. The meditational means can extend or constrain (Wertsch,1998) what we know, and kinds of problems we can solve in a particular practice.

In order to investigate and understand more about the ways IWBs mediate preschool teachers’ teaching activities five preschool teachers using interactive whiteboards in their preschool’s pedagogical practices were observed. The study was, solely, concentrated on preschool teachers in mathematical practices. In line with socio-cultural theorizing notions, the unit of analysis in this study was the ways that IWB extends or constrains preschool teachers’ opportunities in teaching activities. The preschool teachers, who participated in the study planned and conducted their mathematic sessions using IWBs, without interventions or recommendations from the researcher. 17 teaching situations for a total of 306 minutes were observed and video recorded. To gather the empirical material a camera was placed three meters away from the IWB. All activities during the teaching situations were recorded and both the teachers and the children (22 children aged 3-6 year old) working with the IWBs were of great importance. The empirical material was reviewed in detail and then analyzed focusing on the ways that IWBs mediate preschool teachers’ teaching activities. An analytic framework including following steps was settled. Firstly (i), The collected material i.e. recorded observations were classified based on mathematical content area such as sorting, measurement, and classification. Then, the recorded observations for any of the addressed mathematical content area was respectively reviewed to explore if and how IWB mediates preschool teachers in each of the addressed mathematical content area. It is especially aimed to find possible patterns and relationships. Thirdly, I looked at how operating IWBs mediate preschool teacher’s teaching in any of the given mathematical areas. To arrange the findings, the results were reviewed based on the following theoretical-founded analysis questions: In which ways do the IWBs as mediational means extend preschool teachers’ opportunities in mathematics teaching? In which ways do the IWBs as mediational means constrains preschool teachers’ opportunities in mathematics teaching? Regarding to these theoretical-founded questions the findings were reviewed . Finally, the ways that IWBs extends or constrains preschool teacher’s teaching were identified and provided based on the addressed questions. Examples of recorded teaching situations were also extracted to exemplify the ways IWB can mediate preschool teachers’ teaching. The ethical considerations were taken into account in accordance with Swedish ethical regulations for research (Quennerstedt, Harcourt, & Sargeant, 2014; Vetenskapsrådet, 2017) both in the planning and implementation of the study.

The preliminary results of this study outlined the ways IWBs mediates preschool teachers’ teaching. The findings are mapped in two parts including the ways IWBs as mediational means extend preschool teachers’ opportunities in mathematics teaching and the ways IWBs as mediational means constrain preschool teachers’ opportunities in teaching. The IWBs as mediational means can extend preschool teachers’ opportunities in mathematics teaching in following ways: A) IWBs big screen and multimodality mediate teachers’ opportunities to engage children in the mathematical activities. B) IWBs big screen and multimodality extends teachers’ opportunities to create more enjoyable teaching activities. C) IWBs as digital hub provide a verity of pedagogical resources which can be further developed and reused. D) IWBs multimodality nature facilitate creating of opportunities to mix physical (reality) and virtual activities. E) IWBs can extend preschool teachers’ opportunities to provide just in time and just in the point feedbacks. F) IWBs can extend preschool teachers’ opportunity to create whole-group discussion It is, further, indicated that IWBs as mediational means can constrain preschool teachers’ mathematics teaching through in following ways: A) Fully structured applications on IWBs can constrain preschool teachers’ opportunities in mathematics teaching. B) The IWB is mediating how and in which way the physical environment should be structured . and C) The lack of specific feature (multi-touch) in IWBs can constrain preschool teachers’ opportunities in mathematics teaching.

Aarsand, P., & Melander, H. (2016). Appropriation through guided participation: Media literacy in children's everyday lives. Discourse, Context & Media, 12, 20-31. Cuban, L. (2001). Oversold and underused : computers in the classroom. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. Cuban, L. (2013). Inside the black box of classroom practice : change without reform in American education. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard Education Press. Marklund, L., & Dunkels, E. (2016). Digital play as a means to develop children’s literacy and power in the Swedish preschool. Early Years, 36(3), 289-304. Masoumi, D. (2015). Preschool Teachers use of ICTs: Towards a typology of practice. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood (CIEC), 16(1), 5-17. Moore, H. C., & Adair, J. K. (2015). I’m just playing iPad: Comparing prekindergarteners’ and preservice teachers’ social interactions while using tablets for learning. Early Childhood Teacher Education, 36(4), 362-378. Nikolopoulou, K. (2014a). Educational Software Use in Kindergarten. In P. P. C. Karagiannidis, and I. Karasavvidis (Ed.), In Research on e-Learning and ICT in Education: Technological, Pedagogical and Instructional Perspectives. New York: Springer. Nikolopoulou, K. (2014b). Educational software use in kindergartens: Findings from Greece. Berlin: Springer. Nilsen, M. (2018). Barns och lärares aktiviteter med datorplattor och appar i förskolan. (PhD), Gotheborg university, Gotheborg. Plowman, L., & Stephen, C. (2007). Guided interaction in pre-school settings. Computer Assisted Learning, 23, 14–26. Plowman, L., & Stephen, C. (2013). Guided interaction: exploring how adults can support children’s learning with technology in preschool settings. Hong Kong Journal of Early Childhood, 12(1), 15-22. Quennerstedt, A., Harcourt, D., & Sargeant, J. (2014). Forskningsetik i forskning som involverar barn: Etik som riskhantering och etik som forskningspraktik. Nordic Studies of Education, 33(2), 77-93. Siraj-Blatchford, I., & Siraj-Blatchford, J. (2006). A guide to developing the ICT curriculum for early childhood education. London: Trentham Books. Säljö, R. (2009). Nya villkor för Lärande. In F. Fichtelius (Ed.), Lärande och IT (Vol. 4, pp. 17 - 27). Stockholm: Carlsson Bokförlag. The Swedish National Agency for Education. (2018). Revised Curriculum for the preschool. Stockholm: Skolverket. Vetenskapsrådet. (2017). God Forskningssed. Retrieved from Stockholm: Voogt, J., & Knezek, G. (2008). International handbook of information technology in primary and secondary education. New York: Springer. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, UK: Harvard University Yelland, N. J., & Kilderry, A. (2010). Becoming Numerate with Information and Communications Technologies in the Twenty-First Century. Early Years Education, 18, 91-106.