Session Information
06 SES 10, At the Interface – Building New Relations Between Formal and Informal Learning (part 1)
Symposium, Continued in 06 SES 11
Contribution
This paper highlights preschoolers’ informal learning using the computer during free play in two preschool settings in Sweden. Often games used in preschool are ‘edutainment’, i.e. combined entertainment and learning (Konzack, 1999). The belief that children (aged 3-5) learn through play (rather than teacher organised activities) is emphasized in the preschool curriculum; the boundary between formal and informal learning is often blurred. The first study aimed to provide a broader understanding of what could constitute mathematics in preschool, particularly in relation to children's play with computer games. It focused on digital spatial perception and strategic thinking related to the gaming. The second study concerned children’s interaction with computer game characters. It focused on how children interact and cooperate in front of the computer, and verbally argue with and discipline the game’s characters. The two studies draw on video-data. The data were collected when the children were free to choose any play activity. The first study is framed within a socio-cultural framework; mathematics is seen as culturally and socially constructed and an activity in situ. The second study is influenced by ethnomethodological work on social action, focusing in particular on participants’ methodical ways of accomplishing and making sense of social activities.
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