Paper Info
Title
The role of iPads in pre-school children's mark making development
Abstract
The increased acquisition of touch-screen technologies, such as tablet computers, in both homes and schools raises important questions about their role for very young children's learning and development. Their inherent touch-based interaction offers new opportunities for mark making practices, which are linked to literacy development, through the emergent process of using marks as symbolic representation. This paper reports a comparative study of touch-based interaction using a tablet computer versus traditional physical paint and paper. Children aged 2-3 years engaged in a free finger painting activity and colouring in activity in both paper and digital environments. Video data of their interactions was used to develop a coding scheme for analyzing touch-based interaction, providing insight into how the use of fingers and hands differed in each environment, the different types and qualities of touch that were engendered, and the composition of the final paintings produced. Findings show that while the tablet computer limited the number of fingers used for interaction, its material affordances supported speed and continuity, which led to more mark making, and different 'scales' of mark making extending the range of mark making practices. At the same time it limited the sensory experience of physical paint and resulted in more uniform final compositions. The findings are discussed in terms of shaping young children's mark making, the implications of the use of touch screen technologies in literacy development for educational practitioners and technology design, and key future research directions. We examine the role of iPads in pre-school children's mark making.We compare touch interaction through finger painting in digital and physical contexts.Touch-screen interaction offers new opportunities for developing mark making skills.Touch-screen interaction changes the nature of painting composition.We provide implications for educational practitioners and technology design.
Year
DOI
Venue
2015
10.1016/j.compedu.2015.04.003
Computers & Education
Keywords
Field
DocType
iPads,Mark making,Finger painting,Pre-school,Children
Literacy,Design technology,Painting,Psychology,Mathematics education,Pedagogy,Multimedia,Affordance
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
87
C
0360-1315
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
7
0.67
6
Authors
3
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Sara Price128625.72
Carey Jewitt2446.44
Lucrezia Crescenzi370.67