Digital Play and Technologies in the Early Years

Christine Stephen researches children’s learning in the early years and the ways in which this is supported in preschool settings and at home. She has co-directed a series of studies of young children’s encounters with digital technology and has co-authored many journal articles and two books about growing up with new technologies. Her concern with the influence of culture and children’s everyday life at home and in their educational settings is reflected in her research on their play and learning in a digital age.Liz Brooker was an early-years teacher before returning to research and teach at London University Institute of Education, UK, in 1996. Her work has frequently examined early transitions in children’s lives, from home to nursery and through the subsequent phases of schooling. She was an editor of Early Years until 2017.Pamela Oberhuemer is a Visiting Research Fellow at the State Institute of Early Childhood Research, Munich, Germany. Her main research and publication focus is on Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) systems in the European context, particularly on cross-national issues relating to the early-childhood workforce. She was an editorial board member of Early Years from 1998—2006 and joined the editorial team in 2007. Rod Parker-Rees is a Visiting Research Fellow at the Plymouth Institute of Education, University of Plymouth, UK, where he was formerly coordinator of Early Childhood Studies. He has been a co-editor of Early Years since 1999. Once upon a time he was a nursery teacher in Bristol.

• Introduction 1. The role of parents and parental mediation on 0–3-year olds’ digital play with smart devices: Estonian parents’ attitudes and practices 2 Digital play: a new classification 3. Interlaced social worlds: exploring the use of social media in the kindergarten 4. An ecological exploration of young children’s digital play: framing children’s social experiences with technologies in early childhood 5. Digital play as a means to develop children’s literacy and power in the Swedish preschool 6. Teachers’ dispositions towards the role of digital devices in play-based pedagogy in early childhood education 7. Developing a measure to understand young children’s Internet cognition and cyber-safety awareness: a pilot test