Playful parents and experimenting children

Presentation at ‘Parenting in a digital world’, UoCOctober 3. 2016

Kjetil Sandvik, University of CopenhagenKlaus Thestrup, Aarhus University

Our research• Doing on-the-floor research

with pedagogues and children since 1987

• developing new practices for uses of digital tools in daycare institutions (Next Practice Lab):

• In 2015: 275 children and 31 pedagogues from 17 daycare institutions in 10 municipalities.

• In 2016: same research but with 0,5-2,5 year olds.

Method: Next Practice Labs

• Developing new uses of digital media (primarily iPads + accessories) in daycare institutions (3-6 year old children)

• Focuses on collaborative experiments, improvising, creating and ‘toying with’ digital technology between children, pedagogues, researchers and ideally designers.

• Our claim today: the same method can be used by parents.

• Parenting in a digital world is about engaging with digital technologies TOGETHER with the children

• Playful approach to parenting: letting the children AND parents experiment

Top-down: fixed and predictable use:Learning as primaryfocus

Eye level: uses developing through play:Creativity as primary focus – ‘learning cannot be avoided’

Fixed and predictable use- at home!

Methods

• Action based research: creating and studying at the same time in collaboration pedagogues and children

• User-driven and co-creative development: creating frames for the children’s own creative experiments

• Process-oriented: both development and use practices are rooted in play activities (not in end-results: something to watch or show)

The pedagogue

The childrenThe researcher

Methods

• Parenting: playful exploration and experimentation together with the children

• creating frames for the children’s own creative experiments

• rooted in play activities (not in end-results: something to watch or show)

The parent

The child

The children The parent

iPads decides

Pedagogues decides Children decides

Intended use vs creative use

Skepticism vs open-mindedness Habits vs creativity

Appropriating possibilities Challenging possibilities

Eye leveldeve-

lopment

The triad system of developing play-practices

Creating possibilities

iPads decides

Parents decides Children decides

Intended use vs creative use

Resistance* vs open-mindedness Habits vs creativity

Appropriating possibilities Challenging possibilities

Eye leveldeve-

lopment

The triad system of developing play-practices

*stretches from ignorance (coupled with lack of time and energy) – the use of the iPad as pacifier – to skepticisms, criticism and panic

Creating possibilities

Three modes in creating new practices

• Learning and exploring: to get acquainted to the iPad, to see its possibilities etc. It is important with planning and well-defined frames for all to feel comfortable (both parents and children)

Three modes in creating new practices

• Setting the iPad free: to improvise and use the iPad in impulsive ways, letting children teach children, insisting on process, not productoriented

Three modes in creating new practices

• iPad fully integrated in children's play : iPads are used for play, iPads are inspiring play (maybe even without being physically present in the play activity: moving like in 'reverse camera', imagining landscapes as if using 'green screen' etc., using stories from the iPad in new play activities: media play!)

It is important that the parents are curious together with their children and that they

experience that iPads may be used in different ways than for playing games. I

think our approach may encourage this and it is my experience that parents get both amazed and surprised over what digital media may be used for. We engage in

simple play activities which can easily be played 'at home‘ – and we share ideas for

good apps with the parents.

Malene Skjærris, pedagogical leader, Paddehatten, daycare institution in Vejle

Parenting is parenting…• And iPads are just another type of

toys – however multifunctional• It can be used for quiet, concentrated

activities, like reading a book or watching TV

• It can be used as creative tool: drawing, painting, film-making, designing, building

• It can be combined and integrated with other play activities

• And most important: the iPads is yet another media – like TV, films, computer games – filled with stories that can be played with!*

• Parents should be responsible for using the full potential of this new toy

• And what’s going on in daycare institutions could be of great help and inspiration

*Media play (Thestrup 2011): media as content, language, discourse, aesthetic format create starting point for creating play (not just reproduction: reshaping, transforming, combining to be appropriated by play)

The future is global

• It is more than just iPads: smart phones, tablets, laptops, smart boards, drones, …

• It is going to be Virtual Reality, robots, programming, Internet of Things, …

• It is going to be Digital World Citizens in work, play, education & life, …

• It is going to be lifelong playing in one Next Practise Lab after another...