ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF USING DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY IN KINDERGARTEN

Whether you like it or not, technology enters children’s lives ever earlier. In contrast to majority of people who, without profound thinking, say; “it is not going anywhere” or parents who shrug admitting that they are helpless, the preschool teachers in Preschool Institution “Tresnjober” manage to use it in the best way for the sake of children. We discussed this particular and other issues that should not be neglected with Milijana Lazarevic, the pedagogue of this institution.

■ Ever earlier, children come into contact with tablets, phones, laptops… How can we make those devices “helpers” in raising a child and not allow them to become “gadgets stealing their attention”?

Digital technology has become our reality and it develops much faster than we, as individuals, can follow. Children nowadays grow up in the digital era which inevitably differs from the period in which we and our parents grew up. Parents nowadays face a real challenge to determine limits and degree of making digital devices available to children, as well as to comply with those limits and degrees.

In everyday communication with parents I can notice that we can hardly meet people without a determined and definite attitude towards this issue. Those attitudes usually range between the extremes that you mentioned: from the parents who completely deny advantages of using digital technology and insist on complete “abstinence”, to those who admit that they succumbed to their children’s wishes and let them freely “consume” digital content. In my practice, I rarely meet parents who deliberate on this issue in the context of inevitable development of modern society and accompanying advantages that digital or more precisely – educational technology has in terms of their child’s development. Various types of technology exist around us and they represent an important part of our reality that is difficult to escape from. It is even more important to bear in mind that when technologies are used wisely, they can support children’s development and learning.

■ It is interesting that some information tell us that nowadays a child’s brain develops in different ways than it was the case with the previous generations?

New achievements in neuroscience show that nowadays a child’s brain develops in the ways that are different from those in which brains of children developed before the digital era. In other words, we are born with similar predispositions, anatomic and physiological characteristics, but our digital environment (in combination with all the changes in functioning of modern families) affects us in a significant way.  Although this field is still insufficiently explored, due to rapid changes, there are certain researches indicating that the use of technology contributes to the creation of new and gradual weakening of old neural connections in the brain. In the context of child development, those changes can be both positive and negative, and which ones will prevail depends primarily on the way in which modern technologies are used.

■ Technology can be both good and bad for children. Which pitfalls are to be avoided (children are said to talk less, move less) and more importantly, how?

Any exaggeration certainly brings about negative consequences, but as for inappropriate use of technology at the preschool level, negative consequences can be seen immediately and can significantly affect child development. Thus, it is necessary to determine what is recommended and what can be expected if we deviate from the recommendations to a great extent.

First, it is necessary to emphasize that child development can be supported by interactive media consisting of contents that are created in such a way as to encourage children to act, think, communicate and cooperate (e.g. children’s television programmes, certain educational applications, interactive books in electronic format, etc.) There are some findings that the use of interactive media at the early age contributes to the development of certain cognitive skills, such as faster reaction to visual stimulation, improvement of attention and peripheral vision skills. In comparison to interactive media, there are media which do not call for action, but rather place a consumer in the passive position of an observer (e.g. some TV shows, video materials), thus the experts advise that at the preschool level they should be used carefully and in small doses.

As for the length of “consuming” digital contents, there is no consensus on the issue and parents often hear conflicting opinions that make them even more confused. The World Health Organization recommends that children under two years should be as less as possible in contact with any types of electronic media and that after that age their use should be controlled and limited (it is usually recommended that the time should not exceed 1 hour a day for the children aged 2-5).

The other important recommendation concerns the selection of contents that are available to children, according to several parameters. First, the contents must be appropriate for children’s age, as well as to their experiences and abilities. In addition thereto, it is necessary to observe the quality of contents, i.e. the underlying intention and messages they send to children. Finally, we have to bear in mind that it is necessary to make those contents contribute to child development by connecting them and integrating them into educational programmes and not only using them selectively.

■ Are changes followed by visual changes of textbooks?

The impact of modern technologies on educational changes is reflected in the fact that today’s textbooks used by children are significantly different from the textbooks from the previous century. If we analyse them, we will notice that the pages of the majority of primary school textbooks have gradually taken on the appearance of the screen of the so called “smart” devices. Texts presented in short forms and divided into frames and clouds, a significant number of illustrations and the primacy of pictures over texts prove that the authors and publishers have become aware of the need to create textbooks that will draw children’s attention in the similar way various smart devices do.

■ You mentioned that it was crucial to teach children how to think critically, to be able to select relevant information among endless information offered by the Internet… How can they be taught so?  

Exactly.  Unfortunately, there are no educational trainings for parents where they can learn how to deal with this issue and since educational technologies at the preschool level represent a relatively new topic in our country, there is a small number of preschool teachers who are educated to implement them appropriately in their own work. Therefore, we get into a situation where in preschool institutions (and not only at homes) educational technologies are not used at all or are used in the way which is not appropriate for children’s age and abilities. It is important to introduce preschool teachers to the roles they can play in the development of digital literacy of children and to the contribution they can make to the education of children concerning the high quality selection of digital contents.

The next step in using digital technologies for educational purposes refers to the education of children (and parents, as well) concerning a critical attitude towards everything that is brought about by the use of those technologies. Namely, various smart devices usually represent our tools for accessing the Internet, and the access to the Internet represents our window to the world.

Digital literacy implies skills for grasping the information and contents that are offered by that “window to the world”. The ability to distinguish important from unimportant, to recognize good and relevant evidence primarily depends on ability to think and take a critical attitude towards a particular issue, which significantly contributes to the development of children’s capacities. This aim can be accomplished not only by mastering digital technologies, but also through the preschool programme, through the attitudes of preschool teachers towards children and learning, through every activity in which children take part. In our daily practice, we insist on this particular approach, not only in communication with children, but with their parents, as well.