Papers by Christine Stephen
This paper describes some of the findings emerging from a design based research study investigati... more This paper describes some of the findings emerging from a design based research study investigating the potential of a tablet app, Our Story, to enhance language learning opportunities for children in Gaelic-medium preschool playrooms. Gaelic-medium education plays a significant part in the Scottish Government's strategy for revitalising the language. However, relatively few children in Gaelic-medium classrooms now come from Gaelic-speaking families, though their parents are keen for their children to learn Gaelic and become bilingual. Thus, many children first encounter Gaelic in the preschool playroom, effectively a language immersion setting. Maximising children's exposure to the language and enhancing their use of it is an ongoing challenge for preschool practitioners. There is very limited specialist initial or continuing professional education for preschool practitioners working in Gaelic-medium playrooms. Although there is an extensive international literature on immersion education, this focuses mainly on the outcomes, with little attention to the early stages of the process. Therefore, we know little about how preschool practitioners go about the task of introducing young children to the new language that will become their medium of instruction, nor how effective practice in this context might be defined or measured. The study on which this paper is based, Ar Stòiridh, was funded by the European Regional Development Fund Programme Innovation Voucher Scheme, and conducted in collaboration with Stòrlann, the organisation charged with coordinating the production and distribution of Gaelic educational resources throughout Scotland. It was a small-scale pilot study, to trial a tablet app, Our Story. The intervention drew on design-based research, a methodology for investigating the relationships among educational theory, designed artefact and practice (Design Based Collective, 2003). A significant feature of this approach is close collaboration between researchers and practitioners in identifying the problem to be addressed by the intervention and refining, through successive iterations, the solution. Detailed documentation of the process enables the researchers to keep track of practical barriers or facilitators, and often leads to design changes. In this case, it emerged that there were marked differences between the researchers' and the practitioners' beliefs about effective language learning in the early years, a finding which would have had a bearing on the development of the design beyond the pilot phase. It is argued that this finding has implications for theoretical understanding of how preschool practitioners set about supporting children as they learn a new language in immersion-style settings; and of how to design practical interventions, such as the use of digital technologies to support early language learning or professional development for preschool practitioners in such settings. (421 words) 2
We produced case studies of fourteen families based on nine rounds of data collection during the ... more We produced case studies of fourteen families based on nine rounds of data collection during the period from June 2008 to October 2009. We focused on fourteen children who were three years old when our visits started and used an ecocultural approach to examine their experiences of learning and playing with technologies at home. The study describes i) which technologies children encounter at home, ii) how family practices influence children’s encounters with technology, and iii) what children are learning through their interactions with technology. We present a framework of four areas of learning that could be supported by technology: acquiring operational skills, extending knowledge and understanding of the world, developing dispositions to learn, and understanding the role of technology in everyday life.
Book Chapters by Christine Stephen
Research Reports by Christine Stephen
To 2014 by Christine Stephen
Early Child Development and Care
Earlier observations suggested that young children’s engagement with information and communicatio... more Earlier observations suggested that young children’s engagement with information and communication technologies (ICT) could be unproductive. Interplay: Play, Learning and ICT in Pre-school Settings set out to explore how practitioners can enhance three- to four-year-olds’ encounters with new technologies in the playroom. The study took place in pre-school settings where practice was characterised by free-play and child-initiated activity. Practitioners and researchers worked together in a process of guided enquiry with staff planning and implementing technology-based interventions in their playrooms. The concept of guided interaction, originally used in the context of learning with computers in the classroom, was extended to describe the kind of adult support necessary to enhance young children’s learning with a range of ICT. In this paper we present an elaborated understanding of guided interaction (considering both distal and proximal interactions) and our findings about children’s and practitioners’ learning when adults proactively support learning with ICT in the playroom.
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Papers by Christine Stephen
Book Chapters by Christine Stephen
Research Reports by Christine Stephen
To 2014 by Christine Stephen