Hybrid Learning to Support Children’s Positive Technological Development: Introduction

As we head into the coming school year, we hear more and more requests from educators about how to engage young children in rich, collaborative, creative learning using technology and STEM. As educators, researchers, and innovators in the field of EdTech, Angie Kalthoff and Amanda Strawhacker created this series of blog posts to offer suggestions and recommendations for supporting children’s Positive Technological Development (PTD) through hybrid or distance learning. These recommendations are based on years of research conducted by the DevTech Research Group with educators and families in both schools in informal learning settings.

This working definition of hybrid learning was adapted from many resources including: Cult of Pedagogy, Digital Promise, U.S. Department of Education.

As members of the Eliot-Pearson Child Study and Human Development Departmental community (Statement of Solidarity: https://as.tufts.edu/epcshd/about/statement) we are committed to promoting curricula and educational content that acknowledges and respects children from all backgrounds and all life experiences. We will endeavor in these blog posts to present activities and tools that align with this commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in early childhood education. Understanding that we are learners and if you see an area of growth for us, please reach out. If you are interested in understanding what is being done with equity in regards to Computer Science (CS) Education, you can learn along with us as we follow the work of the CSTA Equity Fellows. We are proud of ECT alum and CSTA Fellow, Michelle Lee, for the work she is doing in this area!

Angie, a technology integrationist, was excited to bring CS and Computational Thinking (CT) into her school district but realized she didn’t have a framework to follow that was specific to young learners. After finding Marina Bers’ TEDx Talk, she dug deeper to learn about Positive Technological Development (PTD). She was able to co-plan and co-teach with classroom teachers while learning about CS and CT and used PTD to make sure their lessons were effective. An analogy from Dr. Bers’ talk that really spoke to her and that she continues to use today is around comparing physical playpens and playgrounds to the digital environments we create for children.

Figure 1. Positive Technological Development Framework. The center column shows the behaviors that children exhibit when engaging in positive uses of technology (examples in right column). These behaviors indicate the development of specific character assets (left column). Reprinted with author permission (Bers, 2018).

While Angie was learning about PTD, Amanda was working on her Ph.D. with Dr. Marina Bers as her advisor. She kept hearing from teachers at conferences and schools that they wanted a way to evaluate the learning they observed when they brought new technology into their classrooms. After using the PTD framework to develop and evaluate a new early childhood makerspace for her Ph.D. studies, Amanda compared the ways that the makerspace’s physical environment and the teachers in the space contributed to children’s positive engagement with technology.

Her results showed that the teachers and the environment were both important for children’s development, but in different and complementary ways (Strawhacker & Bers, 2018). Teachers were important for fostering children’s communication and choices of conduct, while the environment was uniquely supportive of creativity and content creation (see figure 2). Teacher actions and the physical environment supported each other to promote children’s communication and collaboration.

An Overview of this Blog Series: Bringing PTD Education into our Current Reality

Angie’s and Amanda’s paths crossed at Infosys Pathfinders Institute 2018, and since then they have continued to partner in their efforts to bring high-quality CS content and best practices to educators, families, and young children.

For each of these blog posts, we have been careful to consider the home or school learning environment, since we know how important space is for young children’s CS learning and PTD engagement.

We understand that kids live and play in a variety of environments, especially during this time. No two families will have equal access to tools, learning supports, play spaces, and time. Just like the teachers in your child’s classroom, we will do our best in this blog series to provide you with resources that you can adapt to suit your current situation.

In our upcoming blog post series, we will break down each of the six PTD behaviors that we always look for when children are engaging playfully with developmentally appropriate technologies: Communication, Collaboration, Community Building, Content Creation, Creativity, Choices of Conduct.

If you can’t wait for the blog post, check out these resources from the DevTech Research Group:

She is a two-time winner of the Eliot-Pearson Research-Practice Integration Award, and was a speaker with TEDxYouth@BeaconStreet. Her work involves teaching, developing curricula, and professional development on EdTech, and she is passionate about innovating ways to empower children to express themselves and explore the world through new technologies. Connect with Amanda on Twitter: @ALStrawhacker and visit her website: amandastrawhacker.com