Engaging All Learners Through Quality Early Childhood Teacher Education

Introduction

Technology plays a positive role in children’s learning and development. In the 22^nd century, early learners with advanced technological fluency may become the norm. The plethora of mobile apps, software, and stand-alone technologies intended for younger children tend to focus on teaching letters, numbers, and academic skills. Many educational agendas have seen attention directed to digital literacy and computational thinking in the last decade (Howland et al., 2018). Computational thinking involves “solving problems, designing systems, and understanding human behavior by employing analysis, abstraction, sequencing, negotiation, and consensus building technologies” (Chalmers, 2018, p. 93). While technology uses are pervasive in ever changing digital contemporary society, young children’s involvement in selected types of technologies requires intentional guidance to optimize cognitive, social, emotional, physical, and linguistic learning and development. Given the importance of academic content in early childhood programs and the importance of play for the young children’s development, some digital tools can bridge academic content with playful and meaningful activities.

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media (2012) delivered a joint position statement in 2012 outlining the ways digital learning is an inherent part of early childhood curriculum. The statement was intended to provide guidance to educators working in early childhood programs about the use of technology and interactive media. The statement discussed the delivery of technology tools in teacher education programs through professional development. Specifically, the NAEYC position statement states, “ educators need the understanding, skills, and ability to use technology and interactive media to access information, communicate with other professionals, and participate in professional development to improve learning and prepare young children in a lifetime of technology use” (p.9).

More recently, Rideout (2017) shared that mobile media use and access is present in most households and with young children. Recently, Pila et al. (2019) released an updated report presenting trends on early childhood educators’ access and use of technology since 2018. Pila et al.’s (2019) report not only examined the increase in mobile devices since the joint 2012 NAEYC/Fred Rogers position statement, they examined the extent to which educators and administrators felt they had enough technological support and professional development to implement technology in early childhood classrooms. Survey findings indicated since 2014, there has been little difference in the percent (49% v. 51%) of early childhood educators who report having professional development in technology. In addition, respondents felt a need to find and navigate digital media resources to make technology relevant and developmentally appropriate for young children (Pila et al., 2019).

As early childhood teacher educators, policymakers, and parents prepare for a future that is technologically progressing at a faster rate than ever before in a globalized world, the early childhood field needs to ensure that early childhood students can become effective problem solvers and critical thinkers. Our challenge in the field of early childhood is to equip children with the skills and aptitudes for the future and their everyday lives, without sacrificing the fundamental qualities of child development and children’s play.

This chapter will guide early childhood teacher educators, teachers and policy makers to think about the use of appropriate technological tools in early childhood classroom settings. The chapter will begin with learning theories related to computational thinking with a discussion of Seymour Papert, known as the father of the computational thinking and present Bers’ (2012) conceptual framework. Next, a professional development model for teachers and teacher educators is described. By bridging theory with practice, a description of several programs created for young children with the importance of understanding privacy policies of apps follows. Finally, the chapter concludes with implications for continued professional development and support to ensure technology is delivered to young children in intentional, playful ways.