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This project was associated with the Phase II project ‘InterActive
Education: Teaching and Learning in the Information Age’.
It was developed in collaboration with Learning and Teaching
Scotland, a government-funded agency which develops the curriculum
and the role of information and communications technologies (ICT)
in promoting learning in Scotland.
The purpose of Interplay was to identify ways of enhancing young
children’s experiences with ICT through guided interaction
with practitioners, peers and parents. Although there are many
manifestations of ICT in nurseries and playgroups, the focus hitherto
has been mainly on desktop computers. Using ICT has been seen as
a free play activity in which children decide for themselves when
and how to use the computer. The culture of pre-school settings
values learning through play and child-initiated activities but,
in the context of ICT, our previous research showed that this approach
can lead to unproductive interactions. Interplay investigated
ways of balancing both child-initiated and adult-led activities
to enhance the value of encounters with ICT.
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