It's all about control: how giving kids control over access, content, and format of their media production advances social and emotional learning. Issue 4 (1st October 2020) - Friesem, Yonty
ABSTRACT: While the literature on kids' media practices has grown, few studies connect this knowledge with media pedagogy and children's emotional learning. This case study of four third grade students in a social intervention program explores the process in which they gained control over access, content, and form of their intervention by creating animated videos of positive behavior reinforcement. The author used narrative analysis to examine a journey of a speech pathologist and a school psychologist who were learning to produce media together with their four students. The process of trial and error included four stages for the interventionists: high freedom, high control, challenge, and structured freedom. This case study sheds a light on how the pedagogy of media production using structured freedom can improve self-reflection and self-efficacy of young students, especially those with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). The results show the process of creating a potential space (Winnicott, 1971) while producing media via mobile devices that became a transitional object, enhancing students' ability to reflect on their own feelings and conduct.