Developmentally appropriate New Media Literacies: Supporting cultural competencies and social skills in early childhood education. (June 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Alper, Meryl
• Is Part Of: Journal of early childhood literacy. Volume 13:Number 2(2013)
• Page Start: 175
• Page End: 196
• Publication Date: 2013-06
• Subjects: digital media -- early childhood education -- New Media Literacies -- Reggio Emilia-inspired practices -- technology; Literacy -- Periodicals; Reading (Early childhood) -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; 372.6
• DOI: 10.1177/1468798411430101
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1468-7984

Abstract

Young children explore their world through manipulatives, playing with 'technology' that may or may not be digital. To this end, I offer an exploration into how the existing framework of the New Media Literacies (NMLs) paradigm set forth by Henry Jenkins (2006) in Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century might be applicable to early childhood education. For the purposes of this paper, I focus on three of the twelve NML skills ( play, distributed cognition and transmedia navigation ) and how they might each be reflected in the interplay between digital and non-digital media within Reggio Emilia-inspired teaching and learning. Aligning the discussion of young children's media use with NMLs might allow for greater examination of the potential positive benefits of digital and non-digital media and technology.