Gadgets in kindergarten: image, perceptions, and reality. Child’s perspective study
Background. Digital technologies are playing an increasingly important role in various fields, including education. However, despite their widespread use, the specific characteristics of the digital environment and its impact on preschoolers remain insufficiently studied at the theoretical level. It...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | Russian |
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Publishing House "MOSAIKA-SINTEZ"
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Современное дошкольное образование |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://en.sdo-journal.ru/journal/articles/gadzhety_v_detskom_sadu-_obraz-_predstavleniya_i_realnost-_issledovanie_perspektivy_rebenka/ |
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| author | Olga L. Kholodova Natalia S. Tyumentseva Evgeny E. Krasheninnikov-Khait |
| author_facet | Olga L. Kholodova Natalia S. Tyumentseva Evgeny E. Krasheninnikov-Khait |
| author_sort | Olga L. Kholodova |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background. Digital technologies are playing an increasingly important role in various fields, including education. However, despite their widespread use, the specific characteristics of the digital environment and its impact on preschoolers remain insufficiently studied at the theoretical level. It is important to understand the place and role of gadgets in kindergarten settings, how they can enrich a child’s social development situation, and what the adult’s role should be.
Objective. To examine 6-7 year-old children’s perceptions of their ideal personal phone (appearance, functions), and to analyze the relationship between these perceptions and actual phone use in groups with fundamentally different pedagogical approaches to gadgets.
Sample. The study involved 47 children aged 6-7 (25 girls and 22 boys) fr om 9 preschool groups across 3 educational institutions. Educators in these groups had different approaches to using digital devices.
Methods. The research was conducted using the mosaic approach, where children participated as co-researchers. Primary methods included drawing with commentary and interviews. For quantitative analysis, the non-parametric Mann-Whitney U-test was applied.
Results. Qualitative analysis of children’s responses and interpreted drawings revealed that smartphones are significant objects for preschoolers, children are aware of its possible and real applications. Children demonstrated awareness of real-world applications, primarily planning to use phones for entertainment/games and communication, less for information-seeking. In groups where teachers didn’t use phones, children focused more on appearance (cases, phone-as-pet designs with ears/tails), while in gadget-positive groups, they emphasized more diverse functions, including child-task-oriented imaginary features. Gender differences were minimal, though girls more frequently mentioned calling and service/purchasing apps, while boys emphasized gaming.
Conclusions. Gadgets are relevant to preschoolers, with children’s phone-use conceptions ranging from predominantly reproductive (e.g., pretend phone play) to rare productive uses (e.g., creating self/friend videos) and institutional integration. The adult’s role is crucial: in groups wh ere educators actively used gadgets as cultural tools, children’s drawings showed greater app diversity and productive applications for situational problem-solving (e.g., information searches).
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e3527a159e2e4cc0b605c0c880e70321 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2782-4519 2949-5962 |
| language | Russian |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | Publishing House "MOSAIKA-SINTEZ" |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Современное дошкольное образование |
| spelling | doaj-art-e3527a159e2e4cc0b605c0c880e703212025-08-20T03:25:59ZrusPublishing House "MOSAIKA-SINTEZ"Современное дошкольное образование2782-45192949-59622025-06-01193264210.24412/2782-4519-2025-3129-26-42Gadgets in kindergarten: image, perceptions, and reality. Child’s perspective studyOlga L. Kholodova0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1833-7579Natalia S. Tyumentseva1https://orcid.org/0009-0004-8515-5868Evgeny E. Krasheninnikov-Khait2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2288-8958Moscow City University, Moscow, RussiaMoscow City University, Moscow, RussiaMoscow City University, Moscow, RussiaBackground. Digital technologies are playing an increasingly important role in various fields, including education. However, despite their widespread use, the specific characteristics of the digital environment and its impact on preschoolers remain insufficiently studied at the theoretical level. It is important to understand the place and role of gadgets in kindergarten settings, how they can enrich a child’s social development situation, and what the adult’s role should be. Objective. To examine 6-7 year-old children’s perceptions of their ideal personal phone (appearance, functions), and to analyze the relationship between these perceptions and actual phone use in groups with fundamentally different pedagogical approaches to gadgets. Sample. The study involved 47 children aged 6-7 (25 girls and 22 boys) fr om 9 preschool groups across 3 educational institutions. Educators in these groups had different approaches to using digital devices. Methods. The research was conducted using the mosaic approach, where children participated as co-researchers. Primary methods included drawing with commentary and interviews. For quantitative analysis, the non-parametric Mann-Whitney U-test was applied. Results. Qualitative analysis of children’s responses and interpreted drawings revealed that smartphones are significant objects for preschoolers, children are aware of its possible and real applications. Children demonstrated awareness of real-world applications, primarily planning to use phones for entertainment/games and communication, less for information-seeking. In groups where teachers didn’t use phones, children focused more on appearance (cases, phone-as-pet designs with ears/tails), while in gadget-positive groups, they emphasized more diverse functions, including child-task-oriented imaginary features. Gender differences were minimal, though girls more frequently mentioned calling and service/purchasing apps, while boys emphasized gaming. Conclusions. Gadgets are relevant to preschoolers, with children’s phone-use conceptions ranging from predominantly reproductive (e.g., pretend phone play) to rare productive uses (e.g., creating self/friend videos) and institutional integration. The adult’s role is crucial: in groups wh ere educators actively used gadgets as cultural tools, children’s drawings showed greater app diversity and productive applications for situational problem-solving (e.g., information searches). https://en.sdo-journal.ru/journal/articles/gadzhety_v_detskom_sadu-_obraz-_predstavleniya_i_realnost-_issledovanie_perspektivy_rebenka/preschoolers and gadgetschildren’s ideas about the phonepedagogical approachesdigital technologiespsychology of preschoolers |
| spellingShingle | Olga L. Kholodova Natalia S. Tyumentseva Evgeny E. Krasheninnikov-Khait Gadgets in kindergarten: image, perceptions, and reality. Child’s perspective study Современное дошкольное образование preschoolers and gadgets children’s ideas about the phone pedagogical approaches digital technologies psychology of preschoolers |
| title | Gadgets in kindergarten: image, perceptions, and reality. Child’s perspective study |
| title_full | Gadgets in kindergarten: image, perceptions, and reality. Child’s perspective study |
| title_fullStr | Gadgets in kindergarten: image, perceptions, and reality. Child’s perspective study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Gadgets in kindergarten: image, perceptions, and reality. Child’s perspective study |
| title_short | Gadgets in kindergarten: image, perceptions, and reality. Child’s perspective study |
| title_sort | gadgets in kindergarten image perceptions and reality child s perspective study |
| topic | preschoolers and gadgets children’s ideas about the phone pedagogical approaches digital technologies psychology of preschoolers |
| url | https://en.sdo-journal.ru/journal/articles/gadzhety_v_detskom_sadu-_obraz-_predstavleniya_i_realnost-_issledovanie_perspektivy_rebenka/ |
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