TRENDS AND ISSUES: A REVIEW OF STUDIES RELATED TO TECHNOLOGY USAGE IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

Öz

This paper describes types of technology studies that have been conducted related to young children’s early education. A systematic review of studies was undertaken using EBSCOhost, Blackwell Synergy, and ScienceDirect databases, to identify all studies published between 2003 and 2009 according to specific criteria. The studies were selected on the basis of the following three issues: (1) the role of technology in children’s development, (2) the role of technology in teachers’ teaching practices, and (3) studies that aimed to investigate the impact of technology usage on not only teacher practices but also young children’s development in school settings. In for each type of study the methodology, types of technology used, purposes and findings and other features including the publication year, and study locations are given in detail.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• technology, early childhood education, information and communication technologies (ICT)

EĞİLİMLER VE KONULAR: OKUL ÖNCESİ DÖNEMDE TEKNOLOJİ KULLANIMI İLE İLGİLİ YAPILAN ÇALIŞMALARIN GÖZDEN GEÇİRİLMESİ

Öz

Bu çalışma, erken çocukluk eğitiminde kullanılan teknoloji türleri ile ilgili yapılmış olan çalışmaları açıklamaktadır. EBSCOhost, Blackwell Synergy, and ScienceDirect veritabanlarının sistematik bir şekilde incelenmesi sonucunda 2003-2009 yılları arasında basılmış olan çalışmaları içermektedir. Çalışmalar üç konu bazında seçilmiştir: (1) teknolojinin çocuk gelişimindeki rolü, (2) teknolojinin öğretmen uygulamalarındaki rolü, ve (3) teknolojinin hem okul ortamındaki çocuğun gelişimindeki hem de öğretmen uygulamalarındaki rolü. Seçilen çalışmaların yöntemleri, araştırmış oldukları teknoloji çeşitleri, amaç ve bulguları, basım yılları ve çalışmaların yapıldığı ülkeler gibi kriterler detaylı bir şekilde incelenmiştir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• teknoloji, okul öncesi eğitim, bilgi ve iletişim teknolojileri (ICT)

Kaynakça

1. 2006; Espinosa et al., 2006). Furthermore, it was discovered that technology
2. was useful for early childhood teachers in terms of supporting their
3. professional development (Chen & Chang, 2006a; Downer et al., 2009NAEYC
4. 1996). The results of these studies suggested that training programs should be
5. provided for early childhood teachers in order that could use technology in
6. ways that were appropriate for their young students. By attending technology
7. related courses in their pre-service education and became familiar with
8. computer skills they were able to utilize these skills in their professional life.

9. According to the statement from NAEYC (1996), both in-service and pre
10. service training should be conducted to allow early childhood teachers to
11. benefit from the possible advantages of technology in their teaching.
12. This systematic review indicated different types of studies about technology
13. usage in early childhood education in terms of the impact on children,
14. teachers, and both children and teachers. The current study covered 30 articles
15. concerning research conducted in different countries in the world; however,
16. none of the reviewed journals contained a report of research carried out in
17. Turkey. It would, therefore, be useful to review studies carried out in Turkey
18. in order to reflect the issue of technology usage in early childhood education.
19. Thus, the recent debate about technology usage in early childhood education
20. can be seen as a guide for further studies.
21. This study reviewed technology-related articles from journals published from
22. 2003 to 2009. From a content analysis it emerged that the main issues of these
23. studies focused on the different types of technologies using in early childhood
24. classrooms. This study showed that the “computer” as a technology plays an
25. important role on technology-related literature. In addition, other types of
26. technologies such as ICT, assistive technology were selected to be used in early
27. childhood classrooms. Moreover, it was clear that most of the researchers
28. chose the type of methodology on the basis of their research purposes.
29. Therefore, this review can help future researchers to select an appropriate
30. methodology to suit the purpose of their research.
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