Social and Educational Affordances of Technology for Children
Funding: Spencer Foundation
This project is a comparative case study based on ethnographic observation of preschool and elementary school age children’s interactions with shared virtual environments. Although a significant numbers of young children frequent these virtual environments, there has been very little exploration of what actually happens in these spaces, and even less attention paid to how children may be learning and developing through their game play. Focusing on popular online spaces and technology uses, this study examines how the features of these sites that may influence children’s literacy and social development as well as interactions within the family.