Week 6: Should teachers care?

Why should teachers care about digital literacy and childhood in the digital age?

Digital Beginnings (Marsh et al, 2005) conducted research into young children’s use of popular culture, media and new technologies with a specific focus into the impact interventions of pop culture and new technologies may have on learning. The way in which Marsh et al (2005) carried out their research was through surveying 1852 parents and carers and 524 teachers attending 120 individual maintained and non-maintained early year settings.

When reading this article it was interesting to read how much of a positive impact parents had on the development of children’s learning of pop culture and new media. Marsh et al (2005) discussed how parents were very supportive about the role of popular culture in the curriculum and it was mentioned that engagement with media is generally not passive, but actively promotes speaking and listening, reading and play. Through this research it was found that due to changing technologies, young children are immersed in pop culture and media such as television, comics and advertisements from birth. A key point Marsh et al (2005) shared was that parents play a pivotal role in the scaffolding of pupils learning showing a high level of support towards children’s interests and learning in popular, however findings suggest that parental knowledge of the use of children’s medias and technologies suggest that parents need to be informed of relevant resources in order to enhance learning potential.

When on SE3 I witnessed the use of iPads in the classroom used for both individual and group work. From research marsh et al (2013) discovered that parents feel that media education should be included in the curriculum from a young age, in order to ‘prepare children for the demands of the new technological age.’ This was supported by the Early years practitioners who showed a positive attitude towards using popular culture, media and technology in the classroom, however they also showed a high level of concern towards the amount of time children spend on these activities outside of school.

Early years practitioners also expressed a desire for more professional development on the use of ICT, media and popular culture to promote learning in the foundation stage, with an additional focus to subject knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge in the use of media and new technologies (Kress, 2003). In regards to popular culture and media in the language and literacy curriculum Marsh et al (2005) discovered an increase in motivation and engagement with learning, therefore having a positive impact on children’s speaking and listening development, although it is suggested that there needs to be more research in this area to discover if there is a positive correlation.

From this reading I have developed my opinion that it is imperative for teachers to have a secure level of understand, subject knowledge and confidence in using technology within the Early years and Primary classroom. I feel my own subject knowledge as an ICT specialist is of a good level however during future practices I aim to extend the technology experiences I offer the class included web 2 technologies we have used throughout seminars in order to give the class the best experiences of media and pop culture to keep up to date with the ever changing technology.

Marsh, J., Brooks, G., Hughes, J., Ritchie, L. Roberts, S. and Wright, K. (2005) Digital Beginnings: Young Children’s use of Popular Culture, media and new technologies. Sheffield.