Computers & Education 59 (2012) 38–49

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Computers & Education

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compedu

Learning in the early years: Social interactions around picturebooks, puzzles and
digital technologies
Sarah Eagle*
Graduate School of Education, University of Bristol, 35 Berkeley Square, Bristol BS8 1JA, UK

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper develops an approach to thinking about young children, digital technologies and learning,
Received 8 May 2011 drawing on research literature that relates children’s learning to the use of books, and on literature that
Received in revised form discusses the nature of interaction between adults and children and its relationship to children’s
18 October 2011
learning. An analysis is given of parents and children using devices marketed as supporting young
Accepted 25 October 2011
children’s learning, identifying, within the interactions that take place, the adult’s conception of
appropriate use, and showing how this influences the nature of adult–child interaction. The findings are
Keywords:
then related to literature on social interaction and learning, and discussed in relation to the assumptions
Lifelong learning
Teaching/learning strategies that underpin the design of the devices used. The paper suggests that the artefact can influence adult–
Interface design child interaction via a conception of appropriate use, which relates to traditions or practices with which
the adult is familiar but also to the design features of the artefact. It suggests that it may be time to
rethink the design of technologies to support young children’s learning.
Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

This paper explores the idea that we can design interactive technologies that will help young children to learn, in the sense that chil-
dren’s learning can be assisted through the use of designed artefacts. The perspective taken is inspired by considering another kind of
artefact, one that pre-exists digital technologies. The use of books in early childhood has been a subject for research for at least three
decades. Investigations of the association between the use of books in the home and young children’s preparedness for school has shown
that they can best be understood by considering social aspects of book use at home, including children’s experience of other people’s use of
books and literacy materials. Meanwhile, investigations of the nature of social interactions between young children and others during
shared use of books have suggested that the power of the artefact is in the way it supports and stimulates social interaction between young
children and others. It is this observation that is the inspiration for the theme of this paper, which is the connection between the artefact and
social interaction, and the connection between social interaction and learning. As such, the paper presents an approach to understanding
the relationship between design and learning for young children, one that complements and develops contemporary research concerned
with the design of technologies to support intergenerational relationships (e.g. Chiong, 2009; Davis, Vetere, Gibbs, & Francis, in press) and
research that draws on theories of collaborative learning in support of frameworks of design for young children (e.g. Antle, Bevans,
Tanenbaum, Seaborn, & Wang, 2011).
The paper begins with a brief examination of research literature on the use of books in early childhood and the nature of social
interactions between adults and children during the use of artefacts such as puzzles. Useful insights are provided by these studies; first,
they show that the artefact influences the nature of interaction because it informs the adult’s conception of the appropriate way to
interact with the child during its use; second, they have inspired a critique and discussion of that social interaction that supports
learning. On the basis of the first of these insights, two examples of adult–child use of a particular variety of interactive digital tech-
nology are examined to explore how the artefact informed the participants’ respective conceptions of appropriate use and to examine
the nature of interaction between adult and child in those two instances. The paper concludes with a consideration of the issues raised
for designers.

* Tel.: þ44 7880644594 (mobile), þ44 1173314265 (office), þ44 1179355340 (home).
E-mail address: s.eagle@bristol.ac.uk.

0360-1315/$ – see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2011.10.013
 S. Eagle / Computers & Education 59 (2012) 38–49 39

2. Artefacts and learning in the home

The idea that it is possible to design artefacts that will help children to learn is by no means new. In particular, there has been a long-
standing association between one particular variety of artefact and young children’s learning; this is the illustrated storybook or picture-
book. The association made between the use of books in early childhood and subsequent progress in school can be illustrated by the
recommendation made in the UK government report ‘A language for life’ (D.E.S., 1975):
the best way to prepare the very young child for reading is to hold him [sic] on our lap and read aloud to him stories he likes, over and
over again (.) We believe that a priority need is.to help parents recognise the value of sharing the experience of books with their
children (D.E.S., 1975, s. 7.2)
The authors of the report allude to a notion that exposure to stories and rhymes provide opportunities to accumulate knowledge, and
instils in them a respect for the printed word. The use of books by adults and young children has been studied by researchers from a variety
of disciplines, including psychologists (Hewison, 1988; Leseman & de Jong, 1998; Tizard & Hughes, 1984; Tizard, Schofield, & Hewison, 1982)
anthropologists, e.g. Heath (1982, 1983) and educators, e.g. Cochran Smith (1984), Lysaker (2006), Wells (1985, 1986), which has demon-
strated that what is of particular significance is the nature of the social interaction that takes place during and in connection with joint
storybook reading. What lies behind the educational gains that young children derive from early experiences is familiarity with books
themselves and the way that they are used, and, importantly, the opportunity to initiate and engage in talk through which they can relate
new concepts and vocabulary to their own experience and knowledge of the world.
One might interpret the findings as an indication that the nature and quality of talk inspired by picturebook would be in some way
related to the design features of picturebook. However, the nature of interaction during shared use of a picturebook may owe as much or
more to the traditions or practices with which family members are familiar as to the nature of the book itself. A variety of studies have shown
that families read books with children in ways that they are familiar with, that is, the way that they take for granted a book should be read
(Heath, 1982, 1983; Leseman & de Jong, 1998).
The interaction that takes place between adults and young children in the course of using artefacts has been studied in detail in the
context of use of puzzles and similar artefacts. Problem-solving studies, like the research on books outlined above, have demonstrated that
adults’ notions of appropriate ways to use artefacts are significant in influencing the nature of the interaction, and have also stimulated a line
of discussion about the nature of interaction that supports young children’s learning. This research literature is discussed in further detail
below.

2.1. Insights from studies of adult–child interactions around artefacts

The best-known study of adult–child interaction during a problem-solving task is entitled The Role of Tutoring in Problem-solving (Wood,
Bruner, & Ross, 1976). The concept of scaffolding is derived from this paper, which describes a tutor’s activity with children aged 3–5. Further
problem-solving studies include a study of the completion of a truck puzzle by Wertsch, McNamee, McLane, and Budwig (1980), followed by
studies of problem-solving amongst dyads of different educational and social backgrounds (Wertsch, Minick, & Arns, 1984). Investigations
stimulated by these studies were published in a special edition of Learning and Instruction (e.g. González, 1996; Hoogsteder, Maier, & Elbers,
1996; Nilholm & Säljö, 1996). In this volume, Nilholm and Säljö comment that the way the adults interact with the child during problem-
solving tasks involving puzzles and other tasks relates to their prior experiences, not only of puzzle completion and problem-solving, but
also of social situations. The behaviour that is the subject of the study arises from the parents’ conceptions of the nature of the situation:
Nilholm and Säljö refer to it as playing a particular game in a semi-public setting (Nilholm & Säljö, 1996, p. 342). A variety of factors influence
the nature of the ‘game’, amongst them the fact that their interactions with the child were of interest to the researchers, but also, and of
significance for this paper, their ideas of what constitutes appropriate ways of interacting with children and appropriate behaviour with
a particular kind of artefact. This was demonstrated particularly clearly in the cross-cultural studies of González, and of Wertsch et al. (1984).
Both the studies of picturebooks in childhood and problem-solving studies indicate that interactions between adults and children in the
context of an artefact are not determined or driven by the artefact. Instead, they arise from, and enact, the ways of doing things that are taken
for granted as appropriate in the situation, of which the artefact is part.

2.2. Modes of interaction

Having shown that it is possible for artefacts in some way to influence the nature of social interaction that supports young children’s
learning, it is now appropriate to turn to consider research that examines the nature of social interaction between young children and
others, and what is known about the relationship of social interaction and young children’s learning. The starting point is a discussion of the
nature of adult–child interaction that was stimulated by the problem-solving studies mentioned above.

2.2.1. The instructional mode of interaction

An insightful criticism was made of the study that Wertsch and colleagues made of adults and children completing a puzzle of a truck
(Wertsch et al., 1984). Elbers, Maier, Hoekstra, and Hoogsteder (1992) point out that the pattern of interaction that Wertsch and colleagues
studied is actively produced by both partners and that an emphasis on the adults role as a tutor impedes consideration of the child’s role in
co-determining the situation. They term the pattern of interaction studied in problem-solving and tutoring studies ‘an instructional mode of
interaction’ and clarify the roles and responsibilities of each partner thus: In such a teacher–pupil relationship the pupil expects the teacher to
take the responsibility for the task, and the pupil is willing to adopt the teacher’s situation definition (Elbers et al., 1992, p. 115).
In a more recent discussion, Park and Moro draw out the relationship between the instructional mode of interaction and the perception
of goals in the situation. There is an implicit assumption that the learner’s role is to solve a problem or to achieve a goal which is set by
someone else (Park & Moro, 2006, p. 103). The learner is not encouraged or assisted to define the task or set their own goal nor to collaborate
with the instructor in doing so.
40 S. Eagle / Computers & Education 59 (2012) 38–49

2.2.2. Passages of intellectual search

The instructional mode of interaction that Elbers and colleagues highlighted may be contrasted with a form of talk which arises from
a child’s questioning, and in which the child sustains the interaction, often with persistent questioning. Tizard and Hughes noticed that this
pattern was frequent in everyday conversations of four-year old children in their homes (Tizard & Hughes, 1984). Drawing attention to the
child as an active agent in puzzling out things that they found interesting or unfamiliar, Tizard and Hughes described this form of talk
‘Passages of intellectual search’. In contrast to the ‘instructional mode of interaction’, the goal towards which the search is directed is set by the
child, and the child sustains the interaction.

2.2.3. Guided participation

Regardless of whether adults set goals for children to accomplish or solve, children learn through their continuing involvement as
observers in the overall process of everyday activity. Much of everyday activity has a purpose or goal, but this is considered to be self-evident
and rarely made explicit (Rogoff, 1990; Rogoff et al., 1993). Rogoff, who works in an anthropological tradition, makes the point that a concern
with the establishment of goals in interaction between adults and children is cultural rather than universal. Instructional dialogue and
situations that involve problems and goals are widely accepted as a way of organising learning in some cultures, while others prioritise
learning through ‘keen observation and listening-in’. Rogoff and her colleagues observe that in cultures that organise learning in the former
manner, children are encouraged to be attentive during organised activity; when they are not immediately involved in an activity, their
attention may often be more limited. In contrast, learning is organised in accordance with ‘keen observation and listening-in’, certain skills
are likely to be encouraged, such as autonomy and keen observation, along with development of skills in organizing and taking responsibility
with initiative (Rogoff, Paradise, Arauz, Correa-Chavez, & Angelillo, 2003, p. 191).

2.2.4. Joint imaginative play

A fourth mode of interaction, and again one which does not involve the explicit determination of a goal, is joint imaginative play. Joint
imaginative play, as described by Elbers and colleagues (Elbers et al., 1992; Hoogsteder et al., 1996) is a mode in which participants pretend,
or adopt fictional identities, use forms of communication in the register of their adopted identities, and their responsibilities for sustaining
the interaction are equal or symmetrical. This mode of interaction is, to use Cloran’s words, one that is somewhat fragile (Cloran, 1999, p. 42).
She observed that when parents took up their child’s definition of the interaction as an imaginative game, this was often closely followed by
the parent directing it in a way which allowed them to introduce information, an observation that was also made by Tizard and Hughes
(1984).
These observations suggest that, at least amongst the families in the UK and Australia whose interactions were studied by that Cloran and
by Tizard and Hughes, parents consider involving themselves in imaginative play and imaginative talk to be less significant than instruction
for developing children’s thinking and learning. However, make-believe and imaginative play may have a crucial role to play in the
development of thinking, reasoning and learning itself. Harris suggests that it is the means by which children develop their ability to
imagine alternative possibilities and to work out their implications (Harris, 2000):
When children start to engage in joint pretence, they must be alert to the stipulations that their play partner introduces. These stipulations can fly
in the face of reality – they can imply that an empty teapot contains tea.(.). Thus, pretend play is a very early context in which children are called
on to accept premises introduced by their partner, and to respond in a consequential fashion. (Harris, 2000, p. 111)
Harris argues that imaginative play, especially joint pretend play, enables humans to release themselves from the empirical present and
to think about situations that they have not experienced. He goes on to highlight the observation that during pretend play, and during the
‘passages of intellectual search’ that they initiate, children have a receptive stance to premises that do not fit their experience or that lie outside
it. Crucially, in order to learn from interactions of an instructional nature, children need to have developed a receptive stance to information
that is introduced by another person:
a plausible effect of schooling, (.) is gradually to teach children to extend the receptive stance that they adopt during joint pretend play
or during a dialogue that is initiated by their own curiosity to the didactic monologue that they first encounter in school. (Harris, 2000,
pp. 114–115)

2.2.5. Summary: modes of interaction and learning

A protracted discussion on the merits and demerits of the four modes of interaction outlined above is outside the scope of this paper. The
points to be drawn out are, firstly, that child-initiated conversations, playful interaction and learning through involvement in everyday
activity contrast with the adult-initiated and adult-sustained dialogue that is associated with lessons and schooling. Secondly, the obser-
vations set out in this brief survey of literature suggest that instructional dialogue might be a rather poor means of supporting children’s
learning at home, and, perhaps surprisingly, also a poor means of preparing young children for the more instructional learning that is likely
to be part of their experience in school.

3. The affordances of artefacts and modes of interaction

The preceding discussion argues for a consideration of the relationship between artefacts and interaction via the way that interacting
participants take for granted that they should behave in the context of the artefact. These observations suggest that a means of examining
whether and how an interactive digital technology can assist young children’s learning would be:

 to consider the relationship between the design of an artefact and an adult’s conceptions of appropriate ways to interact with a child in
that context
 to examine what form, or mode, such interaction takes.
 S. Eagle / Computers & Education 59 (2012) 38–49 41

The paper now turns to examine the interactions of adults and young children during the use of some of the interactive digital artefacts that
they owned. Adults’ conceptions of appropriate ways of interacting with a child and modes of interaction are investigated through consideration
of episodes of adult–child interaction during the use of the interactive digital artefacts in question. Transcripts of interaction are analysed to
foreground what the adult takes for granted is the appropriate way of doing things, and the meaning that the child makes of the situation. While
the mode of interaction refers to the overall nature of interaction, which is jointly constructed by interacting partners, the analytic interest is on
the adult’s interpretation. This is to say that the focus is on the extent to which the mode of interaction is an enactment of the adult’s conception
of appropriate ways of interacting in that situation, and on the status ascribed by the adult to the emerging interpretations of the child.

4. A study of adult–child interactions during use of digital technologies

The empirical data presented is drawn from a study of interactive digital technologies in preschool children’s lives (Author, 2011). Extracts of
video recordings are represented by transcripts of adults and children’s use of Electronic Learning Aids (ELAs) (Strommen, 2004). The extracts
were selected from video recordings made by families who participated in case studies, and were made, using their own video cameras, in
response to a request for recordings that illustrated a range of occasions when young children were using technologies with another person.
Young children’s communication typically involves a range of communicative resources, including gesture, noises, gaze, facial expression and
body movement as well as words (Flewitt, 2005) and there is potential difficulty for the researcher in arriving at an interpretation of interactions
captured on video. Recognising this, participating families were asked, where possible, to position the video camera in such a way as to capture as
much of the artefact, the child’s hands and face, and the interacting partner as possible. This turned out to be a more demanding request than
anticipated and there was considerable variability between the quality of data. The data chosen for analysis were selected partly on the basis that
camera angles and lighting levels allowed for visibility of gesture and gaze and because a relatively high proportion of verbal communication took
place, which contribute to the ease by which representations of social interactions can be produced. Transcripts show the dialogue recorded as
audio on the video camera and information about the gestures, directions of gaze and action that are visible on the screen are described alongside
lines of dialogue (for co-occurring action) or between lines of dialogue where action and dialogue did not co-occur. Illustrations are included to
show the relative positions of child, adult and artefact are included to aid the reader to visualise the interactions.
Nearly all of the families in the study owned a device that would be described as an ELA. In each case, the device had been handed down
from a sibling or from another family. This variety of artefact is chosen as the interactive digital artefact examined in relation to the questions
outlined above on the basis that of all the technologies that children used, these were ones that the families in question had said they felt
could help prepare their children for school.
The framework for analysis of interactions is derived from that of Marjanovi c-Shane and Beljanski-Risti c (2008), for whom communi-
cation involves three entities: an active subject (me), a relational subject (you) and a communicative object (topic). Communicative gestures
(comments) establish and shape the relationships between the three entities. Here a simplified version of their framework is used: where
one communicative partner draws the attention of the other partner to something, a topic is established. The topic can be developed by
a means of a comment made by either partner; each partner builds, changes and/or reinvents the topic developed by the other through his or
her own comment. This means of analysis allows the relative agency of the partners in the interaction to be traced, such that it can be
examined in relation to the modes of interaction described in Section 2.2.

Beth’s LeapPad
Beth’s family owned a My First LeapPad, which consisted of a plastic console, a spiral bound Flip Book with thick cardboard pages, and
a pen. For each Flip Book there is a corresponding cartridge and this is inserted into a slot. When set up with Flip Book and cartridge,
pressure applied by the tip of the pen on areas of the page resulted in the console playing tunes, jingles or verbal instructions, clues and
encouragement. Figs. 1 and 2 are included to illustrate the device and the instructions provided for the user.

David’s V-Tech Laptop

David’s V-tech Laptop (illustrated in Fig. 3) looked very like an everyday laptop, opening up to reveal a keyboard. It has a detachable mouse.
The screen is composed of two parts: at the centre, a small grey and black LED screen on which simple animations are displayed, and,

Fig. 1. My First LeapPad.

42 S. Eagle / Computers & Education 59 (2012) 38–49

Fig. 2. Instructions accompanying My First LeapPad.

taking up the larger portion of the screen space, a colourful surround on which are printed the names of three sets of activities, Word Fun,
Math Mania, and Creative Arcade, and the titles of the games within each set with code numbers alongside them. Fig. 4 gives example of
one game from each set. In each case the description is taken from the instruction book that is packaged with the V-tech laptop.

4.1. Interactions between a child and her father using a LeapPad

The data presented below is a transcript of a 6-min video recording of Beth, who at the time was aged two and a half, using a LeapPad. In the
video recording, which was made by Beth’s mother, Beth was sitting on a bed in a child’s bedroom, dressed in pyjamas and holding a toddlers’
drinking cup, and leaning against her father Alan, who was leaning up behind her. Alan’s right arm encircled his daughter. The LeapPad was in
front of Beth; in her hand she held a pen connected to the LeapPad. This is illustrated by the screenshot from the video in Fig. 5 below.

Extract 1: Beth and her father enjoy noises from the LeapPad

1 (Beth is pressing with the pen on the LeapPad)

2 Alan: Again (looking down at the LeapPad)
3 (Beth looks at the LeapPad and presses a green button with her finger)
3 LeapPad (musical jingle)
4 Alan: ha! (looks at Beth)
5 Beth: ha! (meets Alan’s gaze)
6 Beth (takes the interactive pen from Alan’s hand)
7 Alan (smiles and leans forward to watch Beth’s hand movements as she moves the pen to touch an area of the pad)
8 LeapPad (Another jingle)
9 Beth: (Beth turns to look at Alan and smiles, at the same time moving the pen to her mouth) ha!
10 Alan: (As Beth turns and smiles, Alan turns to look at Beth and meets her gaze)
Good!
11 Alan and Beth (both look down at the LeapPad
12 Beth (puts her pen on the green button and taps)
13 LeapPad (Music begins to play)
14 Alan (looks at Beth, begins to rock from side to side)
15 Alan and Beth (both rock in time to the music)

Beth’s father closely followed her activity, making visible his focus of attention through verbal and non-verbal means (his direction of gaze,
his body movements). In lines 1–3 his line of gaze established Beth’s button pressing as the focus of his attention as well as hers, thus
proposing a topic. His “ha” (line 4) was a comment on the noise from the LeapPad, which developed the topic; celebration of noises produced
through button pressing. Beth’s comment (saying “ha” and meeting his gaze(line 5)) further developed the topic as one that involved shared
pleasure. After the next noise from the LeapPad, their interaction followed a similar pattern (9–10) but differed in that this time it was Beth
who initiated (through looking at Alan and smiling) and Alan who followed (through turning to meet Beth’s gaze and saying ‘good’ (line 10)).
The pattern of communication in lines 9–10 therefore mirrors the pattern in lines 1–5.
A similar pattern of topic development took place in lines 13–16; Alan looked at Beth and rocked to the music, and Beth’s rocking
communicated her sharing of his focus of attention on the music and pleasure in it.
In the following episode taken from a few minutes later in the same video recording, Beth continued to respond to noises according to the
pattern that she and Alan had established, but met a different form of response from Alan.

Extract 2: Alan refers to the recorded voice in the LeapPad

90 LeapPad jingle
91 Beth (smiles and makes eye contact with her father)
LeapPad “you found the number four”
92 Alan (holding eye contact with Beth, raising eyebrows, tilting head)
...“four”
93 LeapPad “can you find the number five”
94 Alan (continuing to hold eye contact, raised eyebrows and tilted head)
...“five”
(nods)
95 Beth (returns eye contact and raises eyebrows)
 S. Eagle / Computers & Education 59 (2012) 38–49 43

Fig. 3. V-tech learning laptop.

Beth responded to the jingle with the same form of comment as she had in the sequences in Extract 1, initiating a sequence of activity that
previously resulted in a shared topic of expression of pleasure and enjoyment. Rather than responding to her smile and eye contact with
a smile, congratulation or physical movement, Alan co-ordinated eye contact, gesture, facial expression and verbal comment to indicate the
voice of the LeapPad as the focus of his attention. Alan’s communicative comment therefore proposed a new topic, one that differed from the
topic that he and Beth had developed in their earlier activity. At this point, the topic that Alan was proposing was one in which attention to
the voice was a priority, while Beth’s comments continued to develop the former topic, one of shared appreciation of noises.
Beth responded to Alan as follows. She abandoned the development of the former topic, ceasing to smile and instead, imitating Alan’s
“listening look”. Beth’s imitation of Alan’s look cannot be taken as referring to the topic he had proposed, that is, attending the voice from the
LeapPad, nor can it be taken as indicating an orientation to the instruction that it gave. In his “listening look”, Alan emphasised the voice:
Beth had returned his gesture. This communicative act has the sense of a lack of understanding rather than a reconciliation of differences
that had emerged between the ways they respectively framed the situation.

Extract 3: Alan highlights the voice as a source of instructions and clues

A voice from the LeapPad had said: “Let’s play a game, I’m thinking of an animal on the farm. Can you guess which animal it is?” Beth had
pressed on a dog.

110 LeapPad: “whoops” noise

111 Beth: (turns to look at Alan: smiles)
112 Alan: (looks at Beth)
113 LeapPad: You found a dog
114 Beth: (smiles. lifts mug of milk to her mouth)
115 LeapPad: The animal I’m thinking of sounds like this
116 Alan: (puts his right hand on Beth’s shoulder)
117 Beth: (drinks from cup, looks towards father and then at mother/camera)
118 LeapPad: hoo, hoo, hoo
119 Alan: (turns to look at Beth) Which animal makes that noise?
120 Beth (presses on the LeapPad with the tip of the pen)
121 LeapPad: (Error noise). You found a dog. The animal I’m thinking of is playing on the fence
122 Beth: (puts pen to mouth)
123 Alan: (moves Beth’s hand away from her mouth)
124 Beth: (moves pen to another part of LeapPad)
125 Alan: which one is on the fence? (looks at Beth, puts his right hand on her shoulder)
126 Beth (moves pen to touch another part of LeapPad, and presses)
127 LeapPad: You found a pig. I was thinking of a cat. To play again, touch the orange lily pad at the bottom of the page
128 Alan: (index finger of his left hand points at button marked with orange lily pad)
129 Beth: (moves the pen to press button)
130 LeapPad: musical noise

Beth continued to use the pen and the LeapPad continued to produce noises. Beth communicated sharing of attention and comment as
she had earlier in Extract 1, proposing a topic as she had done before. Alan responded in the same manner as he had done earlier in Extract 2;
rather than commenting in such a way as to establish the topic she had proposed, his comment emphasised his attention to the voice from the
device. He accompanied the verbal and gestural means he used to indicate his own focus of attention with a further form of communication,
44 S. Eagle / Computers & Education 59 (2012) 38–49

WORD FUN
Letter Input the letter displayed on the LCD screen by
Sounds pressing the letter keys. If you input correctly, the
screen will show you a corresponding animation
and the letter will be announced.
MATH MANIA
Count Some objects will appear on the screen one by
Out one. Your task is to count the number of the objects
displayed. Select the correct answer with the
mouse or left/right arrow keys. Then press the
ENTER key to confirm the answer.
CREATIVE ARCADE
Piano Piano Artist allows you to play music freely. To
Play make songs, press the keys with musical notes.

Fig. 4. Excerpt from instructions for V-tech learning laptop.

physical touch. He moved his arm to rest his hand on Beth’s shoulder, which, although not restraining her movement, suggested a pause in
activity. This combination of gestures indicated his focus of attention on the voice from the LeapPad; then, when the LeapPad produced
a statement he looked at Beth, asking her a question which was an elaboration of the statement that had just come from the LeapPad. In
asking this question, he made the focus of his attention yet more explicit, at the same time clarifying the proposal of a new topic; signif-
icantly, this was a proposal that emanated from the LeapPad.
Beth responded to Alan’s suggestion, pressing on a picture of a dog. As before, Beth’s response to Alan’s suggestion cannot be taken as
expressing shared focus on the voice from the LeapPad nor an orientation to the instruction that it gave, and therefore it cannot be said that
Alan and Beth had established or developed a new topic. However, something had changed for Beth: when the LeapPad produced an error
noise and another instruction, unlike her earlier response to that noise (line 113), and for the first time in this video recording, Beth did not
turn to smile at her father; therefore, this time she did not propose a topic.
Alan demonstrated for a third time that the voice from the LeapPad was his focus of attention. In asking a question that repeated and
elaborated on the instruction from the LeapPad and at the same time putting his hand on her shoulder. He also used this means to
communicate that Beth’s actions should be oriented in accordance with the voice.
A summary of the three extracts is as follows: In Extract 1, Beth and Alan established a pattern in which one partner responded to a noise
from the LeapPad with a comment, in the form of a gesture communicating enjoyment of a noise, and the other further developed the topic
proposed by their partner’s gesture. In Extracts 2 and 3, Beth smiled and initiated eye contact, continuing the pattern of topic proposal and
development that she and Alan had established in Extract 1, but Alan did not respond to her comments by smiling; thus, her development of
the topic was not accepted. Instead, he made a comment, by means of gesture, demonstrating that his focus of attention was the voice from
the LeapPad, and later (in extract 3) he further emphasised this through another comment, co-ordinating the timing of his responses to
indicate a pause from activity and attention to the voice from the LeapPad.

Beth and Alan: discussion

As they began their shared use of the LeapPad, Beth’s activity with the pen produced noises which were musical jingles. Both Beth and
Alan responded to these noises from the device as enjoyable events, sharing both focus of attention (topic) and evaluation (developing
the topic). As they continued their use, Beth continued to respond to the noises, whether jingles and “whoops!” noises.
When the LeapPad played “whoops!” noises, they were followed by a recorded voice giving clues and instructions. Alan’s communicative
activity was organised not to communicate shared focus with Beth, but to demonstrate his attention to the nature of the noises and voice
from the LeapPad, and then to demonstrate his interpretation of the noises and instructions and to guide Beth in responding to them.

Fig. 5. Screenshot from video of Beth and her father using the LeapPad.
 S. Eagle / Computers & Education 59 (2012) 38–49 45

Fig. 6. Screenshot from video extract showing David using the V-tech laptop.

The LeapPad games presuppose that a user organises his or her activity according to the nature of the noises and instructions and aims to
maximise the quantity of musical jingle noises and minimise the “whoops” error noises. Using the LeapPad in this way requires a user to ascribe
authority to the voice from the device, to listen and not act while it is playing, and then to act according to its instructions or suggestions. The
practice of listening and not acting while a question or instruction is being delivered is familiar as a normative way of behaving in classrooms in
response to a teacher, a genre which we may reasonably presume was familiar to Alan from experience of formal educational settings, and we
may presume that it was unfamiliar to Beth. On this basis, we can surmise that in arriving at a conception of appropriate use of the LeapPad,
Alan recognised the LeapPad as invoking a teacher–pupil metaphor. For him, the appropriate way of using the LeapPad was an instructive one.
Rather as the pupil is expected to follow the lead of the teacher, the user is expected to follow the voice from the LeapPad and to respond to
what it says. In addition to this, the way that Alan interacted with Beth suggests that his conception of appropriate behaviour when using the
LeapPad with a young child was to show or teach her how to use it in this way.

4.2. Interactions between a child and his mother using a V-tech laptop

Extract 4: David says he wants to press horsie

At the time of the video recording presented below David was aged two and a half, the same age as Beth at the time of the video recording
of her use of the LeapPad with her father described above. In this video recording, David was using his older brother’s V-tech Learning
Laptop with his mother. David was sitting on a chair in front of the table, and his mother, Fran, sat to one side of the table, just out of sight of
the camera except when she leaned forward to press the keyboard (see Fig. 6 below). The game David and his mother were playing in the
extract below is selected by entering the number 10, and is entitled Letter Sounds. The manual explains the game as follows: Input the letter
displayed on the screen by pressing letter keys. If you input appropriately, the screen will show you a corresponding animation and a voice
about the letter will also be heard. In the following transcript, audio output from the V-tech laptop is indicated as VtL.

1 David: (looking at the screen) I want to (looks down at keyboard, presses keys) press horsie first (looks at Fran, still pressing keys)
2 Fran: Press ten (moves her hand towards the keyboard)
3 David: (looks from Fran to the keyboard)
4 Ten! (presses keyboard repeatedly)
5 Fran: No, (presses one key on left of keyboard and then one on right naming as she does so:) One. Zero.
6 David: Hmm (pushes Fran’s hand away from his left hand, moves his left hand towards the area on the right in which she had pressed a key when saying “zero”).
7 Ten (holds hand up, looks at mother with delight)
8 Two, (looks back towards keyboard, returns his left hand to the same area on the right) That!
9 VtL: Find, find the answer. This is the answer. K is for king
(display shows an image of a king, which is then replaced with the letter U)
10 Fran: Right type U, fi.

There are two observations to make in relation to the above extract. First, David appeared to be familiar with the V-tech Laptop. His
statement, which was made when the V-tech laptop was first switched on, that he wanted to press horsie (line 1) suggests that he was aware
of at least some of its features,1 and his naming of a number and pressing keys (in lines 4–8) suggest that he was familiar with use the device
as involving the naming of numbers and pressing keys.
The second observation is that it is ambiguous in this extract whether his mother Fran’s contributions were responses to David’s. Her
response to David’s press ten (line 2) taken as a response to I want to press horsie, appears to mean if we press ten, we will be able to see the
horsie. Her no (in line 5) was a response to his key pressing, after which her attention shifted to the screen, and read out the letter U
displayed, interpreted into an instruction right, type U.

1
The horsie that David wanted to see was an animation of a unicorn displayed on the screen.
46 S. Eagle / Computers & Education 59 (2012) 38–49

According to the analytic framework derived from that of Marjanovi c-Shane and Beljanski-Ristic, although the parent and child were
taking turns to speak and act, and both appeared to attend to the activity of key pressing, a shared focus or topic was not established.
A more detailed analysis of this extract is given below, in conjunction with Extract 5, which represents interactions that took place very
soon after those in Extract 4.

Extract 5: A dispute about pressing horsie

The following extract took place approximately 1 mi after Extract 4 presented above. Between the two was a series of interactions in
which Fran indicated the letter displayed on the screen, then the corresponding key on the keyboard, and David pressed the key. The
example at the beginning of the extract below is representative of the series. The letter U had appeared on the screen; Fran indicated the
letter U on the keyboard: David pressed it, and an animated image of a unicorn was displayed on the screen.

25 David: (looking at screen, moves his hands away from VtL towards his body)
26 VtL: This is the answer. U is for
27 David: (posture and hands indicate attention to screen and voice) Me! (gives a little jump)
28 David I want to press horsie
29 Fran: P, where is P
30 David: I want to press that horsie first, mum
31 Fran: I haven’t touched it David
32 David: No you touch it
33 Fran You touch it then, press that one (pointing at letter P)

Given his delight at the animated unicorn and his re-iteration I want to press horsie when it disappeared (line 28) it is possible to conclude
that I want to press horsie, the statement that David had made earlier (in Extract 4, line 1), expressed his knowledge that the Laptop sometimes
displayed an animated unicorn and that pressing was the means to make it happen. Thus, he proposed a topic, which can be understood, in the
light of both extracts taken together, as “I want to press buttons and see the unicorn”. When Fran responded to David (Extract 4, line 2) she had
given him the name of a number to press (press ten). Her response had been related to his expressed interest in pressing horsie at least in the
sense that it repeated the word press, but it was not clear whether or not press ten meant “if we press ten, we will be able to see the horsie”. Thus,
it was not clear whether her focus of attention was on his statement and whether the comment she made developed his topic.
In Extract 5, (lines 28–33 above) when David said I want to press horsie, the response Fran gave referred to P (P, where is P), and was more
clearly not referring to what he had said. Given that David repeated his statement with more force (I want to press that horsie first), it
appears that he interpreted Fran’s response as ignoring and not responding to him. In terms of the analytic framework, rather than making
a comment which developed David’s topic, Fran had effectively proposed a new topic.
I want to press that horsie first could be interpreted as David meaning that he meant first in the sense of before he began doing any other
activity, or that he wanted to press horsie before Fran did. Fran’s response, (I haven’t touched it) (line 31) suggests that she made the latter
interpretation. David responded to I haven’t touched it by saying No you touch it (line 32). At this point the exchange became a disagreement
about whether or not she had touched something, the identity of which at the time seemed to be horsie. However, Fran’s subsequent response,
pointing at P, made clear that, regardless of whether she had earlier used the word it to refer to horsie (in line 31), she was now referring to
a letter on the keyboard. David’s subsequent gesture, pressing P, suggested acceptance of this interpretation. Both partners commented as if there
was a focus of attention, but, the contribution from the partner in the subsequent interactive turn demonstrates that this was not the case.
Following line 33, a sequence of interactions (transcription not given) took place, which fall into a rough pattern, as follows: Fran read the
letter on screen, pointed at a key, and David pressed the key. After eight such turns, David brought up the subject of the horse again;

Extract 6: The dispute continues

85 David: I want to see a hor I want to

86 Fran: Well let’s get back to the horse then. Press the Y, can you see that?
87 David: Presses the key she indicates
88 VtL: Y is for yoyo, (jingle; flashing lights)
89 Fran: Shake my hand, very clever
90 David: (shakes Fran’s hand, smiles, and jiggles) Uhuhuh (in time to his jiggle)
91 VtL: Well done
92 Fran: Well DONE!
93 David: That WELL done (pointing at the screen)
94 Fran: Well done David! (takes David’s chin in her hand)
95 David: No (brings his hand up) YOU well done! (pushes his mother’s hand away from his chin)
96 Fran: Ouch, uh souse me
97 David: (looks crossly at mother, wipes chin with sleeve)
98 Fran: What do you say, don’t hit me
99 David: You WELL done (pointing at his mother)
100 Fran: Don’t hit me
101 David: You well DONE (beginning to move off the chair)
102 Fran: You finished? Do you want another go? Look, do the L, there, where’s a L
103 David: I’m not finished (pulls laptop shut)
104 Fran: If you are finished, we have to turn it off, and say bye bye
105 VtL: L is for lamb
106 Fran: Let’s turn it off then, with the big green button
107 David: (presses button)
108 VtL: Play again soon
109 Fran: Now close it
110 David: Cl (closing the laptop)
 S. Eagle / Computers & Education 59 (2012) 38–49 47

Extracts 4 and 5 were chosen and analysed to trace the fate of the topic that David proposed, that is, I want to press horsie1. In Extract 4 the
analysis demonstrated that shared focus on David’s proposed topic was not established. In Extract 5 there was disagreement over pressing it in
which it appeared to refer, for David, to horsie, where for Fran, it referred to the pressing of a key. In Extract 6 David reiterated his original
proposal: I want to see a hor(se) (line 85) This time it was followed by Fran’s suggestion that he pressed a key, following which both she and the V-
tech laptop produced a series of congratulations, none of which referred to the horsie. It is possible that David’s evident frustration following
these congratulations expresses his disappointment that his proposal was never established as a shared topic and his goal never achieved.

David and Fran: discussion

The purpose of the analysis is not to discuss the reasons for David’s frustrations but to follow the proposal and development of topics and
to draw out the establishment, or otherwise, of a shared understanding of the activity, or, the way it was framed by the participants.
Fran’s approach was to show David what to do, in the sense of using the V-tech laptop in the ‘right way’, a way that is consistent with the
instructional game designed into the device. A series of tasks in which an item is displayed and the user is asked to find the initial letter
supposes that he or she will organise his or her attention to an instruction (and not to any other features or activities he or she finds
interesting), understands the instruction, is motivated to carry it out, continues to be sufficiently interested to attend to the next
instruction, and so on. In common with the LeapPad game that Beth and Alan were using, the design presupposes that a user is motivated
to respond to the instructions in a way that will maximise the quantity of congratulations and to minimise error noises. The genre is
familiar to those of us who have experience of games in which a player or players aim for a ‘high score’. The analysis suggests that for
Fran, the appropriate thing for her to do in this context was to show David what to do to achieve scores. In the course of doing so, she did
not herself attend to the topic he had proposed and her comments were not organised to elaborate on or to draw out his meaning-making
in a way that might facilitate a shared understanding. Although David made contributions, Fran’s conception of an appropriate way of
acting in the situation, as evidenced by the interactions in the video extract, precludes an expectation that David might participate with
her in determining the nature and purpose of the activity.

5. Discussion

This paper has developed an approach to thinking about young children, digital technologies and learning, drawing on research literature
that relates children’s learning to the use of books, and on literature that discusses the nature of interaction between adults and children and
its relationship to children’s learning.
In an examination of the relationship of modes of interaction and learning, the argument put forward was that modes of interaction in which
children were more closely involved in establishing goals, and in sustaining the interaction, were a more effective way of supporting children’s
learning than other modes in which goals were established for children and the responsibility for sustaining the interaction was that of the adult.
Research literature concerned with adult–child interaction during the use of books and during the course of problem-solving activities
suggests that the relationship between designed artefacts and modes of interaction is as follows: in interacting with children in the context
of the artefact, adults draw on what they take for granted is an appropriate way of interacting in that situation.
Thus, one means of examining how an interactive digital technology might assist young children’s learning is through a consideration of the
mode or modes of interaction that that adults take for granted as appropriate in the context of their use of that artefact with young children. The
empirical examples given in this paper were transcribed extracts of parents’ and children’s use of Electronic Learning Aids (ELAs). The analysis
revealed that the parents recognised the activities provided by the ELAs as requiring a certain kind of use. The parents’ conception of an
appropriate way of acting in the situation was to show the child what to do, in the sense of using the ELA in the ‘correct way’ as they understood
it. During shared use, children made contributions which the adults did not attend to nor take up. In terms of the modes of interaction described
in Section 2.2, the mode of interaction was instructional. There was an implicit assumption that the child’s role was to solve a problem or to
achieve a goal set by someone else. In the examples presented, the adult did not expect the child to be involved in defining the nature of the task
or in establishing a goal for the activity, and treated his or her meaning-making contributions as external to the task or as erroneous.
The power of the artefact to influence the interaction was through the adult’s familiarity with the assumptions behind the design of the
devices, which derive from instructional practices of schooling. The idea that underpins instruction is that the instructor teacher has
information to impart, the child has knowledge to acquire from the teacher, and the child will learn if he or she attends to the teacher’s
instructions and complies with them. In the examples given, the parents organised their activity so as to provide a further layer of
instruction which was organised to show or help the child to behave appropriately in an instructional situation. The mode of interaction is
unequivocally instructional; indeed, the adults concern might be characterised as instructing the children in how to be instructed.
If, as argued in this paper, the more child-directed, child-sustained, exploratory modes of interaction are a more fruitful way of sup-
porting children’s learning at home and of preparing children for the instructional modes of interaction they will encounter at school, what
are the issues for designers of technologies?
It must be taken into consideration that parental beliefs and values about what constitutes learning and notions of teaching inform not
only conceptions of appropriate ways of using artefacts but also the justification for providing them to children. Strommen points out that
devices for children marketed according to notions of classroom learning have been more readily marketable than other varieties of device:
ELAs lend themselves to sound bites or curriculum shorthand. “Will teach your child to read,” is always stronger than “Encourages exploration,
creativity, and problem-solving.” (Strommen, 2004). The conception of instructional design as appropriate for children’s use would thus
appear to underpin the decisions of purchasers of technologies. Research that has explored the use of technologies in the homes of young
children and the relationships between children’s activities and parental perspectives on learning (e.g. O’Hara, 2011; Plowman, Stephen, &
McPake, 2010) has suggested that for some families, children’s learning of some skills (for example, sound/letter correspondence) is
attributed to their experience with instructional toys and devices, obscuring the recognition of the relevance of the wider environment in
supporting the child’s learning of those skills.
For there to be a shift away from a general preoccupation with instruction as the means by which children’s learning can best be
supported, and towards a valuing of child-initiated, social interaction, social changes are needed as well as change in approaches to design.
The issues are similar in nature to those for designers of environments to support people to generate innovative solutions to open-ended
48 S. Eagle / Computers & Education 59 (2012) 38–49

and multidisciplinary problems which do not have “right” answers. Fischer and Shipman outline the form of participation that environ-
ments should support as being one that allows and encourages participants to express themselves in ways that enable and encourage all
voices to be heard, different perspectives combined, a form of participation in which interaction between more-knowledgeable and less-
knowledgeable participants is recognised as a potential source for new insights (Fischer & Shipman, 2011). Noting that this kind of
participation requires social changes as well as new design rationale, they suggest that the nature of the shift for designers should be away
from an older model by which users are regarded as passive consumers and to whom the system delivers information, and towards a newer
one by which users are regarded as informed participants who can express and share their creative ideas. Such an environment should
provide the opportunity and resources for social debate and discussion.
Fischer and Shipman’s analysis provides a useful parallel for designers of environments for young children. Slightly reframed, the
equivalent approach to design would be to support the participation of both more- and less-knowledgeable users alike, where both should
be regarded as participants who can express and share their creative ideas. The designed artefact should facilitate opportunities for
interaction, and provide resources to support and stimulate it.
A shift in interest towards such artefacts and environments has already begun: amongst designers of technology there is an evident interest in
supporting shared activity between adults and children by providing opportunities and resources for social enjoyment and interaction. One line
of enquiry is into the potential for technologies to support intergenerational relationships (e.g. Chiong, 2009; Othlinghaus, Gerling, & Masuch,
2011; Voida & Greenberg, 2009) Approaches taken include the development of design perspectives from studies of play in natural settings;
for example, Davis et al. (in press) investigated face-to-face play within families to provide insights into the nature and characteristics of
intergenerational play, through which to inform design decisions. A related approach was used by Rennick Egglestone, Walker, Marshall, Benford,
and McAuley (2011) who investigated play in outdoor playgrounds to yield ‘sensitising concepts’ for design.
Alongside a developing interest amongst designers in using play as a basis for design and an interest in supporting open-ended, playful
interaction, there is a shift away from the need to market to a generalised user, reducing the constraints that Strommen described as
operating on designs for young children. In a consideration of the changing face of the world within which the largely design based
discipline of Human Computer Interaction is situated, Dix observes that mobile and ubiquitous computing and tangible interfaces have
meant that the computer has escaped from the desktop into the outside world. Partly in consequence of these technological changes, we are
seeing a move from a small number of applications used by many people to a ‘long tail’ where large numbers of applications are used by small
numbers of people (Dix, 2010, p. 13). The challenge of designing to fit the needs of many is replaced by a challenge to design for ‘peak
experience’ – what is best for some, rather than what is ‘good enough’ for all.
The nature of the world of the ‘long tail’ reduces the pressure on designers to develop products to appeal to normative ideas of how
children learn. In the world of the ‘long tail’ where products are recommended by user to use and uptake spreads virally, designs that at first
are appealing to relatively small groups of people, to whom they deliver ‘peak experience’, are potentially more successful than designs that
aim to appeal to a wider population. In such an environment, it is possible to imagine that applications that are highly successful in sup-
porting open-ended and playful interaction between adults and children will generate interest and stimulate uptake amongst other people.
It may be through this means that the doors will open to a wider interest in applications that adults and children can use together, for mutual
enjoyment. If we are to see a societal shift towards recognition of the value of more playful modes of interaction for young children’s
learning, that shift may be stimulated by increased prevalance of designed artefacts that support intergenerational play, and recognition of
their value may develop through the debate and discussion that their existence provokes.

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to acknowledge the support and encouragement of Professor Rosamund Sutherland and the late Professor Martin
Hughes, to whose memory this paper is dedicated. The study from which the paper is drawn was funded by an ESRC Research Studentship
Award.

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