Peer Interaction Using Digital Devices in Preschoolers’ Activities

Abstract

Recently, preschool children have started using digital devices during play. This study examined the relationship between the experience of using digital devices in childcare activities, the content of the activities during digital play, and preschool children’s conversations. Five-year-old preschoolers （N＝75） from three classes participated in the study. Class A had no experience using digital devices, while Class B and Class C were experienced. We developed a camera app, which was used together with a tablet device, to record children’s voices and take photos during digital play. Children were asked to perform the following tasks during the activities while using a tablet allocated to each group in the class: classes A and B explored shapes, and Class C imitated animals. Transcriptions of the children’s conversations were analyzed using a text mining method that employed morphological analysis software. The findings indicated that the preschoolers’ level of experience had no effect on the amount or content of their conversation. Conversations during the animal imitation task significantly increased compared with conversations during the shape exploration task. The results suggest that peer interactions in children’s conversations are more frequent during animal imitation tasks.