1st Edition
Nordic Childhoods in the Digital Age Insights into Contemporary Research on Communication, Learning and Education
This book adds to the international research literature on contemporary Nordic childhoods in the context of fast-evolving technologies. It draws on the workshop program of the Nordic Research Network on Digital Childhoods funded by the Joint Committee for Nordic research councils in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NOS-HS) during the years 2019–2021. Bringing together researchers from Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland, the book addresses pressing issues around children’s communication, learning and education in the digital age.
The volume sheds light on cultural values, educational policies and conceptions of children and childhood, and child–media relationships inherent in Nordic societies. The book argues for the importance of understanding local cultures, values and communication practices that make up contemporary digital childhoods and extends current discourses on children’s screen time to bring in new insights about the nature of children’s digital engagement.
This book will appeal to researchers, graduate students, educators and policy makers in the fields of childhood education, educational technology and communication.
The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.
List of tables and excerpts
List of figures
List of contributors
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1. Introduction
Kristiina Kumpulainen, Anu Kajamaa, Ola Erstad, Åsa Mäkitalo, Kirsten Drotner, and Sólveig Jakobsdóttir
PART I: NORDIC PERSPECTIVES ON DIGITAL CHILDHOODS
Chapter 2. Child development in a digital age: epistemic practices in media societies
Roger Säljö
Chapter 3. Nordic children, media, and technologies: a contested ensemble
Kirsten Drotner
Chapter 4. Transformations and unresolved tensions: children, school, and technology
Ola Erstad and Kenneth Silseth
Chapter 5. Bridging dichotomies between children, nature, and digital technologies
Kristiina Kumpulainen
PART II: FORMS OF COMMUNICATION, LITERACY, AND LEARNING
Chapter 6. Young children initiating and negotiating their digital literacy practices in their homes
Heidi Sairanen, Kristiina Kumpulainen, Alexandra Nordström, and Anu Kajamaa
Chapter 7. Digital storymaking: a powerful pedagogic approach in the Swedish preschool class
Ewa Skantz-Åberg & Annika Lantz-Andersson
Chapter 8. Digital language contact between Icelandic and English
Dagbjört Guðmundsdóttir, Sigríður Sigurjónsdóttir, and Iris Nowenstein
Chapter 9. Ideation, playful learning, and making in a Minecraft Virtual Learning Makerspace
Skúlína Hlíf Kjartansdóttir and Gisli Thorsteinsson
Chapter 10. Guns and dolls: preschool children’s (im)material Christmas list activities
Malin Nilsen and Mona Lundin
Chapter 11. Finnish teachers’ leadership narratives in a school’s makerspace
Jasmiina Leskinen, Kristiina Kumpulainen, and Anu Kajamaa
PART III: CONCEPTIONS OF AGENCY AND ENGAGEMENT
Chapter 12. Young activists: engaging with global climate change in a networked society
Anne Solli and Åsa Mäkitalo
Chapter 13. ‘I could smell the sound of winter’: children’s aesthetic experiences in their local forest through digital storying
Jenny Renlund, Kristiina Kumpulainen, Jenny Byman, and Chin-Chin Wong
Chapter 14. I hate little bits: the collaborative construction of children’s creative making in a public library makerspace
Gro Skåland
Chapter 15. Making digital play work: Danish children’s playful and creative production with digital media
Thomas Enemark Lundtofte, Ane Bjerre Odgaard, and Kirsten Drotner
Chapter 16. Rethinking boundaries: sociomaterial perspectives on digital technologies and early childhoods
Kenneth Pettersen, Kenneth Silseth, and Hans Christian Arnseth
Part IV: COMMENTARIES: INTERNATIONAL REFLECTIONS
Chapter 17. Digital childhoods as nexus of practice
Karen Wohlwend
Chapter 18. Nordic childhoods and entertainment ‘supersystems’ in the digital age
Michael Dezuanni
Chapter 19. Ethical provocations for early childhood research
Rosie Flewitt
Chapter 20. Conclusions
Kristiina Kumpulainen, Anu Kajamaa, Ola Erstad, Åsa Mäkitalo, Kirsten Drotner, and Sólveig Jakobsdóttir
Index
Biography
Kristiina Kumpulainen is Professor of Education and Lead of the Nordic Research Network on Digital Childhoods, University of Helsinki, Finland and Associate Professor of Education, Simon Fraser University, Canada.
Anu Kajamaa is Professor of Education (Continuous Learning) at the Faculty of Education, University of Oulu, Finland.
Ola Erstad is Professor at the Department of Education, University of Oslo, Norway.
Åsa Mäkitalo is Professor of Education at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Kirsten Drotner is Professor Emerita of media studies at the University of Southern Denmark, Denmark.
Sólveig Jakobsdóttir is a Professor at the School of Education, University of Iceland, Iceland.
