Background/purpose: At the beginning of the 21st century, Computational Thinking (CT) and coding were typically considered part of secondary education programs, focusing on programming and algorithm development. The early childhood classroom was not expected to find students who developed coding skills. Nevertheless, as has been the case lately,…

Purpose: Oral language skills provide a critical foundation for formal education and especially for the development of children's literacy (reading and spelling) skills. It is therefore important for teachers to be able to assess children's language skills, especially if they are concerned about their learning. We report the development and…

International studies indicate that the use of smart mobile devices and their accompanying educational applications (apps) can revolutionize young children's learning experiences. Although there is a vast array of educational apps for preschoolers, they are not actually educational in their majority. In this context, it is important for preschool…

A repeated acquisition (RA) design was used to compare the effectiveness of research-based instruction embedded in repeated storybook reading facilitated by an adult or tablet application (app) on the vocabulary knowledge of six preschool children. All participants selected scored below the 40th percentile on the "Preschool Language…

This book brings together a collection of work from around the world in order to consider effective STEM, robotics, mobile apps education from a range of perspectives. It presents valuable perspectives--both practical and theoretical--that enrich the current STEM, robotics, mobile apps education agenda. As such, the book makes a substantial…

Advances in technology have seen a proliferation of touch-screen interfaces available to young children. These screens have changed the way in which young children engage with digital technology; with increased exposure and use, it raises debates about the suitability of integrating digital technology within early childhood settings. There are…

The purpose of the inquiry was to understand how children in primary grades (i.e., preschool, kindergarten, and second grade) engaged with affordances and constraints of features in a Base-10 Blocks virtual manipulative mathematics app designed to promote learning opportunities. Researchers conducted one-to-one interviews with 100 primary grade…

Research Findings: Digital play is now commonplace in many young children's lives, but not in preschool settings. This situation is likely due to the fact that the existent literature seldom highlights what digital play looks like, the various ways it can be situated, and what young children do when they play together with digital devices in the…

Over half of educational apps on mobile-app markets are for preschoolers, but little research has examined whether the designs of preschool apps are truly educational. Preschoolers process information differently from older learners (i.e., shorter attention spans), so app designs should be guided by developmental science. This content analysis of…

This study examined the efficacy of using different types of mobile media apps to increase the receptive and expressive vocabulary development of 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old preschool children living in economically disadvantaged communities. Children and teachers in four Head Start classrooms participated in the quasi-experimental study, which…

In recent years scholars have explored the use of mobile devices as potential sources for language learning and teaching. Mobile phones and tablets, especially, have been researched with a focus on effectively building vocabulary primarily among university-level students. Comparable research in other age groups has not been as widespread. This…

The inclusion of new and emerging technologies in the education sector has been a topic of interest to researchers, educators, and software developers alike in recent years. Utilizing the proper tools in a classroom setting is a critical factor in student success. "Tablets in K-12 Education: Integrated Experiences and Implications"…

This volume offers a comprehensive, up-to-date, empirical and methodological view over the new scenarios and environments for language teaching and learning recently emerged (e.g. blended learning, e-learning, ubiquitous learning, social learning, autonomous learning or lifelong learning), and also over some of the new approaches to language…