Young Children in Digital Society

Moving the conversation about young children and digital technologies away beyond "good" or "bad", Susan Edwards and Leon Straker present an innovative perspective to educators, researchers, and communities on how to support young children to learn and thrive safely in a digital society. This book marks a turning point in research concerning young children and technologies. Instead of focussing on the impacts of technology on children in ways that generate conflicting information, advice, and opinions, this book centres on understanding how children live, learn, and play in digital society, and how the adults in their lives can actively create opportunities that support them to participate safely so that they can thrive. Based on a groundbreaking research project in partnership with industry, this text showcases the development of well-designed end-user content and materials, such as videos, infographics, and books, that best support young children and their adults living, learning, and playing in digital society. It includes practical examples for early childhood educators and broader communities, such as ways to promote physical activity with digital technologies, support children with online safety, facilitate peer relationships using technologies, and engage in digital play for learning. For a closer look into the additional resources and support available, visit https://youngchildrendigitalsociety.com.au/. A refreshing perspective on young children and digital technology, this book is set to become a foundational text for early childhood educators, policy makers, and communities. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

Susan Edwards is Professor of Early Childhood Education at Australian Catholic University. Her research interests include the role of play-based learning in early childhood curriculum, cyber-safety education, and digital play pedagogies in the early years. She is the author of over 70 publications and has secured six Australian Research Council-funded projects. Leon Straker is John Curtin Distinguished Professor in the School of Allied Health at Curtin University, Western Australia. His research interests include technology use by children and the associated health, well-being, and development of children. He is the author of over 400 publications, in the top 1% of academic authors globally, and an investigator on research grants worth over $50 million.

1. Young children in digital society 2. Young children and digital technologies 3. Theorising digital practices 4. Researching digital practices 5. Supporting children's relationships with digital technologies 6. Promoting physical activity and supporting children's transitions with digital technologies 7. Play-based learning about the internet and online safety 8. Changing everyday pedagogical practices with digital technologies 9. Young children in digital society: Now and into the future 10. New knowledge about young children in digital society