Literacy researcher, Cynthia Smith, explores the ways a young child's play revealed his understanding of technology in contextual and decontextualized ways. In her article, "Click on Me! An Example of How a Toddler Used Technology in Play," she takes a close look at one boy, James, and how he learned how to share CD-ROM storybooks with his mother - who is Cynthia Smith fyi! This article examines the relationship between technology, play, and literacy.
I watched as James and his father enjoyed peanut butter and honey sandwiches at our kitchen table. Between bites, James looked at his father and exclaimed, 'Daddy, click on me!'. Following James's request, his father pointed toward James and said, 'Click!'. James immediately behan singing a nonsense song, as a hypertext item might do when clicked. When he finished his song, he turned to his father and clicked him, by pointing his finger and saying,'Click!'. His father responded by taking a bite of his sandwich and exclaiming, 'Yum, yum!'.
This lunchtime experience is not typical for father and son. In the example above, James and his father are pretending to be hypertext objects that come to life when clicked on the computer screen.
This article is part of a larger case study involving a comparison of storybook sharing experiences for types of storybooks: traditional, Language Experience Approach (LEA), and CD-ROM. Smith videotaped a variety of activities and looked at the interactions between James and his mother while sharing various storybook media. Smith was interested in analyzing the similarities and connections across these interactions. The data for the study included prompted summaries, parent diary entries, and data sheets. Smith found that the three storybook experiences combined "to create the whole of [James's] storybook knowledge, and his definition of story expanded" (pg. 7). In other words, 'story' became something that James read, created, and did.
In order to understand exactly what Smith was looking at when she explored James's understanding of technology, we need to understand what CD-ROM storybooks are.
CD-ROM storybooks (also called Talking Books) are animated and 'hypertext' versions of traditional storybooks. There are a wide-range of CD-ROM titles, such as Stellaluna (Cannon, 1996), The Polar Express (Van Allsburg, 1996), Sheila Rae, the Brave (Henkes, 1996), Green Eggs and Ham (Seuss, 1996), Just Grandma and Me (Mayer, 1994), and The Adventures of Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny (Potter, 1995-6). The hypertext is a unique component of CD-ROM storybooks. Information in hypertext is designed to encourage individual readers to flexibly explore the relations among intertextual segments. Smith points out "while engaging the hypertext does not change the primary text, the hypertext can elicit various forms of supplementary text...and supports the act of meaning making" (pg. 8). For example, the reader can click on a character within the storybook and the character might sing a song, utter a phrase, or sentence, dance, or serve as a link to a video segment complete with music, oral text, and movement.
Here are some examples of what CD-ROM storybooks look like:
As a result of exploring CD-ROM storybooks, Smith found that James developed a new understanding of the technology, which was revealed through his play. James would often comment on the action of the hypertext and also made predictions about what the hypertext items would do. For James, story became something that you do as well as read. Because of the hypertext component, James's experience with CD-ROM storybooks was multidimensional. "He listened, responded, and repeated text as the narrator read the story, but he also predicted what characters would say when they were clicked and tried to control their actions" (pg. 12). He was able to create meaning through the use of the written text and oral hypertext.
Smith also found that James's experience with complex interactive text led to the decontextualized re-enactments like the play behaviors illustrated during the lunch with his father. "The initial reactions that occurred during the CD-ROM storybook experience became internalized and resulted in dramatic play that occurred outside of the experience" (pg. 13).
James's experience suggests that we as educators must consider how the tools of technology impact the way children think and develop literacy. The majority of today's students have been exposed to technology from a young age and, according to Smith, raises several important questions for this new millennium of learners.
What does technology mean to this new generation of learners?
How has it become internalized?
How will it shape their thinking?
How will it be revealed in their play and how will this play affect their literacy development?
Smith, C. R. "Click on Me! An Example of How a Toddler Used Technology in Play." Journal of Early Childhood Literacy 2.1 (2002): 5-20. Print.
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