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Journal ArticleDOI

young children’s play in online virtual worlds

Jackie Marsh
- 01 Feb 2010 - 
- Vol. 8, Iss: 1, pp 23-39
TLDR
In this paper, the authors explore the relationship between play and technology and relate it to similar discourses concerning the concepts of "real" and "virtual" in the 21st century, and examine the way in which virtual worlds have been marketed to children and parents/carers on the basis of their propensity to offer online play in a safe environment.
Abstract
Virtual worlds for children are becoming increasingly popular, and yet there are few accounts of children’s use of these worlds. Young children are spending increasing amounts of time online as technology continues to create significant changes in social and cultural practices in the 21st century. Some of children's online interactions can be categorized as playful in nature; however, play and technology are frequently positioned as oppositional. In this article, I explore the tensions surrounding the relationship between play and technology and relate it to similar discourses concerning the concepts of ‘real’ and ‘virtual’. I then move on to consider the growing popularity of virtual worlds with young children and examine the way in which the worlds have been marketed to children and parents/carers on the basis of their propensity to offer online play in a safe environment. The article provides an overview of two virtual worlds currently targeted at young children and draws on a survey of primary childre...

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Citations
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Parental Mediation Theory for the Digital Age

TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe the theory of parental mediation, which has evolved to consider how parents utilize interpersonal communication to mitigate the negative effects that they believe communication media have on their children, and suggest L. Vygotsky's social development theory as a means of rethinking the role of children's agency in the interactions between parents and children.

Zero to eight: young children and their internet use

TL;DR: For example, the authors in this article reviewed recent research to understand the internet use, and emerging policy priorities, regarding children from birth to eight years old, and found that children are now going online at a younger and younger age, and that young children's lack of technical, critical and social skills may pose a greater risk.
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Dissociation in Children and Adolescents: A Developmental Perspective

TL;DR: The effects of trauma on children and adolescents wear a silver ribbon and how to get help is explained.
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Preschool children's learning with technology at home

TL;DR: A framework of four areas of learning that could be supported by technology is presented: acquiring operational skills, extending knowledge and understanding of the world, developing dispositions to learn, and understanding the role of technology in everyday life.
References
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Book

Qualitative analysis for social scientists

TL;DR: This book presents a meta-coding pedagogical architecture grounded in awareness contexts that helps practitioners and students understand one another better and take responsibility for one another's learning.
Book

The logic of practice

TL;DR: In this article, the Imaginary Anthropology of Subjectivism is described as an "imaginary anthropology of subjectivism" and the social uses of kinship are discussed. And the work of time is discussed.
Book

What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy

TL;DR: Good computer and video games like System Shock 2, Deus Ex, Pikmin, Rise of Nations, Neverwinter Nights, and Xenosaga: Episode 1 are learning machines as mentioned in this paper.
Book

Gender Play: Girls and Boys in School

Barrie Thorne
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss how children and gender learning from kids boys and girls together but mostly apart gender separation - why and how creating a sense of "opposite sides" do girls and boys have different cultures? crossing the gender divide lip gloss and "goin' with" - becoming teens lessons for adults
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Findings indicate that virtual worlds offered these young children a wide range of opportunities for play and that the types of play in which they engaged relate closely to ‘offline’ play.