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.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction. PART I: NORDIC PERSPECTIVES ON DIGITAL CHILDHOODS. 2. Child development in a digital age: epistemic practices in media societies. 3. Nordic children, media, and technologies: a contested ensemble. 4. Transformations and unresolved tensions: children, school, and technology. 5. Bridging dichotomies between children, nature, and digital technologies. PART II: FORMS OF COMMUNICATION, LITERACY, AND LEARNING. 6. Young children initiating and negotiating their digital literacy practices in their homes. 7. Digital storymaking: a powerful pedagogic approach in the Swedish preschool class. 8. Digital language contact between Icelandic and English. 9. Ideation, playful learning, and making in a Minecraft Virtual Learning Makerspace. 10. Guns and dolls: preschool children’s (im)material Christmas list activities. 11. Finnish teachers’ leadership narratives in a school’s makerspace. PART III: CONCEPTIONS OF AGENCY AND ENGAGEMENT. 12. Young activists: engaging with global climate change in a networked society. 13. ‘I could smell the sound of winter’: children’s aesthetic experiences in their local forest through digital storying. 14. I hate little bits: the collaborative construction of children’s creative making in a public library makerspace. 15. Making digital play work: Danish children’s playful and creative production with digital media. 16. Rethinking boundaries: sociomaterial perspectives on digital technologies and early childhoods. PART IV: COMMENTARIES: INTERNATIONAL REFLECTIONS. 17. Digital childhoods as nexus of practice. 18. Nordic childhoods and entertainment ‘supersystems’ in the digital age. 19. Ethical provocations for early childhood research. 20. Conclusions. .