two kids playing Minecraft

Doctoral project: Children’s out-of-school learning experiences of participating in digital play

My doctoral student project contributes with knowledge about children’s out-of-school teaching and learning journeys in digital communities. This is of relevance to educational research, as the conditions in which children shape their social relationships, shape their identities and learn are changing.

Project information

Project manager
Marina Wernholm
Subject
Pedagogy (department of pedagogy and learning, faculty of social sciences)

More about the project

My research contributes with knowledge about children’s out-of-school teaching and learning journeys in digital communities, which is of relevance to educational research as the conditions in which children shape their social relationships, identities and learn are changing. Children today are living in an age of great technological progression and are in a unique position to share their experience of learning in practices that are in a constant state of flux. The compilation thesis includes four studies with specified aims and research questions.

The thesis adds to the educational research field taking its interest in recognising and building upon children’s familiarity with digital cultures and digital literacies, so that learning in school can address and utilise children’s experiences of technology and online worlds. The thesis contributes with empirical models and suggestions for conceptual frameworks outlining children´s pathways as participatory subjects. The empirical models and the tentative conceptual frameworks can assist stakeholders in their work with connecting children´s out-of-school learning experiences in order to support, challenge and problematise their learning in school. If children’s previous experience of learning should come into the world (in school), depends entirely on whether and how others (teachers) acknowledge these experiences.

The project is part of the research in the Forskning om pedagogiska professioner och praktiker (PEPP) research group.

Publications

Children's representation of self in social media communities, published in Learning, Culture and Social Interaction.

Wernholm, M. (2018). Children’s shared experiences of participating in digital communities. Nordic Journal of Digital Literacy, 13(4), 38–55. DOI:10.18261/issn.1891-943x-2018-04-04