We’ve seen an increase in research on the damage media is doing to the well-being of our children. However, we live in a world that has become more integrated with technology.  How do we find balance to promote creativity, imagination and engagement in this screen-dependent world? This webinar will examine current research on the impact of screen time on young children’s emotional and social development. It will also provide educators with resources to enhance young children’s imaginative capacities via the education frameworks of Imaginative Education.

Living Inquiries:

Well-being and belonging:
Participants will be provided a developmental and curriculum development framework that enhances personal growth for the child and engagement with the world in an imaginative way.

Engagement with others, materials, and the world:
Participants will be provided with vocabulary and a chance to look at curriculum through the lens of the pedagogical framework of Imaginative Education.

Communication and literacies:
Participants will understand the strength of the consumerist worldview currently inundating children’s play culture.

Identities, social responsibility, and diversity:
Participants will recognize the role of media in the shaping of children’s identity particularly a look at the cultivation of stereotypes.

Pathways:

Joy in relationships with people, place, materials and ideas.
Time for engagement.
Multiple modes of communication.
Language and communication.
Technology.

Suitable for students, parents, novice, intermediate and experienced early care and learning professionals working with children of all ages, from infants/toddlers to school age children, including children with extra support needs.

Facilitator: Kym Stewart

Kym holds a PhD in Education and an M.A from the School of Communication from Simon Fraser University.  Her PhD thesis explores her decades of media research, including various projects looking at children’s media culture and media-education practices. Her M.A. also explored youth media culture and is one of the earliest explorations of South Korea’s youth gaming and PC-Bang culture. She currently works as an instructor at Capilano University.