구성주의 유아교육에서 테크놀로지의 역할

The Role of Technology in Constructivist Education for Young Children

As young children are increasingly exposed to computer technology both at home and kindergartens, arguments on its positive and negative effects have been existed. However considering the actual state of utilizing technology, we'd better seek how to apply this technology to education for young children effectively rather than get absorbed in arguing it pro and con. This study examined theoretical discussions on and the meaning of the role of technology in education for young children through reviewing previous studies on the effects of technology on young children's cognitive, linguistic, social and emotional aspects. While in earlier studies on the role of technology, arguments against the technology were dominant, later more studies on its positive effect were conducted. That is, recent studies revealed that the use of computer technology by young childhood has a positive effect on their cognitive, linguistic, social and emotional aspects. In most cases, in studies with experiments, young children in experimental groups with computer utilization activities rather than in control groups showed more improvement in the above aspects. Computer softwares and web contents mostly used in those studies were open softwares and web contents proper for the developmental period, and they are appropriate for young children's developmental characteristics and promote their active participation, and also make them engage in learning activities positively by stimulating their interest. Therefore, it is important to discuss whether computer softwares and web contents have high quality proper for young children rather than to focus on the use or disuse of computer technology.