이 연구는 두 명의 유아가 1년 4개월 동안 디지털 카메라를 가지고 놀이하는 모습을 관찰하였다. 이를 통하여 유아가 디지털 카메라를 가지고 어떠한 놀이를 하는지, 그리고 이러한 디지털 카메라 놀이가 유아의 미디어 교육 및 예술교육에 어떠한 의미를 갖는지에 대해 논의하고자 하였다. 연구의 결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 유아는 디지털 카메라를 이용하여 익숙한 놀이를 하였고, 스스로 다양한 방법의 새로운 놀이를 발견하여 놀았다. 둘째, 디지털 카메라 놀이는 유아의 경험 구성과 재구성의 기회, 소통의 도구, 자유로운 예술 활동의 수단, 디지털기기 사용의 유능성 증진이라는 교육적 의미를 가지고 있었다. 디지털 카메라는 유아의 예술교육에 있어 유용한 도구이다. 이 연구는 자연스럽고 일상적인 상황에서 능동적 창조자로써 디지털 카메라를 사용하는 유아의 모습을 드려냈다는 의의를 갖는다.
The objectives of this study are to determine how children use digital cameras, and to discuss what significance their use of digital cameras has for media and art education of early childhood education. For this purposes, two children’s playing with digital cameras were observed for one year and four months. Observational records, photographs and videos produced by children, structured or unstructured interviews were analyzed and interpreted. Two children were given a digital camera to play with, and they found various playing with digital camera by themselves. They played with the digital camera by taking pictures, documenting themselves playing, and producing videos of what they had seen and experienced. Furthermore, these experiences were creative processes in their entirety, and were useful recording means instead of written words. The two children discovered new ways to use a digital camera such as recording and re-viewing television programs, editing photos arbitrarily, composing music, and making images using their imagination. Playing with digital cameras provides opportunities for the configuring and re-configuring of experiences, and children looked at and thought about themselves and their environment through their experiences playing with digital cameras. This activity was also a communication tool; in other words, it has symbolic meaning and potential as a language. In addition, playing with the digital camera was a free art activity; therefore, the children freely expressed their thoughts and feelings, freely played, freely imagined, and created using the digital camera. Playing with a digital camera has educational significance in that it promotes children’s competence and confidence in using digital equipment. A digital camera is a useful tool for children’s art education, and there is a need to provide children with more chances to use digital cameras as naturally as possible. This study may offer some insight into children’s use of digital cam