1st Edition
Technology Play and Brain Development Infancy to Adolescence and Future Implications
Technology Play and Brain Development brings together current research on play development, learning technology, and brain development. The authors first navigate the play technology and brain development interface, highlighting the interactive qualities that make up each component. Next, they survey the changes in play materials and the variations in time periods for play that have occurred over the past 15-20 years, and then explain how these changes have had the potential to affect this play/brain developmental interaction. The authors also cover various types of technology-augmented play materials used by children at age levels from infancy to adolescence, and describe the particular qualities that may enhance or change brain development. In so doing, they present information on previous and current studies of the play and technology interface, in addition to providing behavioral data collected from parents and children of varied ages related to their play with different types of play materials. Significantly, they discuss how such play may affect social, emotional, moral, and cognitive development, and review futurist predictions about the potential qualities of human behavior needed by generations to come. The authors conclude with advice to toy and game designers, parents, educators, and the wider community on ways to enhance the quality of technology-augmented play experiences so that play will continue to promote the development of human characteristics needed in the future.
1. Brain Maturation and Typical Play Development from Infancy through Adolescence: Complimentary Dynamic Processes with Technology
2. Changes in Play Environments with Advent of Technology-Augmented Play Materials: Representation Modes and Affordances within Physical and Virtual Contexts
3. Potential Influences of Representation Modes and Affordances on Various Types of Technology-Augmented Play: Gains and Losses 4. Comparing Developmental Influences of Technology-Augmented Play: Researchers, Parents, and Children’s Perspectives 5. Predicting the Brain/Play/Technology Interface in Future Society: Implications for Human Development
6. Facilitating Optimum Brain Maturation and Play Development in a Technologically Diverse Society: Roles of Technology Designers, Community Stakeholders, Educators, and Parents
Epilogue Glossary of Brain and Nervous System Terms
Biography
Doris Bergen is Distinguished Professor Emerita at Miami University. Her research focuses on play theory, humor development, effects of technology-augmented play, and ERP effects during videogame play. As a child she preferred play with blocks, making "small worlds," and now she enjoys using her spatial skills to take down iPad block tower structures.
Darrel R. Davis is an Associate Professor at Miami University. His research interests include the effects of technology-related play and the use of technology in diverse educational settings. As a child he loved to play with action figures and toy vehicles and now prefers outdoor activities and participating in team sports.
Jason T. Abbitt is an Associate Professor at Miami University. He is an educator and researcher focused on helping educators use technology for teaching and learning. His favorite forms of play involve building and tinkering, from his use of Legos and Erector sets as a child to a focus on coding and microcontrollers today.
It is too soon to have all the answers about how teched-up toys affect brain and psychological development, but Bergen, Davis, and Abbitt ask the right questions and give us a structure for answering them. They pinpoint how changes in the functional capabilities of toys affect play and how we can raise more resilient and versatile children.
—Jeffrey Goldstein, Ph.D., Professor of Media and Performance Studies, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Technology Play and Brain Development is a perfect title because it provides accessible, well-documented information that illuminates these dynamic domains. With vistas into the future, this is a wonderful informational source within current and historical contexts of these interconnected topics.
—Doris Pronin Fromberg, Ed.D., Professor Emerita, Hofstra University, New York
"Interested readers will be greatly assisted in developing their own ideas about the potential impact of technology on brain development because of the authors’ thoughtful analysis of development, play, and technology. The authors utilize a productive framework based on thoughts by psychologists J. S. Bruner and E. J. Gibson, among other theorists."
--J. F. Heberle, Albright College, CHOICE
