So how can you create a development promoting environment for your child in 2020? Elena Ignateva says that “she likes the image of what she calls “a childhood meadow”. It is a healthy and safe environment with lots of children of different ages if possible. They are engaged in activities that are natural to them: they play, move around a lot, socialize, and create. Adults are sure to be present in the meadow. Their task is to ensure safety, to teach children to resolve disputable situations and conflicts and to help each child move at his or her own individual pace in the so-called zone of proximal development.
Is there room for technology and gadgets in this “childhood meadow”? Yes, certainly. But they should be in the hands of adults, not children.
Technologies are needed to observe children, record and accumulate results about the child’s development. They can also help in prompt finding and selecting the right tools, in demonstrating learning material, and in visual support for what the adult is talking about. These technologies should be convenient, and simple. The teachers cannot spend much time on learning them; the main thing for teachers is children.
Technology can also make life easier for parents, because its goal is to connect all adults working with the child into a common information space, with the preschooler in the center. The strategy of its development should be common for all participants of the process.
