When the American Academy of Pediatrics updated its screen time guidelines this past January, the conversation among early childhood educators shifted. It's not simply a question of how much time kids spend on devices, but what that time with technology is actually doing for them.
EdSurge took that question into pre-K and kindergarten classrooms, where Devon Caldwell, kindergarten teacher, university instructor, and a SMART Technologies & Lumio Ambassador, spoke to the challenges teachers are facing today.
Devon's message throughout the piece: stop counting minutes and start asking what the screen is asking of the kid.
"I never want my children using screens passively. I want to see kids' bodies moving, their mouths talking, little hands making something."
That standard shapes how she brings technology into her own classroom. When students are on a screen, they shouldn’t be working in solitude. Devon builds in co-viewing and co-creating, pairing kids up so that using the tool becomes a social task, not a passive one.
"They're always using it with a partner. Right away they're negotiating rules, talking to each other, developing those really important skills."
It's the same principle SMART designs around: technology that asks kids to collaborate, build and respond, not just watch. Devon's own litmus test for any digital tool in her room is refreshingly simple. Could this be done just as well with blocks or Play-Doh or markers and paper? "If it could be, let's do it that way," she says. Technology earns its place in her classroom only when it adds something hands-on instruction can't.