Evolving and re-mediated activities when preschool children play analogue and digital Memory games.

The study investigates how kindergarten children play memory games in both digital and analogue form, and how the games affect children's engagement. The goal is to contribute to the discussion about the use of games in kindergartens and look at the potential of games as learning tools. The research questions are: 1) What activities occur when kindergarten children play memory games in two versions: analogue and digital? 2) How do the games affect these activities?

Although the main goal of both games was to find similar pairs, the activities in the two versions were very different. In the analogue game, the children focused on competition, while in the digital game, there was involvement that is more individual. This shows that although a game may seem similar in analogue and digital form, the gameplay experience and outcome can be very different. The study highlights the importance of understanding how digital and analogue tools affect learning activities in educational contexts.

The data were collected in a kindergarten in a large Swedish city. All observations were made using a digital video camera. The researcher introduced the memory games, both analogue and digital, to the children. The empirical data consist of eight video observations (116 minutes in total) of eight children who played in pairs. Each pair was observed twice: first with the analogue game and then the digital one.

Nilsen, M., Lundin, M., Wallerstedt, C. & Pramling, N. (2021). "Evolving and re-mediated activities when preschool children play analogue and digital Memory games". Early Years, 41(2-3):232-247.