How do beginning preservice kindergarten teachers’ evaluations of mathematical apps provide insights into their understandings about bildung (danning) for young children?

Abstract

In this article, evaluations of apps from kindergarten preservice teachers were analysed in relationship to their understandings about children’s cultural formation. The Artifact-Centric Activity theory, a theoretical model based on Cultural-Historical Activity theory, was used in this study to identify how kindergarten preservice teachers considered that the digital games could engage children in mathematics. This analysis gave insights into what the kindergarten preservice teachers considered to be appropriate mathematics for young children and how they should learn it, which can be contributors to children’s cultural formation. The results of this study give insights into how teacher education could be changed so that kindergarten preservice teachers could include other aspects in evaluating apps, such as connections to play and creativity, in alignment with the requirements of the Framework Plan. Making the kindergarten preservice teachers aware of the need for the inclusion of such foci is likely to affect kindergarten children’s potential cultural formation.