Abstract
This study examined a literacy playshop curriculum that integrated maker literacies (i.e., collaborative play, toyhacking, filmmaking, video editing, and remixing media) in two US teacher education classes with approximately 40 university students. Preservice teachers engaged in digital puppetry activities using makerspace tools, iPads, and puppetry apps for young children. The preservice teachers used craft materials to hack or redesign favorite media characters’ action figures to make interactive puppets for original films and for teaching a filmmaking lesson with a young child. Nexus analysis of literacy playshop activity analyzed preservice teachers’ knowledge of seemingly “intuitive” digital literacies as a nexus of practice, or the tacit expectations, social practices, and text conventions in viral videos or computer apps that become engrained through engagements with immersive and embodied technologies. The chapter concludes with a summary of maker literacies and implications for early education gleaned from the complex interactions around teaching and learning through collaborative storytelling with iPad touchscreens.
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Wohlwend, K.E., Scott, J.A., Yi, J.H., Deliman, A., Kargin, T. (2018). Hacking Toys and Remixing Media: Integrating Maker Literacies into Early Childhood Teacher Education. In: Danby, S., Fleer, M., Davidson, C., Hatzigianni, M. (eds) Digital Childhoods. International Perspectives on Early Childhood Education and Development, vol 22. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6484-5_10
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