Infusing ICT use within the early years of elementary education

Despite the ubiquitousness of computers in pre-schools and primary schools, there exists both confusion and contradiction concerning ICT and young children. The paper commences with brief reviews of some early years curriculum statements, position papers and selected research from around the world. There is a considerable body of research reporting educational advantages that arise from young children using ICT in a variety of learning situations. There are also reports from both government and independent bodies on the amount and type of computer use at home and at school.The major focus of the paper is on teaching and research carried out with Victorian children in grades Prep, 1 and 2. Over the past seven years children in these grades at an inner-city school have used computer-based multimedia software to solve simple problems and produce electronic products at an appropriate cognitive level. Working in collaboration with the teachers of these grades, investigations have been made in the areas of (i) ideas for developing aspects of information literacy, (ii) a project-based learning approach, and (iii) different pedagogical approaches in the classroom.