Children’s Virtual Play Worlds

Anne Burke is an Associate Professor in Literacy Education and Early Learning at Memorial University. She has a PhD from the University of Toronto. She is a multiple Canadian SSHRC grant scholar and maintains a strong research presence in Canadian schools researching new literacies and the role of social media in children’s lives. She has authored and co-edited a number of books in the areas of children’s literate play lives, new literacies studies, and popular culture. Recent book titles include Play to Learn (2010) and Assessing New Literacies: Perspectives from the Classroom (2009). Jackie Marsh (BA, PGCE, MEd, PhD) is Professor of Education at the University of Sheffield, UK. Recent publications include Changing Play: Play, Media and Commercial Culture from the 1950s to the Present Day (with Bishop, in press), Handbook of Early Childhood Literacy, 2nd edition (co-edited with Larson, 2012), and Virtual Literacies: Interactive Spaces for Children and Young People (co-edited with Merchant, Gillen and Davies, 2012). She is an editor of the Journal of Early Childhood Literacy.

Contents: Anne Burke/Jackie Marsh: Introduction: The changing landscapes of children’s play worlds – Susan Edwards: Post-industrial play: Understanding the relationship between traditional and converged forms of play in the early years – Kaveri Subrahmanyam: Developmental implications for children’s virtual worlds – Anne Burke: Stardolls and the virtual playground: How identity construction works in the new digital frontier – Jackie Marsh: Breaking the ice: Play, friendships and online identities in young children’s use of virtual worlds – Karen E. Wohlwend/Tolga Kargin: «Cause I know how to get friends - plus they like my dancing»: (L)earning the Nexus of Practice in Club Penguin – Jan Connelly: Virtual clay or virtual play: Identity shaping, consumer building and corporate affiliation versus literacies affordance inside barbiegirls.com – Isabel Pedersen/Jennifer Rowsell: May the force be with you: Harnessing the power of brain-computer games – Stephanie M. Reich/Ksenia A. Korobkova/Rebecca W. Black/Mariya Sumaroka: «Hey! Can you show me how to do this?» Digital games as a mediator of family time – Sara M. Grimes: Digital play structures: Examining the terms of use (and play) found in children’s commercial virtual worlds – Eric Meyers/Robert Bittner: Green pixels to green behaviours: Sustainability literacy in virtual worlds for children – Victoria Carrington: An argument for assemblage theory: Integrated spaces, mobility, and polycentricity.