Literature Review: Digital Books in Preschool Period

Abstract

In literature, the new generation of children who become exposed to a digital world are referred to as digital natives. This generation, which knows about touch screens, sensor lights, and programmed fixtures that produce water when they connect, grows up with the abilities to utilize electronic gadgets since the beginning of their life. Over time, numerous daily actions are transferred to the digital environment in order to satisfy their desires and needs. Children can now play games in front of a screen, as opposed to playing games with their friends mostly outside, in parks, or on the streets. One of the significant instances of this present circumstance are advanced picture story books. There are many examinations about the constructive outcomes of printed picture books on preschoolers’ language, mental, social and profound improvement in youth. This situation can be explained in part by the fact that printed books have been around for a very long time. There hasn't been a comprehensive survey study on digital children's books in the literature. As a result, it is now imperative that postgraduate thesis studies on digital books for preschoolers in Turkey need to be examined. A total of 265 thesis studies, which were accessed using the keywords of digital children's books, electronic children's books, electronic books, children's picture books, were examined and accessed through the https://tez.yok.gov.tr/UlusalTezMerkezi/ site, which allows postgraduate thesis and dissertations to be stored and scanned. Studies on digital books that focus on preschool children are separated. A systematic content analysis of 12 disaggregated postgraduate thesis studies was carried out under the headings of publication year, department, type of thesis and dissertations, sample group, research purpose and method. As a result of the research, it was revealed that the first thesis work on the subject was done in 2012. When the types of theses were examined, 5 doctoral level thesis studies and 7 master's level thesis studies were reached. When the sample groups were examined, it was concluded that the distribution of girls and boys was balanced. However, no study was found involving children with disabilities and families with preschool children. While there are 6 thesis studies in the Visual Arts Department, it turns out that there are 4 studies in the Preschool Department, and one study in the fields of Psychology and Computer Instructional Technologies. Due to the limited number of studies on the subject, it is recommended to develop them in terms of quality and quantity. Children with disabilities can be included in the studies. In addition, the subject can be investigated in depth by using the triangulation data collection method, which includes families, teachers and children.