Papers by Natalia Kucirkova
Faulty screen time measures hamper national policies: here is a way to address it
Frontiers in Psychology
Multisensory Reading in Early Childhood: Systematic Review with Theoretical Guidance for Human Development Studies
Human Development
Our systematic qualitative analysis advances the field of human development with an integrative r... more Our systematic qualitative analysis advances the field of human development with an integrative review of sensory research in children’s reading of books and e-books. Based on a systematic literature review of 35 papers, we qualitatively synthesise multi-disciplinary literature concerned with children’s sensory development and the activity of reading. We map the studies’ characteristics, including their methodological designs and primary theoretical concepts (embodiment and materiality). We highlight empirical research gaps and lack of literature attention particularly for critical engagement with sensorial research. We find notable terminological discrepancies across qualitative and quantitative studies and lack of attention to the developmental aspects of children’s sensory reading and its dynamic interaction with books’ affordances. Our theoretical contribution lies in identifying the emerging area of multisensory m(ai)cro research as a future agenda for studies of children’s rea...
Ethics: fund an independent system to verify EdTech
Nature
Academia’s culture of overwork almost broke me, so I’m working to undo it
Nature
Early Childhood Education Journal
Converging global trends (digitization, globalization, datafication) have influenced all aspects ... more Converging global trends (digitization, globalization, datafication) have influenced all aspects of children’s literacies, including children’s picturebooks. The recent turn towards embodied, affective and sensory literacies, stimulated our interest in multisensory picturebooks that engage all children’s senses, including the sense of smell (olfaction). Olfactory children’s picturebooks demand new forms of literary conversations, which capitalise on unique properties of odours and integrate these with stories. Drawing on a systematic search of children’s picturebooks about, and with, smell, in paper-based and digital formats, we identified three principal ways in which olfaction is currently embedded in children’s picturebooks: 1, as an add-on to depiction of objects (including foods, plants) and places, 2, as a device to introduce humour into a story, and 3, as an engagement tool for children’s active participation in the story. We mobilise Sipe’s (2008) concept of seven constituti...
A Time Without Touch Is an Opportunity to Rethink Its Place
Psychology Today, Jul 1, 2020
The transient time correlation function is a standard method for measuring transport properties i... more The transient time correlation function is a standard method for measuring transport properties in simulations. It represents a special case of a more general theorem, the dissipation theorem, that indirectly calculates phase function averages though the use of the dissipation function. These indirect averages often have significantly less statistical error than direct averages. Recently, it has been demonstrated that a local version of the fluctuation theorem can be derived with a well defined deviation from the global result at sufficiently low fields. Here we show that a similar local expression can be obtained for the dissipation theorem, providing a way of determining values of phase functions by monitoring the fluctuations of phase functions in a small region of the system.
Children creating and sharing stories in old and new book formats : investigating the effects and processes of personalisation
Digital Literacies in the UK
British Educational Research Journal, 2017
In the past five years, there have been significant changes concerning the material and design pr... more In the past five years, there have been significant changes concerning the material and design properties of digital books, with an impact on children's enjoyment and learning from reading on screen. Despite the rapid advances in technology, research on children's digital books is disjointed. This is because of no consistent approach to the study of interactivity, an under-theorised relationship between print and digital books, and a binary design focused on either learning or playful engagement with digital books. Drawing on the discourse reminiscent of digital game designers, some developers, scholars and professionals celebrate interactivity in digital books as a possibility to motivate and engage children in reading, while a body of experimental research documents the negative impact of interactivity on children's story comprehension and vocabulary learning. This paper presents an integrative framework based on a comprehensive literature review and a content review of the hundred most popular children's digital interactive books. The framework offers: (1) methodological guidance and a definition of interactivity based on five key categories; (2) theoretical guidance based on the third-space theory; and (3) innovative design and evaluation models based on a 'method assemblage'. As such, the integrative framework provides new tools and perspectives to advance the field of children's digital books.
Role of iPads in Early Years
Digitalised early years: where next?
iPads in early education
Early Years Educator, 2013
Natalia Kucirkova considers the benefits and some downsides of introducing tablet technology into... more Natalia Kucirkova considers the benefits and some downsides of introducing tablet technology into an early years classroom, sharing experiences from settings that have found ways of utilising their features.
How can iPad apps enrich psychology research?
British Journal of Educational Studies, 2018
Psychology Teaching Review
In this short Opinion piece, I outline how iPad apps can facilitate theory development, data coll... more In this short Opinion piece, I outline how iPad apps can facilitate theory development, data collection, data representation and dissemination of postgraduate psychology research. I reflect on how apps supported my own postgraduate research practice and how one particular app – Our Story – enriched the individual stages of my research enquiry. I argue that iPad apps are part of an emerging metaphor according to which postgraduate psychology is a dynamic and iterative research process, rather than a linear static model
Early Childhood Education Journal
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Papers by Natalia Kucirkova