Use of Interactive Whiteboard and Robot Toys in Kindergarten Teaching

Digital technologies are a completely natural part of children's world. Children use them from an early age and they are a source of knowledge, exploration, communication, expression and development of their logical thinking. Children in kindergartens belong to Generation Z whose thinking is formed from an early age by using technologies in such a way that they no longer perceive their presence and their thought processes are influenced to such extent that they are able to naturally and immediately find the best way to deploy technologies to solve any problem. This is what makes research into the use of digital technologies in pre-primary education so topical. Almost every kindergarten in Slovakia now has its own interactive whiteboard; however, research shows that its potential is not used didactically sufficiently, not even in the area of developing the digital competencies of pre-schoolers. The latest phenomenon that children are interested in is robot toys that children also encounter at home. We have therefore deemed appropriate to combine these two phenomena - interactive whiteboard and robot toys - in sociocognitive teaching model. In this paper we provide information on the possibilities of combining interactive whiteboard and robot toys to achieve educational goals in pre-primary education. We present pilot qualitative research in the pre-primary education conditions related to the use of digital technologies. We point out the need to change the thinking of kindergarten teachers when creating new educational activity contexts, with an emphasis on the use of interactive whiteboard and robot toys. We conducted the pilot qualitative research in a state-owned kindergarten in Bratislava. The subjects we studied were pre-schoolers and kindergarten teachers. As a research tool, we used a focus group.