Childcare professionals are often unsure about the impact of games and technology on children. The following bibliography is an excellent place to find readable and informative books on this topic:
Carr, N. G. (2011). The Shallows: What the Internet is doing to our brains. New York: W.W. Norton.
Describes the potential and dangers of the digital world, primarily for adults.
Davidson, C. N. (2011). Now you see it: How the brain science of attention will transform the way we live, work and learn. New York: Viking.
Discusses the potential of interactive digital media, particularly for individuals with learning differences.
DeMaria, R. (2010). Reset: Changing the way we look at video games. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 2007.
Analyzes the video game industry and explains how video games actually benefit children.
Hutchison, D. (2007). Playing to learn: Video games in the classroom. Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press, an imprint of Libraries Unlimited.
Discusses the use of video games in the classroom.
Johnson, S. (2005). Everything Bad Is Good For You: Today’s Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter. New York, NY: Penguin Group.
Details how video games, television, and cinema have affected our society.
Kulman, R. (2014). Playing Smarter in a Digital World: A Guide to Choosing and Using Popular Video Games and Apps to Improve Executive Functioning in Children and Teens. Forest Lake, MN: Specialty.
Explains how to use your children’s relationship with technology to benefit their learning experience.
Kutner, L., & Olson, C. (2011). Grand Theft childhood: The surprising truth about violent video games and what parents can do. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Presents a well-researched argument about how politicians and news media may be wrong about the negative effects that violent video games have on children.
McGonigal, J. (2011). Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World. New York: Penguin.
Delivers an interesting read about the potential of gaming and apps for happiness and human growth.
Mileham, R. (2008). Powering up: Are computer games changing our lives? Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Details research about the evolution of society related to technology and computer games.
Prensky, M. (2007). Digital Game-Based Learning. New York, NY: Paragon House Publishers, 2007.
Explains how traditional training methods should evolve and adapt to the modern digital world.
Tapscott, D. (2009) Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation Is Changing Your World. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2009.
Suggests that the “Net Generation” is a very different generation than all the preceding ones and the ways in which this generation is changing the society in which we live.
Turkle, S. (2011). Alone together: Why we expect more from technology and less from each other. New York, NY: Basic Books.
Presents an interesting explanation of how technology has changed communication in our world.
Turkle, S. Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1995.
Explores the changing impact of the computer on our psychological lives.
Shaffer, D. W. (2006). How computer games help children learn. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
Describes for parents and teachers how the current education system is becoming more and more outdated for effective learning for digital children and how computer games could help to remedy this.
