Abstract

Adolescence is a crucial time for the enhancement of 21st century competencies such as new media literacies, critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, and self-regulation. If digital interventions in education are broadly assumed to support the development of these competencies, critical research describing the challenges they pose and how best to mitigate them is needed. Developmentally appropriate technology use literature emphasizes strategies for young children in educational settings, however, the same attention has not been levied to pre-adolescents and adolescents – despite the frequency of their engagement with digital devices and their continued developmental needs. While previous research has posited Waldorf education may represent a developmentally appropriate path to new media literacy education, no studies of Waldorf schools have attended this inquiry. The purpose of this study is two-fold: 1) to describe the perspectives and practices of families and teachers at the Toronto Waldorf School with respect to technology use for pre-adolescents and adolescents; and 2) to understand the effects of a delayed technology integration in contemporary educational contexts.