FROM PASSIVE CONSUMPTION TO KNOWLEDGE CONSTRUCTION: PEDAGOGICAL MEDIATION IN SCREEN USE IN THE EARLY YEARS OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Abstract

This article analyzes the pedagogical conditions that make the use of digital screens a resource that supports learning in the early years of Elementary School. It is a qualitative, bibliographic and documentary study grounded in Vygotsky’s historical-cultural theory and Saviani’s historical-critical pedagogy, using content analysis of studies from the SciELO, LILACS and PubMed databases and of official documents, such as the Brazilian National Common Core Curriculum (BNCC) and the guidelines of the Brazilian Society of Pediatrics. The results indicate that passive overexposure to screens is associated, mostly in observational studies and with small effect sizes in international syntheses, with sleep disturbances, language delays, sedentary behavior and reduced sustained attention, which precludes direct causal inferences. Conversely, high-quality educational media, such as structured programs and interactive resources, are associated with better language skills, especially when co-viewed with adults, and can foster the formation of complex conceptual definitions and the expansion of communicative skills. The study distinguishes passive entertainment consumption from the intentional use of digital information and communication technologies (DICT) and systematizes criteria for such use: a previously defined learning objective, active production by the child, the teacher’s mediating presence, connection with concrete experiences and planned screen time. It concludes that digital resources are mediating instruments that do not replace the educator, and that pedagogical success depends on the teacher’s planned intervention in the students’ zone of proximal development (ZPD) and on consistent parental mediation that ensures the intentional use of screens in favor of children’s cognitive, social and emotional development.