I will present the ongoing work with the introductory chapter of my compilation thesis, in which four studies are addressing: different kinds of participation, participatory identities, characteristics of learning in digital gaming communities and digital play as the ‘where’ for children´s learning. The thesis will therefore add to the educational research field taking its interest in connecting children´s out-of-school learning experiences to their learning in school, by recognising and building upon children’s familiarity with digital cultures and digital literacies. The overarching research question of the thesis is: What aspects, from children´s participation in digital play communities, appear to be of significance for connecting children´s out-of-school learning experiences to their learning in school? The theoretical framing departs from Dewey´s notion of experience, Lave and Wenger´s theory about communities of practice, and their notion of legitimate peripheral participation. Additionally, Wenger´s conceptual framework provided an analytical tool with useful components (meaning, identity, practice and community) for understanding and discussing children´s experiences from learning in practice. By studying children´s (8-13 years of age) actions and talk about actions in a variety of ways in different digital play contexts, where the children are coming into presence as subjects, something significant can be said about what they actually are experiencing and learning from participating in digital play. Results from the included studies will be presented, as empirical models and a tentative conceptual framework outlining children´s pathways as participatory subjects.
