Chapter 3: The Potential Integration of Developmentally Appropriate Digital Technologies into a Tao Xingzhi Kindergarten Where Action and Thinking Progress Together

Tao Xingzhi [Wade Giles: T’ao Hsing-chih] lived from 1891 to 1946. He was a Chinese educational reformer primarily concerned with rural education. He coined the term “life is education.” This was a reversal of his mentor, John Dewey’s “education is life.” Tao did so to emphasize that action precedes knowledge, thereby repositioning traditional formal education in contrast to the problem-solving and accrued knowledge of rural peasants despite their lack of access to formal education. This chapter describes a qualitative, observational study intended to document the way Tao Xingzhi’s ideas were implemented in a pre-COVID “Tao Xingzhi kindergarten” in the PRC during December 2018. Observations of that Tao Xingzhi kindergarten are relevant to the discussion of the integration of digital technologies into early childhood programs in China. This chapter describes that Tao Xingzhi based kindergarten in terms of the pedagogy that Tao Xingzhi called “lively schools” where the focus is on beginning with action that reflects the lives and culture of the young students. In the spirit of Tao Xingzhi’s emphasis on local knowledge, questions that could be used by Chinese educators as they research local, culturally relevant technology uses and needs are included.