International Perspectives – Children’s Imaginative Experience of Facts
In a new guest post for the Digital Child platform, our colleague Markéta Supa shares early insights from the project, exploring how children reflect on factual information as something lived, felt, and imagined.
Excerpt
Our initial insights suggest that when children experience facts as interesting and meaningful, for whatever personal reason, then empathic, affective, and embodied imagining could be sparked, taking them on exploratory journeys. What is commonly considered typical of children’s engagement with fictional stories therefore appears to be no less true of their engagement with factual content. By believing that imagining belongs entirely to children’s engagement with fiction, are we marginalising children who imagine just as vividly with nonfiction media? By focusing on analytical and critical thinking that children are expected to perform when engaging with information, are we overlooking the complexity and diversity of their factual experience? Most importantly, what might this lack of attention to their unique experiences mean for diverse children?
Citation
Supa, M. (2026). International Perspectives – Children’s Imaginative Experience of Facts. Digital Child.
Fulltext here: https://digitalchild.org.au/childrens-imaginative-experience-of-facts/
