In addition to knowledge of information (details and organising ideas), students also need to develop the skills and processes needed to complete mental tasks, for example, how to do long division, how to read a map and how to write in a specific genre. This domain of knowledge is called mental procedures. Mental procedures are learned through practice and are executed when needed to complete a task. Mental procedures occur inside a person’s brain. Educators use pedagogies to help students to learn these procedures and, once learned, to activate and facilitate this mode of thinking. This chapter will focus on how digital technologies can be used to support these pedagogies while also exploring some new opportunities.

This chapter begins by explaining mental procedures domain of knowledge. After using the TPACK model (see Chapter 3) to highlight the importance of intentionally using digital technologies, it then explores how they can be used to develop mental procedures and to guide student’s when using mental procedures.

Child-focused conversation analysis research on children’s storytelling practices has drawn attention to family, pre- and early school storytelling practices in a variety of contexts and at different ages. The research has been conducted on storybook reading, and on storytelling during family mealtimes, in bilingual settings and during play. It has shed light on displays of children’s interaction skills, and has also shown how storytelling changes across time.