Pre-school children’s expressed technological volition during construction play

Even though construction tasks have a long history as an activity in the Swedish preschool, technology as a content matter (e.g., construction) is relatively new. Hence, preschool teachers are generally unsure of the content of technology and how to handle it from a teaching perspective. Thus, there is need for deeper understanding of how construction tasks in preschool can be enacted and what kind of premises are offered to the children. To investigate this, we took our stance in activity theory and the concepts of mediating artifacts, rules and division of labour. This helped us discern what type of instructional practices that were enacted by preschool teachers when working with construction tasks. Activity theory in combination with thematic analysis helped us distinguish four general didactic actions that the teachers used to bring about the construction task—to engage, to guide, to coordinate, to show. These four strategies were then formulated into specific technology didactic actions through the perspectives of technology as product, process and concepts.

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Rethinking construction in preschool: discerning didactic strategies in Swedish preschool activities

Boström

Hultén

Gyberg

2021

“…It was observed how activities of this type promoted investigation and learning of many technological contents. We also know that activities of this type hold the potential to promote a holistic and integrated learning in many areas such as science, mathematics, language, arts and from different perspectives like societal and environmental ones (Bottrill 1995;Stables 2017;Thorshag and Holmqvist 2018). While preschool in some countries are somewhat sliding away from the social pedagogic approach, the ambition to sustain a holistic and integrated approach to learning remains.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Technological knowledge in early childhood education: provision by staff of learning opportunities

Sundqvist

2019

Developments in early childhood education (ECE) over the last two decades have for many countries meant a change towards a more subject-oriented pedagogy in which preschool staff are commissioned to teach technology to young children. This has been proved to be a challenge to the staff. Through analysis of activities at two preschool units, this study shows how technology education can be provided in ECE, and what kind of knowledgelearning by children can be facilitated in different activities and depending on the actions of the staff. An ethnographically-inspired perspective was employed, using methods such as participant observation and formal and informal interviews, in order to investigate the technological knowledge encouraged by the staff at two preschool units in Sweden. The results show that staff promote children's learning of a variety of technological content, mainly relating to technological objects and creative processes. This range from simple knowledge of how to handle a knife or a pair of scissors to more complex knowledge of how to build something to be fit for purpose and how different tools or materials are more or less adequate for a specific activity or design. The result also show that the way in which the staff address these contents effect which abilities and skills children are promoted to develop.

“…Campbell and Jobling (2008) state that this approach is a result of the staff's view that children learn through their own investigations. Other studies show how preschool staff plan and provide teaching where children are active and their perspectives are regarded (Mawson, 2013;Sundqvist, 2019;Thorshag & Holmqvist, 2019). For example, Mawson observed how a teacher noted an interest in scuba diving among the children and planned a project around that.…”

Section: Previous Research and Scrutiny On How Staff Teach And Perceive Technology Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterizations of preschool technology education: analyses of seven individual preschool teachers’ and childcare attendants’ descriptions of their teaching

Sundqvist

2021

In recent decades the preschool has leaned more towards a learning-oriented pedagogy, where the subject of technology has been given a more prominent place. Still, studies on how individual preschool staff members perceive and teach technology is scarce. This study shows how seven preschool staff in Sweden describe their work with the subject of technology and how technology education is characterized in these descriptions. The data was produced by means of semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire and analyzed with narrative analysis. The results show very diverse practices of technology education, implying the learning possibilities for children in different preschools are not equal. Some of the staff describe a clear and conscious teaching of technology, while others describe teaching what can be viewed as a limited and/or shallow technology education, where technology is sometimes used as means for learning other subjects or contents rather than being the learning objective. Six ways to characterize technology education was found, namely: technology education (1) concerns technological objects and systems in children’s environment, (2) concerns learning to handle technological objects, (3) is doing experiments, (4) involves developing abilities, (5) is naturally included in children’s play and (6) departs from digital technology.