Toddlers' interactions, agency, and concept formation in mechanical technology activities in Early Childhood Education

Abstract

The aim of this doctoral thesis is to contribute knowledge to the field of early childhood mechanical technology education. This is pursued through a systematic review and synthesis of existing research, alongside empirical explorations of video documented hands-on mechanical technology activities in preschool. The thesis is theoretically informed by sociocultural perspectives on interaction and development (Vygotsky, 2016; Wertsch, 1998) and by DiGironimo’s (2011) framework for understanding the nature of technology. Three overarching research questions frame this thesis: RQ1: How is technology education in early childhood education conceptualised in recent research and enacted in hands-on preschool activities when analysed through a framework of the nature of technology? RQ2: How is technology mediated when intersubjectivity is established, and how are everyday and scientific conceptualisations related to technology negotiated and interrelated in teacher–child interactions preschool technology activities? RQ3: How do teacher–child interactions and toddlers’ agency shape the enactment and development of technology knowledge in preschool technology activities? The thesis encompasses four separate studies, of which Studies I and II were conducted as part of my licentiate thesis. In Study I, the research field of technology education in early childhood and empirical studies are scrutinised to identify significant patterns and analyse how technology and technology education in ECE are conceptualised and which dimensions of the nature of technology (DiGironimo, 2011) emerge in the studies. In the subsequent three studies, empirical data encompassing video observations of technology activities involving 12 children (2–5 years old) and four preschool teachers from three preschool groups in Sweden are scrutinised, informed by a sociocultural perspective on learning, concept formation and agency (Vygotsky, 2016). In Study II, toddlers’ and preschool teachers’ interactions in preschool technology activities are studied to explore which dimensions of the nature of technology (DiGironimo, 2011) emerge when intersubjectivity (Linell, 2014; Rommetveit, 1974) is established between participants. In Study III, toddlers’ concept formation is explored in terms of how everyday and scientific conceptualisations (Vygotsky, 2016) of technology are initiated and interrelated in toddlers’ and preschool teachers’ interactions. In Study IV, the interactions between toddlers and preschool teachers are explored in relation to toddlers’ agency (Wertsch et a., 1993). The results highlight recent empirical research on early childhood technology education as a broad, multidimensional and still-evolving subject field, both in reference to technology education as a research field and as a curricular subject area in early childhood educational settings. Furthermore, the results suggest that toddlers in early childhood education practices are offered varied technology activities, in which four of the five dimensions in DiGironimo’s (2011) framework of the nature of technology are well represented. However, the historical dimension was shown to be absent in both previous research studies scrutinised in Study I and in the empirically studied toddlers’ and preschool teachers’ interactions in Study II. The results of the thesis emphasise the contributions of toddlers’ initiatives and active participation in preschool technology activities, specifically regarding (i) how various dimensions of technology knowledge emerge in their interactions; (ii) how intersubjectivity is established, challenged and negotiated; (iii) how toddlers contribute with both everyday and emerging scientific conceptualisations of technology; and (iv) how toddlers’ initiatives to exercise agency contribute to and expand the technology knowledge as well as the organisation of the activity by means of non-verbal and verbal conceptual or tangible cultural tools in interactions and negotiations. These aspects are further discussed in the thesis in relation to key theoretical concepts and previous research as well as implications for the research field and the profession.