The Child as Learner, Critic, Inventor, and Technology Design Partner: An Analysis of Three Years of Swedish Student Journals

From Autumn 1998 to Spring 2001, 27 Swedish children (14, at age 5 and 13, at age 7) partnered with an interdisciplinary and international group of researchers supported by a grant from the European Union to create new storytelling technologies for children. After each of the many design activities, children were asked to reflect with drawings and/or writing in a bound paper journal. As the project concluded in the third year, the children's journals were analyzed and four constructs emerged from the data: learner, critic, inventor, and technology design partner. This study examines the motivation for such a research and learning experience, describes the changes in roles we saw represented in our child partners' journals, and suggests possible future directions for educators and technology developers.

[1]  J. Dewey.  The child and the curriculum , 1902 .

[2]  Katherine Camp Mayhew,et al.  The Dewey School The Laboratory School Of The University Of Chicago 1896-1903 , 1936 .

[3]  Thomas A. Keenan.  Computers and education , 1964, CACM.

[4]  L. S. Vygotskiĭ,et al.  Mind in society : the development of higher psychological processes , 1978 .

[5]  Seymour Papert,et al.  Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas , 1981 .

[6]  S. Heath.  Ways with Words: Language, Life and Work in Communities and Classrooms , 1983 .

[7]  H. Gardner,et al.  Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences , 1983 .

[8]  Gordon Wells,et al.  The Meaning Makers: Children Learning Language and Using Language to Learn. First Edition. , 1985 .

[9]  M. Kyng,et al.  Computers and Democracy: A Scandinavian Challenge , 1987 .

[10]  Introducing Science Research to Elementary School Children. , 1987 .

[11]  Seymour Papert,et al.  Software Design as a Learning Environment , 1990, Interact. Learn. Environ..

[12]  J. Bruner.  Acts of meaning , 1990 .

[13]  John Steers,et al.  Design and Technology in the National Curriculum. , 1990 .

[14]  Elliot Soloway,et al.  Children Designers: Interdisciplinary Constructions for Learning and Knowing Mathematics in a Computer-Rich School , 1991 .

[15]  David Pundak,et al.  A study of change in students' conceptual frameworks in astronomy , 1991 .

[16]  Annemarie S. Palincsar,et al.  Motivating Project-Based Learning: Sustaining the Doing, Supporting the Learning , 1991 .

[17]  Priscilla Norton.  When technology meets the subject-matter disciplines in education: part three: incorporating the computer as method , 1992 .

[18]  When technology meets the subject-matter disciplines in education , 1992 .

[19]  D. Laplane.  Thought and language. , 1992, Behavioural neurology.

[20]  David C. Dwyer,et al.  Teaching in High-Tech Environments: Classroom Management Revisited , 1992 .

[21]  J. Clemmons.  Portfolios in the Classroom: A Teacher's Sourcebook. Grades 1-6. Scholastic Professional Books. , 1993 .

[22]  Douglas Schuler,et al.  Participatory Design: Principles and Practices , 1993 .

[23]  K. McGilly,et al.  Classroom lessons: Integrating cognitive theory and classroom practice. , 1994 .

[24]  S. Hennessy,et al.  Problem-solving processes in technology education: A pilot study , 1994 .

[25]  J. Nielsen.  Usability inspection methods , 1994, CHI Conference Companion.

[26]  Kathryn T. Spoehr,et al.  Enhancing the acquisition of conceptual structures through hypermedia , 1994 .

[27]  Elliot W. Eisner,et al.  Cognition And Curriculum Reconsidered , 1994 .

[28]  A. M. White.  The Process of Education , 1994 .

[29]  J. Shea.  National Science Education Standards , 1995 .

[30]  A. Paton.  WAYS WITH WORDS , 1995 .

[31]  Ron Oosterholt,et al.  Interaction design and human factors support in the development of a personal communicator for children , 1996, CHI '96.

[32]  Cynthia Carter Ching,et al.  Children as designers of educational multimedia software , 1997, Comput. Educ..

[33]  Karen Holtzblatt,et al.  Contextual design , 1997, INTR.

[34]  D. Stull,et al.  Doing Team Ethnography: Warnings and Advice , 1997 .

[35]  F. Marton,et al.  Learning and Awareness , 1997 .

[36]  Yvonne Rogers,et al.  Kids as informants: telling us what we didn't know or confirming what we knew already? , 1998 .

[37]  Joshua Radinsky,et al.  The progress portfolio: designing reflective tools for a classroom context , 1998, CHI.

[38]  Samuel Richmond.  Report to the President on the Use of Technology to Strengthen K-12 Education in the United States , 1998 .

[39]  Ann Marie Hill,et al.  Problem Solving in Real-Life Contexts: An Alternative for Design in Technology Education , 1998 .

[40]  Yasmin B. Kafai.  Children as designers, testers, and evaluators of educational software , 1998 .

[41]  Allison Druin,et al.  The design of children's technology , 1998 .

[42]  Ben Shneiderman,et al.  Relate-Create-Donate: a teaching/learning philosophy for the cyber-generation , 1998, Comput. Educ..

[43]  James A. Hendler,et al.  Designing PETS: a personal electronic teller of stories , 1999, CHI '99.

[44]  Picture This! Using Portfolios to Facilitate the Inclusion of Children in Preschool Settings , 1999 .

[45]  Allison Druin,et al.  Cooperative inquiry: developing new technologies for children with children , 1999, CHI '99.

[46]  Paul Brna,et al.  Classroom Conundrums: The Use of a Participant Design Methodology , 2000, J. Educ. Technol. Soc..

[47]  Theodore Lewis.  Technology Education and Developing Countries , 2000 .

[48]  Stephanie Atkinson,et al.  Does the Need for High Levels of Performance Curtail the Development of Creativity in Design and Technology Project Work? , 2000 .

[49]  David P. Miller,et al.  “So that's what Pi is for!” and other educational epiphanies from hands-on robotics , 2000 .

[50]  B. Bederson,et al.  Designing storytelling technologies to encouraging collaboration between young children , 2000, CHI.

[51]  Allison Druin,et al.  Robots for Kids: Exploring New Technologies for Learning , 2000 .

[52]  Bonnie S. Sunstein,et al.  The Portfolio Standard: How Students Can Show Us What They Know and Are Able to Do , 2000 .

[53]  Yngve Sundblad,et al.  Co-operative Design — perspectives on 20 years with 'the Scandinavian IT Design Model' , 2000 .

[54]  James A. Hendler,et al.  Designing StoryRooms: interactive storytelling spaces for children , 2000, DIS '00.

[55]  Allison Druin,et al.  Designing a digital library for young children , 2001, JCDL '01.

[56]  Allison Druin,et al.  Designing a Digital Library for Young Children: An Intergenerational Partnership , 2001 .

[57]  Allison Druin,et al.  KidStory: A technology design partnership with children , 2001, Behav. Inf. Technol..

[58]  Allison Druin,et al.  Physical programming: designing tools for children to create physical interactive environments , 2002, CHI.

[59]  Marcus Leaning.  Playing with the Future , 2003 .

[60]  The National Academy of Sciences , 1928, Science.