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.
critic - design partner - early childhood - inventor - learner - participatory design - technology innovation
This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.
