Embodied‐based environment for kindergarten children: Revisiting constructionist ideas

• Published in: British journal of educational technology Vol. 52; no. 3; pp. 986 - 1003
• Main Authors: Valente, José Armando, Caceffo, Ricardo, Bonacin, Rodrigo, dos Reis, Julio Cesar, Gonçalves, Diego Addan, Baranauskas, Maria Cecília Calani
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Coventry Wiley 01-05-2021; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: Computing; Concrete construction; Constructionism; Constructivism (Learning); Dance; Design; Digital technology; Educational Environment; Embodied learning; Environment; Grounded Theory; Human Body; Interactivity; Kindergarten; Leadership; Learning; Learning Activities; Preschool Children; Pre‐school education; Robotics; Robots; Teaching Methods; Young Children
• ISSN: 0007-1013; 1467-8535
• DOI: 10.1111/bjet.13078

Constructionism has different meanings for what the learner is constructing, a concrete object or an idea, and whether this construction is done through the use of digital technology. In the embodied‐based environment created in this study, children carry out or “construct” a series of actions, a performance, which allows them to solve the task of directing an already programmed robot to a particular target. The activity was based on an adaptation of the Little Red Riding Hood narrative. Children played the role of rangers (instead of hunters) who had to coordinate their actions in order to help a robot (an mBot characterized as a Robot‐Wolf) find Grandma’s laboratory, so she could fix its GPS. The children wore boots, which were used to interact with the Robot‐Wolf. The main question we addressed was how to create this embodied‐based environment for kindergarten children, and how to identify the actions children performed and the concepts they used in this construction. The research was based on the Socially‐Aware Design, and the study was conducted in a school setting for kindergarten students. 26 children (11F, 15 M), between 4 and 5 years old, participated in this study. The children’s activities were recorded and analysed using the Grounded Theory methodology. The results show that the children’s performative sequence of actions is distinct from the hands‐on, heads‐in processes that are part of classical constructionist environments. For the children, the process and the product of their (body) “dance” were underlying their movement (perceiving and acting), working together so as to accomplish the given task in the environment.
Practitioner notes
What is already known about this topic
Constructionism has shown as a way for learning via materialization of tangible objects or construction of ideas.
There are very few examples of constructionist learning environments for kindergarten children to interact with digital technology.
What this paper adds
The creation of the constructionist embodied‐based environment for supporting kindergarten children interacting with digital technologies.
The constructionist embodied‐based environment created was effective in supporting kindergarten children interacting with an already programmed robot.
Children’s performative sequence of actions reveals no separation of the hands‐on, heads‐in processes as in classical constructionist environments.
The creation of a constructionist environment in which children can act and collaborate to construct a series of actions which allow them to solve a specific challenge.
Implications for practice and/or policy
Concepts like leadership and anticipation which were embodied are expressed by the children help to understand how the robot‐based activity can help children to construct knowledge related to, for example, computational thinking.