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<p> This qualitative study explores how seven-year-old children’s technology-based engineering learning unfolded within networks of human and non-human actors, using the framework of Actor-Network Theory (ANT). This study was conducted in a robotics afterschool program, where preservice early childhood teachers facilitated engineering learning for young children. Data sources included video-recorded participant observations, lesson plans, robotics journals, photos, and teachers’ written reflections. Through ANT mapping, the findings reveal that the materiality of educational robots enabled heterogeneous actors allied in the engineering design process. Ordinary objects, often regarded as peripheral teaching materials, also played influential roles by supporting children in refining their robot designs and developing prototypes. Furthermore, the findings demonstrate how the emergent properties of educational robots reshaped the roles and positions of human actors, transforming teachers into collaborative co-inquirers and repositioning children as engaged engineers. Overall, this study underscores the intersubjective nature of educational technology, illustrates the subtle and nuanced negotiations unfolding within networks of heterogeneous actors, and offers implications for early childhood STEM education, the dynamic complexity of classroom practices, and qualitative research that integrates video-based methods with ANT-oriented analytic approaches. </p>

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Young Children’s Engineering Learning with Educational Robots: An Actor-Network Theory Approach

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2025年12月1日

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  • Sung Eun Jung

摘要

This qualitative study explores how seven-year-old children’s technology-based engineering learning unfolded within networks of human and non-human actors, using the framework of Actor-Network Theory (ANT). This study was conducted in a robotics afterschool program, where preservice early childhood teachers facilitated engineering learning for young children. Data sources included video-recorded participant observations, lesson plans, robotics journals, photos, and teachers’ written reflections. Through ANT mapping, the findings reveal that the materiality of educational robots enabled heterogeneous actors allied in the engineering design process. Ordinary objects, often regarded as peripheral teaching materials, also played influential roles by supporting children in refining their robot designs and developing prototypes. Furthermore, the findings demonstrate how the emergent properties of educational robots reshaped the roles and positions of human actors, transforming teachers into collaborative co-inquirers and repositioning children as engaged engineers. Overall, this study underscores the intersubjective nature of educational technology, illustrates the subtle and nuanced negotiations unfolding within networks of heterogeneous actors, and offers implications for early childhood STEM education, the dynamic complexity of classroom practices, and qualitative research that integrates video-based methods with ANT-oriented analytic approaches.