Four seasons of educational robotics : substansive theory on the encounters between educational robotics and children in the dimensions of access and ownership

Abstract

Various kinds of educational robotics are available for use in education, but their mere availability in the classroom is not reason enough to use them as a learning tool.The suitability of educational robotics as a learning tool depends on how they t into the children's worlds, teachers' conceptions regarding learning and teaching and the educational setting as a whole.This study focused on the children's actions with educational robotics and investigated the types of encounters between educational robotics and children.The study further investigated the type of properties of educational robotics which contributed to children's action with it.The study interpreted educational robotics through the technological properties of robotics using a metaphor drawn from the concepts of theoretical linguistics.Educational robotics included the properties of 1) phonology that represented the appearance and "look" of the robot, 2) morphology that represented the structure and hardware as the body of the robot, 3) syntax that represented the functionality and software as the behavior of the robot and 4) semantics as the meaning and mind of the robot.The properties were linked to four temporal stages of work namely orientation, structure manipulation, function manipulation and playful action with the robot.The conducting of this research was a long-term process which took place in real life environments.The data collection, which took place in different research environments, took place from 2006 to 2008, and the phased analysis process by the GT method occurred between 2007 and 2011.This included 34 hours of video data and the categorizing of 1 769 video clips.However, constructing the substantive theory regarding the encounters between educational robotics and children was not an intensive process all the time as it included gaps (of sometimes months) during which ideas were developed beyond my other research and project activities.Analysis of the encounters was based on video data and a Grounded Theory (GT) methodology that examined the topic through the use of three different kinds of educational robotics, with three different groups of children in three different educational environments.The robotics kit, LEGO Mindstorms NXT, was used by a group of fth and sixth grade children in elementary special education.The construction kit, Topobo, was used by a group of children aged between four and ve in kindergarten.The social robot, RUBI, was used by one-and twoyear-old children in early childhood education.Children's action with educational robotics and the responses of educational robotics to the children's actions showed that the encounters between educational robotics and children were twodimensional.Encounters comprised of elements that related to the promoting and preventing properties of educational robotics, children's action as recipients and producers, and time.Regarding the temporal dimension, encounters occurred during orientation, structure manipulation, function manipulation and playful action which all included elements of educational robotics that either promoted or prevented children's action, and the role of children as a recipient or a producer of educational robotics.Based on these dimensions encounters emerged as: wild, tame, slave and unapproachable which I metaphorically refer to as seasons.None of the seasons presented as a stable position but they changed during the childrens working.They thus specically relate to the processes and the properties of educational robotics.An explanatory factor for the movement between seasons was the constant interaction between access and ownership.Access represented the technological and ownership the experimental features that emerged through children's action with educational robotics.Access and ownership appeared on the dimensions of achieved -lost and limited -prospective.The constant interaction between access and ownership determined the course of children's action with educati