Building with focus on stability and construction: using a story as inspiration when teaching technology and design in preschool

Författare
Walan, S., Flognman, J. & Kilbrink, N.
År
2020

Syfte

The study investigates how kindergarten children learn about the concept of stability when building structures using different materials and techniques for a particular purpose (here: for the animals in a story they have been told). The research questions are: 1) What kind of content can be identified based on the children’s ability to build and construct using different techniques and materials? (2) What connections to the story do the children make as they build?

Resultat

The children showed some degree of understanding of how to use different building materials together, but they could not explain why the structure sometimes collapsed. Nor did they use the term ‘stability’ while talking about the construction. Where the children had prior knowledge of construction from is unknown. Although they were not asked to think about the appearance or aesthetics of the structure, this was something that the children in the study were interested in. The children related to the story of the cow and the crow while building, and also created new stories. The researchers believe it is important that children have space and access to enough and different materials when building a structure. They call for more conversations between the kindergarten teachers and the children about the children’s use of materials and the stability of the building. In this way, the children could have increased their knowledge about stability.

Design

Ten children (ages four and five) and two kindergarten teachers had read a story together about a cow and a crow. The children were asked to build as high a tower as possible for the cow and the crow. 15 video recordings were made of the children while they were carrying out the task. The three researchers reviewed the video recordings separately and then discussed them with a focus on thematic categorisation and subcategorisation of the content.

Referenser

Walan, S., Flognman, J. & Kilbrink, N. (2020). “Building with focus on stability and construction: using a story as inspiration when teaching technology and design in preschool". Education 3-13, 48(2):174-190.