Interaction, Embodiment, and Technologies in Early Years Learning

This grant gives me the opportunity to become a future research leader into new technologies for young children's learning, with expertise in how children's actions relate to their gestures and thinking. New technologies play an ever- increasing role in the lives of young children, and raise important questions such as: why is physical action important in the way children learn? How will new technologies change children's learning?

This grant will help address such questions through a carefully designed programme of research and training at the internationally recognised London Knowledge Lab, which builds upon my prior experiences as an Infant Teacher and Research Fellow. The research will contribute knowledge and new digital learning materials to both: academics in the fields of Education, Psychology and Computer Science; and non-academics, including teachers, parents, businesses and others involved in children's learning.

Background
We commonly give children materials, such as wooden blocks, to help them learn. Yet it remains unclear how these objects help children. Understanding how children's interactions affect their learning is increasingly important as new devices such as the iPad, change interaction. There are also important theoretical implications. Recent work has shown that the way we think may be 'embodied', that is to say, inseparably linked to our physical experiences. Evidence comes from the way that people gesture when describing ideas, such as moving their hands together to explain addition. It is possible therefore that children's actions with materials also help them explain ideas, and may even develop ideas we later see in gestures.

Research
I will develop new methods of examining how children's actions with materials affect the language and gestures they use to explain ideas. I will focus on mathematics, and examine how children manipulate physical blocks to explain number relationships such as why 2+7=3+6. I will then compare children's actions with other materials including digital squares manipulated using a mouse, iPad or gesture recognition device (e.g. 'wii'). This research will contribute knowledge about the role of physical actions in children's thinking and the likely impact of new devices. It will also generate digital materials to be shared widely.

Training
I will broaden my methodological expertise through innovative video analysis of the relationship between children's actions, gestures and speech ('multimodal analysis'). The London Knowledge Lab, now a national node for multimodal research methods, provides the expertise to develop the necessary skills and my mentors both have internationally high profiles in multimodal research and novel technologies. I will further my expertise through training visits to labs in Chicago and California, who specialise in gesture and interactive technologies for learning. To share the research more widely, I have also agreed training periods with two other organisations: to develop workshop packages for early years professionals and generate multimedia resources for online access.

Sharing knowledge
Work will be presented using traditional and innovative means. I will publish findings through journals, conferences, workshops, seminars, reports and online articles. I will build my existing academic networks to collaborate both nationally and internationally, including a special issue on Early Years and Technology.

I will realise the value of this proposal to non-academic audiences, extending my current networks with teachers and businesses through a range of activities including workshops, teacher training, reports, press releases and magazine articles. Importantly, I will develop my knowledge and skills to take advantage of new media: producing professional video materials, a website offering materials from papers to video clips, downloadable apps, and a public interactive event to engage a wider audience.

This proposal has been developed in order to maximise academic, economic, social, and cultural impact.

Academic
As identified in the Academic Beneficiaries section, this proposal is able to draw links between disciplines and consequently foster creative collaborations. A key aspect of the project is the development of novel methods for analyzing multimodal forms of interaction and expression. These methods will be communicated with researchers across disciplines (as well as directly training the Research Assistant employed for video analysis).

Economic
Digital technologies are transforming business, government, wider society, and increasingly education through a number of start-up companies. For example, in the last two years, more than 1000 commercial applications for the iPad have been marketed for young children. By furthering our understanding of children's interaction with technology and learning, this project can help evaluate these and develop new learning designs, both physical and virtual. Indeed, I developed good links with UK industry during my ESRC fellowship (e.g. BBC, 2simple, VTech, Promethean, LandofMe) through events such as the Digital Childhood seminar series and STELLAR (European project for Technology Enhanced Learning) meetings. My recent support for the company PlingToys demonstrates the potential of this research to promote new start-ups.

This proposal is also able to inform financial decisions about purchasing equipment in schools. Echoing previous trends (e.g. electronic boards), there has been a recent interest in Early Years Education for devices such as iPads. Considering how these devices continue to be updated, information is needed to evaluate what may constitute significant investment.

Social
The studies proposed in this research will involve several schools, notably those in areas where children may have less educational experiences with novel forms of technology. As the research focuses on a curriculum area (number concepts), this will directly benefit the children taking part in studies, as well as other children (in the class and school) where I will take advantage of my previous experiences as a teacher to explain the concepts focused upon, and encourage reflection on the role of technology. Providing information to teachers and parents will also develop their knowledge to support children. Findings from the research, as well as the training materials and digital resources provided, will develop the expertise of a much larger audience of early years professionals.

This research will contribute to our understanding of the role of technology in young children's education. Reflecting greater awareness of the importance of digital literacy in education, this has become an increasing focus of political and media debate. As well as provide much needed information to evaluate claims for the benefits or perils of young children's use of technology, this research can help foster debate surrounding the educational opportunities offered by devices that are increasing available to children before they start school. Such possibilities need to be considered alongside equality issues arising from differences in provision.

Cultural
The increasing integration of technology in society has had a large cultural impact, causing many to critically reflect upon the nature of such change. Digital technology influences how we interact with the world and each other; providing technologies for young children requires us to reconsider our values and responsibilities. This research touches upon many of these issues, such as when and how we introduce young children to digital devices, the importance of hands-on interaction in the way we think and learn, or how technology influences, and sometimes challenges, traditional adult-child interactions. A key aim will be to engage a wide audience from diverse backgrounds in these themes central to this research.