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This chapter aims to contribute to theorising and empirical research on the materiality of communication in a novel technology-rich educational setting called a ‘makerspace’. It argues that the knowledge is pivotal for understanding and supporting communication and learning in a makerspace environment where the students independently navigate and integrate knowledge from different resources and domains using a range of material artefacts during their design and making activities. Material objects and materiality in general in educational processes are closely intertwined with power, politics and ideology and hence urge more research attention at least from the perspectives of educational equity and educational change. The chapter investigates how the materialities of an educational makerspace mediate the communication processes among students and their teachers during their design and making activities. In explicit mediation, intention is overt, and the materiality as a stimulus means is ‘obvious and non-transitory’.

Buber’s distinction between the ‘I-It’ mode and the ‘I-Thou’ mode is seminal for dialogic education. While Buber introduces the idea of dialogic space, an idea which has proved useful for the analysis of dialogic education with technology, his account fails to engage adequately with the role of technology. This paper offers an introduction to the significance of the I-It/I-Thou duality of technology in relation with opening dialogic space. This is followed by a short schematic history of educational technology which reveals the role technology plays, not only in opening dialogic space, but also in expanding dialogic space. The expansion of dialogic space is an expansion of what it means to be ‘us’ as dialogic engagement facilitates the incorporation, into our shared sense of identity, of aspects of reality that are initially experienced as alien or ‘other’. Augmenting Buber with an alternative understanding of dialogic space enables us to see how dialogue mediated by technology, as well as dialogue with monologised fragments of technology (robots), can, through education, lead to an expansion of what it means to be human.

Dialogic accounts of learning and teaching are not good at including the role of technology. In this exploratory study we use a material-discursive theoretical frame, initially derived from Barad, to apply the concepts of intra-action and affordance in explaining the contribution of the digital to classroom-based group tasks. The microblogging tool ‘Talkwall’ is the focus of this study. The aim of this study is to explore how dialogic intra-actions may develop in material-dialogic space, demonstrating how various affordances are enacted in response to task demands and consequent dialogue. This paper focuses on data from one geography lesson involving 29 students. It reports findings from a detailed micro analysis of intra-action of video data and lesson transcripts, comprising six Talkwall episodes. Through this analysis the concept of affordance is critiqued and we illustrate the intra-action possibilities that may facilitate the creative co-construction of ideas in the material-dialogic space created by the use of Talkwall. The significance of this paper lies in offering and illustrating a new approach to analysing learning and teaching where technology plays an important role., This work was supported by the Research Council of Norway [FINNUT/Project No: 254761].

This chapter begins with the claim that current predominant approaches to thinking in educational theory and policy are grounded in certain philosophical assumptions about the nature of thinking and the human being who thinks. I characterise such assumptions as ‘rationalistic’ to exemplify their relation with formalisable, mechanistic ways of thinking, and with an intellectualised, disengaged picture of the human being who thinks. I critique such a conception on the grounds that it closes down the possibilities of thinking in education, cramping thought into the narrow straits of reason. Yet alternative conceptions of thinking, I argue, can be found within the philosophical schools of phenomenology, ordinary language philosophy and post-structuralism. I explore the connections and contrasts between key thinkers in these traditions to work towards establishing a more adequate philosophical account of human thinking. At the end of the chapter, I suggest how the teaching of thinking in schools might consequently be reconceived, in ways that are richer and more robust than rationalism.

Dialogic pedagogy is being promoted in science teacher education but the literature on dialogic pedagogy tends to focus on explicit voices, and so runs the risk of overlooking the important role that material objects often play in science education. In this paper we use the findings of a teacher survey and classroom case study to argue that there is a gap in the way that science teachers think about the role of materials and that this could be addressed by changes in the theory base of teacher training, augmenting the current constructivist and dialogic theory with the addition of new materialism in the form of Barad’s ‘Agential Realism’. Our findings suggests that science teachers do not regularly explicitly consider the relationship between the material resources they deploy and the dialogic learning taking place. We argue that science teacher training and professional development should pay more attention to the material-dialogic relationships in the learning that emerges in science classrooms.

Language use is widely regarded as an important indicator of high quality learning and reasoning ability. Yet this masks an irony: language is fundamentally a social, collaborative tool, yet despite the widespread recognition of its importance in relation to learning, the role of dialogue is undervalued in learning contexts. In this chapter we argue that to see language as only a tool for individual thought presents a limited view of its transformative power. This power, we argue, lies in the ways in which dialogue is used to interthink – that is, to think together, to build knowledge co-constructively through our shared understanding. Technology can play an important role in resourcing thinking through the provision of information, and support to provide a space to think alone. It can moreover provide significant support for learners to build shared representations together, particularly through giving learners access to a wealth of ‘given’ inter-related texts which resource the co-construction of knowledge.

This socioculturally-framed doctoral dissertation focuses on understanding and researching agency in early years pedagogy from the perspective of both children and teachers in Finnish early childhood education (ECE), pre-primary education and early primary education. In the study, agency is understood as a relational activity and underscores the interactional nature of agency that is constructed into being between people, environment and cultural resources in context. This understanding of agency has been applied in three independent studies that uncover the relational nature of agency (respectively) in children transitioning from pre-primary education to primary education (Study 1); in teachers’ work whilst creating the early years pedagogy according to the new Finnish national core curriculum recommendations on the enhancement of children’s multiliteracies (Study 2); and finally, in the interactions between children and teachers in everyday ECE practices (Study 3). This doctoral dissertation consists of three sub-studies published as articles and a summary. Study 1 is an investigation of children’s (aged 5–7 years) sense of agency across time and space through a framework of modalities of agency. The methodological approach applied in the study drew on visual ethnography that afforded the children with multimodal tools to express and make meaning of their agency in the context of their educational transition. The study makes visible the sociocultural resources that mediated the children’s sense of agency in transition from pre-primary education to primary education. Study 2 is an investigation of agency between two ECE teachers and two pre-primary teachers when they designed and conducted multiliteracy pedagogy in accordance with new curriculum requirements. The analysis of the teachers’ interviews (video and audio data) makes it evident how the open curriculum, along with the teachers’ professional skills and enthusiasm for pedagogical design, were associated with their agency. Study 3 had as its focus an investigation of children’s initiatives and ECE teachers’ responses in the everyday life of the ECE classroom as a means to understand how children’s agency is relationally facilitated or hindered. A detailed interaction analysis of the video data of children’s (n=8) and teachers’ (n=2) interaction revealed several modes through which the children communicated their initiatives and how teachers responded to these initiatives, thereby resulting in the creation of an analytical typology of agency. The results revealed adult-child relationships that give rise to a range of opportunities for children’s agency from the relational perspective. Overall, the results in this doctoral dissertation contribute to early years pedagogy in Finnish education by revealing how agency is relationally constructed in sociocultural contexts across children, teachers, and the socio-material and cultural environment. This study introduces potential visual and participatory methods to investigate agency in the everyday lives of young children and their teachers in contextually and culturally sensitive ways. These methods also have the potential to guide teachers’ pedagogical work in the early years. In addition, the results show the importance of examining the power relations and roles between children and teachers in early years pedagogy and how they should be reflected upon and revised if necessary. Examining and (re)building early years pedagogy with children and teachers creates opportunities for relational agency in which both children and teachers can be empowered. The results bring new knowledge for pedagogical efforts, the aim of which is to recognise and enhance children’s agency in early years education. When developing pedagogy, the aim of which is to support agency, it is important to concentrate on listening to both children and teachers, and acknowledging children’s initiatives. ________________________________________ Keywords: Relational agency, early childhood education, pre-primary and primary education, early years pedagogy, sociocultural theory, visual and participatory research Suomalainen varhaiskasvatus sekä esiopetus perustuu lapsilähtöiseen pedagogiikkaan, jossa lasten aloitteet, toiveet ja ideat ovat pedagogiikan lähtökohta. Tämä näkyy vahvasti vallalla olevissa varhaiskasvatuksen ja esiopetuksen opetussuunnitelmissa. Myös perusopetuksen ensimmäisillä luokilla lapsia tulee kannustaa tuomaan esille kiinnostusten kohteitaan. Omien ajatusten ja toiveiden esiintuominen liittyy vahvasti toimijuuteen sekä mahdollisuuteen vaikuttaa omaan elämäänsä. Toimijuuden avulla lapset rakentavat identiteettiään, kun he tuovat ajatuksiaan esiin, ja niistä neuvotellaan, heidän aloitteitaan huomioidaan ja ne ohjaavat tilanteita, ja näin yhdessä muiden kanssa lapset vaikuttavat heidän ympärillä olevaan maailmaan. Lapsilähtöisen pedagogiikan, jossa huomioidaan lasten toimijuus, on huomattu olevan haastavaa toteuttaa. Sosiokulttuuriseen teoriaan pohjautuva väitöskirjani tarkastelee ja tutkii toimijuutta pienten lasten pedagogiikan viitekehyksessä suomalaisen varhaiskasvatuksen sekä esi- ja alkuopetuksen kontekstissa lasten ja opettajien näkökulmasta. Tutkimus ymmärtää toimijuuden relationaalisesti ja sosiokulttuurisesti rakentuvana toimintana, joka ilmenee ihmisten välisessä vuorovaikutuksessa, sekä ympäristön ja kulttuuristen resurssien välillä. Tutkimuksessa toimijuuden ajatellaan olevan yhteisesti rakennettua toimintaa, joka tukee jokaisen mahdollisuutta vaikuttaa ympäristöön ja ympärillä tapahtuvaan toimintaan. Väitöskirjani kolmea artikkelia yhdistää sosiokulttuurinen näkemys toimijuudesta. Ne avaavat relationaalista toimijuutta kolmessa eri kontekstissa: lasten siirtyessä esiopetuksesta perusopetukseen, opettajien pedagogisessa työssä uuden opetussuunnitelman ja siinä olevan monilukutaidon pedagogiikan suunnittelussa ja toteutuksessa ja lasten ja opettajien vuorovaikutuksessa varhaiskasvatuksen arjessa. Tutkimuksissa on tutkittu toimijuutta lasten ja opettajien näkökulmista sekä heidän yhdessä koetun arjen yhteydessä osallistavien tutkimusmenetelmien avulla. Tutkimusmenetelminä tutkimuksissa on hyödynnetty visuaalista etnografiaa, haastatteluja, videointia ja havainnointia. Tutkimustulokset osoittavat kuinka toimijuus rakentuu yhteisen toiminnan kautta varhaiskasvatuksen sekä esi- ja alkuopetuksen pedagogiikassa materiaalisten ja kulttuuristen resurssien välillä. Tutkimus esittelee visuaalisia ja osallistavia menetelmiä, joita voi konteksti- ja kulttuurikohtaisesti hyödyntää tutkittaessa lasten ja opettajien arkea varhaiskasvatuksessa. Menetelmät auttavat myös opettajia heidän pedagogisessa työssä. Tutkimustulokset tuottavat tärkeää tietoa lasten ja aikuisten valtasuhteista ja rooleista, ja siitä kuinka näitä tulisi tarvittaessa pohtia ja muokata yhdessä. Toimijuus toteutuu, kun lapset ja opettajat muokkaavat oppimisympäristöjä sekä pedagogiikkaa yhdessä. Tutkimuksen perusteella lasta kuunteleva pedagogiikka edistää lasten toimijuutta. Avainsanat: Relationaalinen toimijuus, varhaiskasvatus, esi- ja alkuopetus, pienten lasten pedagogiikka, sosiokulttuurinen teoria, visuaalinen ja osallistava tutkimus