'Horrible or Happy--We'll Have a Little Grey Now': Aesthetic Judgements in Children's Narration with an Interactive Whiteboard

This empirical study investigates what activities emerge when six-year olds are instructed to create narratives with an interactive whiteboard (IWB). A detailed analysis is provided of what the participants are oriented towards in the activity, and further what aesthetic judgements are used and their role in the evolving activity. Theoretically, the study builds on a sociocultural perspective on learning and Dewey's (1934-80. "Art as Experience." New York, NY: Perigee Books) philosophy on aesthetic experience. The empirical data consist of video recordings of six technology-mediated story-making activities in a preschool class. The findings show that even when the teacher attempts to scaffold narrative learning, the children direct their attention foremost to the visual arts, which occasionally lead to the participants' insufficient intersubjectivity. This finding is explained with reference to the inherent design of the IWB. Furthermore, the participants frequently use aesthetic judgements on both actions and the created visual objects. The judgements turn out to constitute directives in terms of leading the activities forward and, importantly, being indicators of the children's learning.