Interaction, Embodiment, and Technologies in Early Years Learning

这笔赠款使我有机会成为未来的研究领导者，为幼儿学习新技术，在儿童的行动如何与他们的手势和思维相关的专业知识。新技术在幼儿的生活中发挥着越来越大的作用，并提出了一些重要的问题，例如：为什么身体动作对儿童的学习方式很重要？新技术将如何改变孩子的学习？这笔赠款将有助于通过在国际公认的伦敦知识实验室，这是建立在我以前的经验，作为一个幼儿教师和研究员精心设计的研究和培训计划解决这些问题。这项研究将为教育、心理学和计算机科学领域的学者和非学者（包括教师、家长、企业和其他参与儿童学习的人）提供知识和新的数字学习材料。背景我们通常会给孩子一些材料，比如木块，来帮助他们学习。然而，目前还不清楚这些物品如何帮助儿童。随着iPad等新设备改变互动方式，了解儿童的互动如何影响他们的学习变得越来越重要。还有重要的理论意义。最近的研究表明，我们的思维方式可能是“固定的”，也就是说，与我们的身体体验密不可分。证据来自于人们描述想法时的手势，比如双手合十来解释加法。因此，儿童对材料的动作也可能帮助他们解释想法，甚至可能发展出我们后来在手势中看到的想法。研究I将开发新的方法来研究儿童对材料的动作如何影响他们用来解释想法的语言和手势。我将专注于数学，并研究儿童如何操纵物理块来解释数字关系，例如为什么2+7=3+6。然后，我将比较儿童的行动与其他材料，包括数字广场操纵使用鼠标，iPad或手势识别设备（例如'wii'）。这项研究将有助于了解身体动作在儿童思维中的作用以及新设备可能产生的影响。培训我将通过对儿童的动作、手势和言语之间的关系进行创新性视频分析（“多模式分析”），拓宽我的方法论专业知识。伦敦知识实验室，现在是多模态研究方法的国家节点，提供了发展必要技能的专业知识，我的导师都在多模态研究和新技术方面具有国际知名度。我将通过对芝加哥和加州实验室的培训访问来进一步发展我的专业知识，这些实验室专门研究手势和互动技术。为了更广泛地分享研究成果，我还与另外两个组织商定了培训时间：为早期专业人员开发研讨会套件，并制作多媒体资源供在线访问。分享知识工作将使用传统和创新的方式进行介绍。我将通过期刊、会议、讲习班、研讨会、报告和在线文章发表调查结果。我将建立我现有的学术网络，在国内和国际上进行合作，包括一个关于早期和技术的特刊。我将认识到这个建议对非学术受众的价值，通过一系列活动，包括研讨会，教师培训，报告，新闻稿和杂志文章，扩展我与教师和企业的现有网络。重要的是，我将发展我的知识和技能，以利用新媒体：制作专业的视频材料，提供从论文到视频剪辑材料的网站，可下载的应用程序，以及吸引更广泛受众的公共互动活动。

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.