Interaction, Embodiment, and Technologies in Early Years Learning

这笔赠款让我有机会成为未来儿童学习新技术的研究带头人，拥有儿童行为与他们的手势和思维之间的联系的专业知识。新技术在幼儿的生活中扮演着越来越重要的角色，并引发了一些重要的问题，例如：为什么身体行动对儿童的学习方式很重要？新技术将如何改变儿童的学习？这笔赠款将通过在国际公认的伦敦知识实验室精心设计的研究和培训计划来帮助解决这些问题，该实验室建立在我以前作为幼儿教师和研究员的经验基础上。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术人员，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。背景我们通常给孩子们提供材料，如木块，帮助他们学习。然而，目前还不清楚这些物品是如何帮助儿童的。随着iPad等新设备改变互动，了解儿童互动如何影响他们的学习变得越来越重要。这也具有重要的理论意义。最近的研究表明，我们的思维方式可能是“具体化的”，也就是说，与我们的物理体验密不可分。证据来自于人们描述想法时的手势，比如把手放在一起来解释加法。因此，儿童与材料的行为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与材料的行为如何影响他们用来解释想法的语言和手势。我将把重点放在数学上，并研究儿童是如何操纵物理积木来解释数字关系的，比如为什么2+7=3+6。然后我会将儿童的行为与其他材料进行比较，包括使用鼠标、iPad或手势识别设备(例如Wii)操纵的数字方块。这项研究将有助于了解身体活动在儿童思维中的作用，以及新设备可能产生的影响。它还将产生供广泛分享的数字材料。培训我将通过对儿童动作、手势和言语之间关系的创新视频分析(多模式分析)来拓宽我的方法专业知识。伦敦知识实验室现在是多模式研究方法的国家节点，提供发展必要技能的专业知识，我的导师都在多模式研究和新技术方面拥有国际知名度。我将通过对芝加哥和加州的实验室进行培训访问来进一步提高我的专业知识，这些实验室专门研究手势和学习互动技术。为了更广泛地分享这项研究，我还与另外两个组织商定了培训周期：为早期专业人员开发工作坊套装，并生成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。我将通过期刊、会议、研讨会、研讨会、报告和在线文章发布研究结果。我将建立我现有的学术网络，以便在国内和国际上进行合作，包括一期关于早年和技术的特刊。我将认识到这项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，扩大我目前与教师和企业的网络。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，一个提供从报纸到视频剪辑的材料的网站，可下载的应用程序，以及一个吸引更多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.