Abstract
We describe the design of the Science through Technology Enhanced Play (STEP) project. In STEP, we explore the potential for dramatic play-a form of activity that is particularly familiar to early elementary students-to promote meaningful inquiry about scientific concepts. We report on the first round of design experiments conducted with 120 first and second grade students who investigated how and why different states of matter have different properties. Prepost analyses indicate that the majority of students learned the content and demonstrate how the affordances of the socio-technical system promoted the transition from individual observation to collective inquiry, how play as the root activity provided agency within that inquiry, and how the teacher and the social norms of the classroom reinforced these productive social processes.
Original language | English (US) |
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Title of host publication | Proceedings of the 50th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS 2017 |
Editors | Tung X. Bui, Ralph Sprague |
Publisher | IEEE Computer Society |
Pages | 2096-2105 |
Number of pages | 10 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9780998133102 |
State | Published - 2017 |
Externally published | Yes |
Event | 50th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS 2017 - Big Island, United States Duration: Jan 3 2017 → Jan 7 2017 |
Publication series
Name | Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences |
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Volume | 2017-January |
ISSN (Print) | 1530-1605 |
Conference
Conference | 50th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS 2017 |
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Country/Territory | United States |
City | Big Island |
Period | 1/3/17 → 1/7/17 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation NSF IIS-1323767. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are our own and do not necessarily reflect the position of the NSF.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. All rights reserved.