Barns möten med kartan som tekniskt hjälpmedel : "Den blir ju större i verkligheten..."

Sammanfattning

Based on our previous experiences of working in preschools, a lack of technical teaching has been made visible. Technology is everywhere in human everyday life and society in general and should therefore play a greater role in children´s pre-school education from an early age. The purpose of this study was to contribute knowledge about five-year-old preschool children's understanding of the map as a technical aid. This was investigated through qualitative interviews where the children in small groups got to discuss different types of maps, their structure and purpose, and the children got to share previous experiences in the use of maps. Activities were also carried out where the children were allowed to use a map that was either in paper or digital form where they were instructed to navigate to a predetermined goal. The results showed several qualitatively different ways in how the children had experienced the map before, how they interpret and understand the map's structure and purpose and in their discoveries about the map in relation to the outside world. The conclusion was that through our engaging and supportive approach, the children expressed their interpretations and their understanding of the different maps and participated in the study in an active and exploratory way. Through our starting point in the theory of variation, the children were able to distinguish similarities and differences in the exploration of the maps, and thereby create an understanding of the map as a technical aid. This study wishes to contribute to active people receiving an encouragement in daring to explore the technology didactic in everyday life and that this can be done with simple means to create a joyful learning.