The Child as Learner, Critic, Inventor, and Technology Design Partner: An Analysis of Three Years of Swedish Student Journals

From Autumn 1998 to Spring 2001, 27 Swedish children (14, at age 5 and 13, at age 7) partnered with an interdisciplinary and international group of researchers supported by a grant from the European Union to create new storytelling technologies for children. After each of the many design activities, children were asked to reflect with drawings and/or writing in a bound paper journal. As the project concluded in the third year, the children's journals were analyzed and four constructs emerged from the data: learner, critic, inventor, and technology design partner. This study examines the motivation for such a research and learning experience, describes the changes in roles we saw represented in our child partners' journals, and suggests possible future directions for educators and technology developers. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.