Lipponen L., Rajala A., Hilppo J., Paananen M. Exploring the Foundations of Visual Methods Used in Research with Children
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Lipponen L., Rajala A., Hilppo J., Paananen M. Exploring the Foundations of Visual Methods Used in Research with Children // Preschool Education Today. 2017, Issue 10 -
p. 67–75.
This work is licensed under a Сreative Commons Atribiution - NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Abstract
The growing interest in researching and documenting young children’s perspectives and experiences, has led to an increasing use of visual methods, such as photograps and videos. Studies to date, however, have seen artifacts as neutral tools, and have not revealed the differences between the functions of visual artifacts in the research process, and their functions in children’s lives more broadly. In view of this, we scrutinize the function of visual artifacts, using Wenger’s notion of reification, Vygotsky’s idea of mediation, and Wartofsky’s historical epistemology. We enliven the theoretical discussion by featuring illustrative vignettes from our previous study conducted at a Finnish preschool. We then discuss the consequences of our analysis in terms of documentation, and joint reflections that capture and construct the children’s experiences. A number of educational implications are highlighted.
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2. Bruner, J. 1986. Actual Minds, Possible Worlds. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
3. Christensen, P., and A. James. 2008. Research with Children: Perspectives and Practices. London: Routledge.
4. Clark, C. D. 1999. “The Autodriven Interview: A Photographic Viewfinder into Children’s Experiences.” Visual Sociology 14: 39–50.
5. Clark, A. 2005. “Listening to and Involving Young Children: A Review of Research and Practice.” Early Child Development and Care 175: 489–505.
6. Clark, A. 2010. “Young Children as Protagonists and the Role of Participatory, Visual Methods in Engaging Multiple Perspectives.” American Journal of Community Psychology 46: 115–123.
7. Cole, M., and N. Gajdamaschko. 2007. “Vygotsky and Culture.” In The Cambridge Companion to Vygotsky, edited by H. Daniels, M. Cole, and J. V. Wertsch, 193–211. New York: Cambridge University Press.
8. Collier, J. Jr. 1957. “Photography in Anthropology: A Report on Two Experiments.” American Anthropologist 59: 843–859.
9. Cook, T., and E. Hess, 2007. “What the Camera Sees and from Whose Perspective: Fun Methodologies for Engaging Children in Enlightening Adults.” Childhood 14: 29–45.
10. Edwards, A. 2014. “Learning from Experience in Teaching: A Cultural Historical Critique.” In Learning Teaching from Experience: Multiple Perspectives, International Contexts, edited by V. Ellis and J. Orchard, 47–61. London: Bloomsbury.
11. Einarsdottir, J. 2014. “Children’s Perspectives on the Role of Preschool Teachers.” European Early Childhood Education Research Journal 22: 679–697.
12. Engestrцm, Y. 1990. “When is a Tool? Multiple Meanings of Artifacts in Human Acivity.” In Learning, Working and Imagining. Twelve Studies in Activity Theory, edited by Y. Engestцm, 171–195. Helsinki: Orienta-Konsultit Oy.
13. Fenwick, T., R. Edwards, and P. Sawchuk. 2011. Emerging Approaches to Educational Research: Tracing the Socio-material. London: Routledge.
14. Freeman, M. 1998. “The Sociology of Childhood and Children’s Rights.” The International Journal of Children’s Rights 6: 433–444.
15. Freeman, M. 2000. “The Future of Children’s Rights.” Children & Society 14: 277–293.
16. Gillespie, A., and T. Zittoun. 2010. “Using Resources: Conceptualising the Mediation and Reflective Use of Tools and Signs.” Culture & Psychology 16: 37–62.
17. Goldman-Segall, R. 1998. Points of Wiewing Children’s Thinking: A Digital Ethnographer’s Journey. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers.
18. Gray, C., and D. Harcourt. 2012. “Introducing Children’s Participatory Research in Action: Challenges and Dilemmas.” International Journal of Early Years Education 20: 221–223.
19. Harper, D. 2002. “Talking about Pictures: A Case for Photo Elicitation.” Visual Studies 17: 13–26.
20. Hilppц, J., K. Kumpulainen, L. Lipponen, and A. Rajala. Forthcoming. “Visual Artifacts as Mediational Means: A Methodological Investigation.”
21. Ilyenkov, E. 1977. The Concept of the Ideal. Philosophy in the USSR: Problems of dialectical materialism, 71–99.
22. Kumpulainen, K., L. Lipponen, J. Hilppц, and A. Mikkola. 2014. “Building on the Positive in Children’s Lives: A Co-participatory Study on the Social Construction of Children’s Sense of Agency.” Early Child Development and Care 184: 211–229.
23. Lather, P., and E. A. St. Pierre. 2013. “Post-qualitative Research.” International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 26: 629–633.
24. Latour, B. 2005. Reassembling the Social-An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
25. Leontiev, A. N. 1978. Activity, Consciousness, Personality. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
26. Linell, P. 2009. Rethinking Language, Mind and World Dialogically: Interactional and Contextual Theories of Human Sense-making. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
27. Lipponen, L., Kumpulainen, K. & Paananen, M. Forthcoming. “Children’s perspective to curriculum work: Meaningful moments in Finnish early childhood education.” In M. Fleer & B. van Oers, B. (eds.), International Handbook on Early Childhood Education. New York: Springer.
28. Mahn, H., and V. John-Steiner. 2002. “The Gift of Confidence: A Vygotskian View of Emotions.” In Learning for Life in the 21st Century: Sociocultural Perspectives on the Future of Education, edited by G. Wells and G. Claxton, 46–58. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
29. Middleton, D., and S. Brown. 2005. The Social Psychology of Experience: Studies in Remembering and Forgetting. London: Sage.
30. Miettinen, R. 1999. “The Riddle of Things: Activity Theory and Actor-network Theory as Approaches to Study Innovations.” Mind, Culture, and Activity 6: 170–195.
31. Plowman, L., and O. Stevenson. 2012. “Using Mobile Phone Diaries to Explore Children’s Everyday Lives.” Childhood 19: 539–553.
32. Qvortrup, J. 1994. “Childhood Matters: An Introduction.” In Childhood Matters. Social Theory, Practice and Politics, edited by J. Qvortrup, M. Bardy, G. Sgritta, and H. Wintersberger, 1–24. Avebury: Aldershot.
33. Ritella, G., and K. Hakkarainen. 2012. “Instrument Genesis in Technology Mediated Learning: From Double Stimulation to Expansive Knowledge Practices.” International Journal of Computer-supported Collaborative Learning 7: 239–258.
34. Sannino, A. 2008. “Sustaining a Non-dominant Activity in School: Only a Utopia?” Journal of Educational Change 9: 329–338.
35. Sannino, A., and B. Sutter. 2011. “Cultural-historical Activity Theory and Interventionist Methodology: Classical Legacy and Contemporary Developments.” Theory & Psychology 21: 557–570.
36. Schoultz, J., R. Sдljц, and J. Wyndhamn. 2001. “Heavenly Talk: Discourse, Artifacts, and Children’s Understanding of Elementary Astronomy.” Human Development 44: 103–118.
37. Smith, A., J. Duncan, and K. Marshall. 2005. “Children’s Perspective on their Learning: Exploring Methods.” Early Child Development and Care 175: 473–487.
38. Sommer, D., I. Pramling Samuelsson, and K. Hundeide. 2010. Child Perspectives and Children’s Perspectives in Theory and Practice. Milton Keynes: Springer.
39. Stetsenko, A., and I. M. Arievitch. 2004. “The Self in Cultural-Historical Activity Theory: Reclaiming the Unity of Social and Individual Dimensions of Human Development.” Theory & Psychology 14: 475–503.
40. Thomson, P., ed. 2008. Doing Visual Research with Children and Young People. London: Routledge.
41. Vygotsky, L. S. 1978. Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Mental Processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
42. Vygotsky, L. S. 1994. “The Problem of the Environment.” In The Vygotsky Reader, edited by R. Van der Veer and J. Valsiner, 325–354. Oxford: Blackwell.
43. Vygotsky, L. S. 1997. “The Historical Meaning of the Crisis in Psychology: A Methodological Investigation.” In The Collected Works of L.S. Vygotsky: Vol. 3. Problems of the Theory and History of Psychology, edited by R. B. Rieber, and J. Wollock, 233–343. New York, NY: Plenum.
44. Wartofsky, M. 1979. Models, Representation, and the Scientific Understanding. Boston: Reidel.
45. Wenger, E. 1998. Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press.
46. Zittoun, T., and F. Cerchia. 2013. “Imagination as Expansion of Experience.” Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science 47: 305–324.