ABSTRACT: Research into students’ understanding of complex systems typically ignores young children because of misinterpretations of young children’s competencies. Furthermore, studies that do recognize young children’s competencies tend to focus on what children can do in isolation. As an alternative, we propose an approach to designing for young children that is grounded in the notion of the Zone of Proximal Development (Vygotsky 1978) and leverages Activity Theory to design learning environments. In order to highlight the benefits of this approach, we describe our process for using Activity Theory to inform the design of new software and curricula in a way that is productive for young children to learn concepts that we might have previously considered to be “developmentally inappropriate”. As an illuminative example, we then present a discussion of the design of the BeeSign simulation software and accompanying curriculum which specifically designed from an Activity Theory perspective to engage young children in learning about complex systems (Danish 2009a, b). Furthermore, to illustrate the benefits of this approach, we will present findings from a new study where 40 first- and second-grade students participated in the BeeSign curriculum to learn about how honeybees collect nectar from a complex systems perspective. We conclude with some practical suggestions for how such an approach to using Activity Theory for research and design might be adopted by other science educators and designers.

ABSTRACT: All too often, designers assume that complex science and cycles of inquiry are beyond the capabilities of young children (5-8 years old). However, with carefully designed mediators, we argue that such concepts are well within their grasp. In this paper we describe two design iterations of the BeeSign simulation software that was designed to help young children learn about honeybees collect nectar from a complex systems perspective. We summarize findings from two studies that suggest that this design has been successful in teaching and motivating these young children and demonstrates how activity theory can guide design.

Try BeeSign 1.3 | Instructions

BeeSign 1.0 was originally created as part of the BeeSign project for use in the First BeeSign Study. The current version, 1.3, was created for use with Cross-Curriculum Representational Practices Project (CCRP).

For a list of all materials related to BeeSign, click here

The CCRP project has two main goals:

1. To further examine students’ understanding of complex systems related concepts in the context of honeybees collecting nectar.  In short, a follow-up to several aspects of the first BeeSign study with a modified curriculum to reflect lessons learned from the prior implementation.
2. To further our understanding of students’ representational practices by examining them in both science and language arts.  This will provide some important contrast and further unpack the influence of context upon students’ representational activities.

This is a collaboration with Kylie Peppler and David Phelps.

This project also makes use of the BeeSign simulation software.

This project involved the implementation of a 10 week science curriculum unit for kindergarten and first grade which was designed to:

1. Examine students’ representational practices, and encourage students to be more reflective as they create representations in science.
2. Teach students about the process of honeybees collecting nectar from the perspective of complex systems, focussing on concepts such as emergence and interdependence in order to better understand how young students engage with and learn these complicated concepts.

To support these goals, the curriculum included a new form of activity called participatory modeling. Participatory modeling is an activity in which students engage in acting out their current understanding of the content in a way that leverages their ability to communicate well with their peers to help them focus on refining their model of the concepts. In addition, I developed a computer simulation called BeeSign to help students examine and experiment with the simulated behavior of a honeybee hive as it collects nectar.

Check out the related publications.