Agency, Embodiment, & Affect During Play in a Mixed-Reality Learning Environment

Beginning from the assumption that young children (ages 6-8) are capable of reasoning about complex phenomena [12], we set out to better understand dimensions of the Science through Technology Enhanced Play environment that provided support for children to learn about relationships between multiple levels of an emergent phenomenon [23] states of matter. We conducted interactional analysis [15] of several moments in two classrooms as students developed and refined understanding of rules that connect micro behavior of particles of water to macro understanding about states of matter. We argue that central to students' disciplinary work were (1) multiple forms of agency negotiated within the STEP environment that were deeply intertwined with (2) students' embodiment. Agency and embodiment both supported students' consensus understanding of relationships between levels of the states of matter phenomenon (3) through students' joyful and playful collaborative work. We examine several episodes in detail to explore these findings.