Mapping Children’s Actions in the Scaffolding Process Using Interactive Whiteboard

The purpose of the study is to investigate how children’s actions are affected by educators’ guidance when interactive whiteboards (IWB) are used in kindergarten. The study seeks to map specific actions that children perform in response to various guidance strategies, such as experimenting, collaborating and solving problems. Through this, the researchers want to broaden their understanding of how educational guidance can support children’s learning and development in a digitalised context.

The study identified twelve different actions among the children, such as providing short answers, experimenting, collaborating and solving problems in interaction with the educators. The results show that children become more engaged in complex activities when educators use a combination of supportive guidance strategies, such as feedback and joint participation. The study concludes that educators’ active guidance and adapted support help develop children’s cognitive and social skills in digital learning environments.

The study uses a qualitative research method based on video observations of kindergarten teachers and children interacting with an interactive whiteboard (IWB) in a Swedish kindergarten. Five educators and 22 children participated in the study over a period of five months, where researchers analysed children’s verbal and physical responses to the educator’s guidance. The observations were transcribed and encoded to identify various actions that children performed in interaction with the educators during the interactive activities.

Masoumi, D., Bourbour, M., & Lindqvist, G. (2024). Mapping Children’s Actions in the Scaffolding Process Using Interactive Whiteboard. Early Childhood Education Journal, 52(6), 1209–1220.

Online year: 2023

Issue year: 2023

Review year: 2023