Technology Education and Informal Learning : Technology in the Swedish Leisure-Time Centre as Boundary Object

• A majority of Swedish children between six and nine years old attend afterschool activities in a leisure-time centre, fritidshem, until their parents finish work for the day. Leisure-time centres are characterised by “educare” activities, that is, both educational and carerelated activities and thus both formal and informal learning settings. The centres are part of the Swedish educational system and activities should be related to the national curriculum for the compulsory school. The centres are right now in an interesting transition which will lead to the introduction of more formal learning activities, for instance, in technology, at the same time as virtually no research has been carried out on technology activities in the centres. The aim of this paper is therefore to study the role of technology in activities in leisure-time centres. The results are drawn from field work conducted in three Swedish leisure-time centres. The observations focused upon the daily activities in the leisure centres, specifically activities where technology play a central part. The data collection was completed with interviews with teachers. We use the concept of boundary object to analyse the technological activities. The findings indicate that there is a special technology education that emerges in the context of the leisuretime center – leisure-time technology education – at the intersection between informal and formal technology learning, which ranges from the informal play-related construction of Lego and wooden blocks to the more formal computer instruction. The amorphousness of leisure-time technology – the fact that children can choose what they want it to be and what to learn –points to it being a boundary object with a very open interpretative flexibility.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Didaktik (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Didactics (hsv//eng)

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