Sociomaterial cartography - Mapping teaching with digital technologies in preschool

This article explores how preschool teachers can use sociomaterial cartography when designing teaching activities with digital technologies. It is based on the idea that digital technologies in preschool are entangled with non-digital activities and materials. There is a growing body of research in the field of education that highlights an entangled perspective, and there is a need for preschool teachers to find strategies for making didactic choices based on this approach. The study used practice-based research methods, and the data was constructed with two preschool teachers in dialogic conversations about their teaching. For this article, teaching activities from a project about the forest with children between two and five years old are discussed. The data has been analysed using sociomaterial concepts and rhizomatic thinking. Findings show how digital technology is entangled with children’s understanding of the forest and its plant and animal life, and how these entanglements are utilised by the preschool teacher. Findings also show that sociomaterial cartography can be useful for preschool teachers in designing teaching activities and making didactic choices by creating new possibilities for understanding children’s entanglements with digital tablets and the internet. By considering additional perspectives or concepts to understand the activities that take place, opportunities for preschool teachers to extend their didactic choices are made visible.