Abstract #1888

Abstract: Our study investigates the social construction of leadership in students’ group work in a novel school-based design and making environment. Research has shown that emergent leadership pivotally affects collaborative group processes and outcomes. However, little is yet known how leadership emerges in contemporary making and design learning environments that engender different demands and possibilities for social activity than more traditional settings (Korhonen 2018; Kumpulainen, Kajamaa, & Rajala 2018).

In this study, we define leadership as a process, which emerges dynamically in children’s interaction during collaborative making activities (Miller et al., 2013; Shin et al., 2004; Yamaguchi, 2001). We adopt a Vygotskian understanding of learning that posits development in the dialectical interplay between an individual and the sociocultural environment (Vygotsky, 1998). We view emergent leadership in the complex, in-the moment reality, which entangles the children, teachers, digital and material artifacts. The human and non-human aspects of the learning environment create a space for negotiating leadership in group activities. In this sense, we see the Vygotskian understanding as connected to posthumanist approaches (Kuby & Crawford, 2017; Kuby & Rowsell, 2017).

We investigate socially emerging leadership by identifying leadership moves, which manifest themselves while group members make initiatives that are acknowledged and negotiated in the group (Li, et al. 2007; Miller, et al. 2013; Sun, et al. 2017). Following Barron’s (2003) conceptualization, we also investigate how identified leadership moves mediate collaborative group processes from the perspective of content space and relational space.

The empirical data of this study draw on videodata of five student groups working in a school-based making and design environment, the FUSE studio. This environment offers students with different STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts & Mathematics) challenges. Students choose what challenges they want to work on, when, and with whom based on their interests.

The results indicate that the children used leadership moves to plan and organize the groups work and develop ideas to promote solving of the problem at hand. The detected leadership moves depicted the regulation of the relational space of collaborative work. Successful regulation of relational space seemed to interact positively and advance the students’ problem-solving (i.e. content space). In sum, our study demonstrates that leadership is a pivotal part of children’s collaborative work in novel making and design environments that deserves further research attention to ensure productive collaboration, including teacher support and interventions.

Biographies of the authors

Jasmiina Korhonen, M.Ed, is a doctoral candidate at the Faculty of educational Sciences, University of Helsinki. She has conducted video-based research in schools on the topics of children’s leadership and collaboration. She is an active member of the Learning, Culture and Interventions expert group, at the University of Helsinki. Currently, she is working in an Academy of Finland funded project entitled “Learning by making: the educational potential of school-based makerspaces for young learners digital competencies" (iMake).

Kristiina Kumpulainen, PhD, is Professor of Education, specializing in pre-school and early primary education at the Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki. Recognized internationally for her scholarship Kumpulainen is the author of over 100 articles and 10 books. Her research interests focus on children’s learning, development and wellbeing in their communities, formal and informal education, dialogic learning, agency and identity, multiliteracies, and professional development of teachers. She is the recipient of numerous research and development grants. Her current research projects include the Joy of learning multiliteracies (Funded by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture) and School-based makerspaces for promoting young learners’ digital literacies and creativity (funded by the Academy of Finland). She is a regular keynote speaker in national and international conferences and venues.

Anu Kajamaa is an Associate Professor and a research group leader at the Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki. She received her PhD in 2012. Her award-winning doctoral dissertation is a study of change management and long-term evaluation of organizational change efforts within formative interventions. She has conducted extensive collaborative research and intervention projects in schools, teacher education, health care and social care, and entrepreneurship contexts. Kajamaa has produced over 30 refereed publications in national and international journals. Her current research focuses on children’s learning, development and creativity in school-based makerspaces.

References:

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Korhonen, J. (2018). Children’s leadership and forms of collaboration in a new learning environment.
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Contact information:

Jasmiina Korhonen
University of Helsinki
Faculty of Educational Sciences
P.O.Box 9, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland
E-mail: jasmiina.korhonen@helsinkifi
Tel: +358 50 3768481

Kristiina Kumpulainen
University of Helsinki
Faculty of Educational Sciences
P.O.Box 9, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland
E-mail: kristiina.kumpulainen@helsinki.fi
Tel: +358 50 3185221

Anu Kajamaa
University of Helsinki
Faculty of Educational Sciences
P.O.Box 9, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland
E-mail: anu.kajamaa@helsinki.fi
Tel: +358408232358

Emergent leadership in students’ collaborative activity in a school-based making and design environment