FROM THE LABORATORY TO THE CLASSROOM: RESEARCHERS AND EDUCATORS IN THE PROCESS OF CO DESIGN PLAYFUL SITUATIONS AND SEQUENCES WITH DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY

One of the ethical and political issues related to scientific research concerns the role given to the population researched in the process of knowledge construction. A line of work that fully addresses this problem is to participatory action research (Sirvent, 2003) in education, in which the actors involved, a gradual and progressive way, are taking a leading role in decision making of the crucial aspects of the research process. Under this conceptual framework and research, this paper describes the process of co-design of recreational and educational situations developed in a kindergarten in public office, as part of a larger research project enrolled at the University of Buenos Aires that seeks to understand the characteristics and contexts from which digital games with new technologies fail to produce genuine contributions of literacy for children 5 years processes. From a sociocultural approach to learning and human development, and based on the conceptual process generation raised by the Grounded Theory (Glasser and Strauss, 1968; Strauss & Corbin, 1990) for analysis of the data, the theoretical and methodology framework is presented underlying the process carried out jointly by the researcher and kindergarten involved teachers and described the two lines of interventions implemented to respond to the research questions: the incorporation of new technologies for the expansion of dramatic play and development of recreational streams supported by digital games to stimulate the development of phonological awareness. The paper concludes with the presentation of conceptual categories empirically obtained data that identify effective strategies in teaching mediation and characterize powerful features of digital materials designed. Finally, the scope of participatory action research as a model for intervention and research with proven ability to generate improvement processes in individuals and institutions involved are discussed.