M OVILIDAD

Children’s learning is a complex phenomenon, and discussing the various ways children move between stages during their learning helped the researcher to analyse children’s learning through the digitised learning resources. In this section, the middle or mini theories are considered and they are based on work of Erikson (1968), Montessori (1967) and Egan (1997, 2001). There are indeed many theories explaining children’s learning but the researcher decided to refer to only the work of these three theorists as they provided good insights into learning among learners of eight to nine years old. The work of other theorists

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were mostly focused on learning among kindergarten learners. Moreover, Erikson’s (1968), Montessori’s (1967) and Egan’s (1997, 2001) theories are seminal work on children’s learning.

Erikson (1968) was well known for his work on psychosocial theory (Sokol, 2009).

It was argued that ‘identity’ was built at a very young age where the child was identified as unique As the child grows, relevant features of his parents are taken but later the child eventually starts the process of identity formation (Sokol, 2009).

The ‘sense of identity’ has always been given great importance as it is believed that identity has a close link to child development and learning (David, 2014).

During the postmodern era, Erikson (1968) developed a theory on how people develop a ‘sense of identity’. It was claimed that there are three aspects of identity: the ego, personal identity and the social/cultural identity (David, 2014).

He argued that identity formation starts from childhood and helps ‘to give a continuity with the past and direction for the future’ (Marcia & Kroger, 1993, p. 103). Erikson (1968) proposed that personality development occurs in eight stages of psychosocial development in a pre-arranged order (McLeod, 2018). It was argued that the psychosocial crisis that a person experiences during his life at different stages might affect the person’s personality development positively or negatively. For example, experiencing bullying at school may influence a child’s personality development. The main gap in the literature is that personality development is not always fixed as individuals rediscover themselves at several stages.

Furthermore, Erikson (1968) argued that the child’s social interaction and experience are not developed out of sexual interest as claimed by Freud. It was argued that the socio-cultural factors are very important in identity formation and that the childhood identifications affect identity formation in adolescence (Marcia

& Kroger, 1993, p. 103). Erikson (1968) referred to this process as the ‘process of identification’. Since identity formation and learning are closely linked, the researcher deemed it worth considering Erikson’s (1968) theories to probe deeper into analysing learning through digitised resources. However, Erikson (1968) did not provide a lengthy discussion on identity development during childhood (Sokol, 2009). The findings were mainly focused on identity formation

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in adolescence. This study tried to address this gap in the literature by analysing learners of eight to nine years old learning with digitised learning resources. This eventually provided additional insights about how far Erikson’s (1968) claims about identity formation and socio-cultural factors were sustained or not when the learners were interacting with the digitised learning resources. Moreover, this study also contributed to the body of knowledge in terms of learning and identity formation.

A second perspective of viewing child learning is by discussing Maria Montessori’s (1967) method of education, which revolves around ‘self-directed activity, hands-on learning and collaborative play’ (Cossentino, 2006).

Montessori’s (1967) work has marked the philosophy of teaching and learning in kindergarten. Nevertheless, the work was extended to learners of different age groups. The researcher opted to use Montessori’s (1967) work as the research was focused on the mind of the child ranging from early childhood learners to learners of six to 12 years old (Maunz, 2018). In the case of this study. The researcher focused only on Montessori’s (1967) views on learning of the six- to 12-year-old child as the age group of the participants in the research was eight to nine years old. Montessori (1967) proposed that for learning to happen, children need to make creative choices and choice of appropriate activities should guide the learning process (Maunz, 2018). Montessori (1967), argued that the child of six years old starts to become less passive and more receptive. It was pointed out the mind of the child of six years old no longer absorbs knowledge but engages in reasoning and hence creating stability and growth without much alteration (Maunz, 2018). Montessori (1967) referred to this as

‘conscious’ learning being very interesting and important for the child. The child aged six to 12 years can use his or her own constructive reasoning skills to make decisions (Maunz, 2018).

Montessori (1967) also posited that grown-up children become stronger when they associate themselves with their own group of peers (Maunz, 2018).

Montessori (1967) provided an affirmation by showing children working in groups in class. Montessori’s (1967) views were somewhat resonant with Vygotsky’s (1978) views of learning as they both gave much importance to socio-cultural

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factors for learning to happen. While both Montessori (1967) and Vygotsky (1978) believed that instruction is crucial for child development, their arguments also differed in many ways. Both Montessori’s (1967) and Vygotsky’s (1978) approaches can be described as constructivist. However, Montessori (1967) argued that the child of six years old constructs knowledge out of his or her own natural interest in learning which means that if children are left to follow their instinct, they will be prompted to constantly explore the world. It was argued that if the environment is properly constructed, children are able to learn through their own natural interest. In contrast, Vygotsky (1978) argued that there is nothing natural or biological at work, and the child constructs knowledge through interactions with the social context. Vygotsky (1978) believed that the child’s nature and mental functions are shaped in a shared cultural space (Bodrova, 2003).

While Montessori viewed learning as discovery based on the child’s readiness and interest, Vygotsky (1978) viewed learning as assisted discovery with formal instructions from the teacher (Bodrova, 2003). In this study, the participants were learning through the digitised learning resources in a traditionally styled classroom where the environment was not shaped in a specific way to promote a child’s interest and learning through social interactions. The learning could be discovery as claimed by Montessori or assisted discovery as believed by Vygotsky (1978) or it could even be an oscillation between Montessori’s and Vygotsky’s (1978) views of learning.

Furthermore, learning can also be aided using cognitive tools. Taking back Vygotsky’s (1978) arguments on learning, Egan (1997) referred to cognitive tools as tools that accompany the individual during his or her growth in the society. It was argued that there are five classes of understanding or cognitive tools that individuals master during their development that reflect psychological, epistemological and cultural factors. The first four cognitive tools were proposed as Somatic, Mythic, Romantic and Philosophical and the fifth as Ironic understanding. Each cognitive tool or understanding occurs at a specific age or stage in the individual’s development. Since this thesis focused on children of eight to nine years old, the Romantic kind of understanding or cognitive tool was

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given attention. The core characteristics of the Romantic kind of understanding include mastery of writing and literacy as well as acquiring finer skills in perception and thinking (David, 2015).

For instance, these cognitive tools can be use of stories, fantasy or metaphor formation (Egan, 2001). Warnock (1976) argued that when words are converted into images, emotions are involved. It was believed that generating own images from texts may actually improve the richness of learning (Egan, 2001).

Gardner et al. (1978), argued that the pre-school learners had greater ability to complete a metaphor in a sentence than older children (Egan, 2001). Early childhood learners have the readiness to complete a metaphor as this forms part of their interest and environment. Gardner et al.’s views corresponded with Montessori’s views that the child’s interest is vital for learning to happen and with Vygotsky’s (1978) views of the learner having the need to be accepted by peers or in society. In this study, Montessori’s and Gardner’s views of learning were analysed against learners of a higher age group (eight to nine years old) and in a context where the use of technology was embraced.

With cognitive tools theory, children’s imagination is catered for and the learners become more creative and concrete thinkers (Egan, 2001). The learners are able to develop several competencies like producing metaphors rather than just consuming them. In the 21st century, cognitive tools often refer to computers being used as tools that aid learning. In this study, learners’ interactions through digitised resources were explored in a view of determining whether the learners actually became creative and concrete thinkers.