Abstract
This paper adopts sociomateriality as a theoretical lens to further our understanding of how imitation acts to support the use of objects, and in doing so, constitutes a sociomaterial practice. Within a sociomaterial perspective we aimed to perform the analysis of imitation as a powerful way to learn how to use objects embedded into the practices within which the objects are constituted. The contribution of this approach is illustrated using the findings of the application of the quasi-ecological Day in the Life (DITL) methodology to the everyday lives of two 6-year-old children. Within a case-study frame, we traced the children’s imitation behaviors focused on the use of objects during an entire day of their life, the various people and practices with which they were associated, the multiple sociomaterial configurations that the objects assume, and the social and material consequences of their use. Imitation appears to be is a complex activity, involving multiple stakeholders who interact in order to facilitate the understanding of various artifacts across diverse knowledge domains, and enhance their interpretive flexibility across communities of practice.
Highlights
The meaning of socio-materiality that we adhere to in our research pertains to the way by which a culture encourages its members to interact with material objects
This paper takes up the socio-material perspectives as an avenue for understanding the role of imitation in learning to use objects in family and school practices, assuming that the range between informal and formal learning can be conceptualized as a continuum
Our visual theoretical approach and its consequential methodologies deployed within the Day in the Life (DITL) sociocultural framework proved to be effective, deepening our understanding of collaborative construction of the use of objects during a critical life transition namely, when they first gain significant learning experiences outside the home, and in a formal school setting (Cameron et al, 2014a)
Summary
The meaning of socio-materiality that we adhere to in our research pertains to the way by which a culture encourages its members to interact with material objects. From using forks to eat, to maneuvering high-tech gadgets of modern times, humans are adept in swiftly learning to use a wide range of tools in their daily lives. Among the multiple resources that aid the learning process, the most important are social interactions. How particular modes of interaction are socialized, acquired and internalized by children is worthy of study. We believe that the use of an object, from a most normative, to a more atypical, personally and socially manipulated useage is transmitted through imitation. Imitation is a powerful mechanism that stimulates the use of a material object, even if it is not the only one, and there are obvious affordances of an object itself. Imitation is a traditional learning and communication tool, long ago identified from Imitation is a traditional learning and communication tool, long ago identified from (Thorndike, 1898, p. 50) as: “doing an act by seeing it done by someone else,” but much debate has subsequently addressed and investigated this mechanism
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