An archaeology of educational artefacts: revealing invisibilities of the obvious objects of teaching and learning
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: This ethnographic study investigates educational artefacts – tangible learning ‘objects’ – through an interdisciplinary lens, combining archaeology and educational sciences. Curiosity-driven observations from an inclusive school setting – presented as breakdowns – reveal artefacts ceasing to function as designed. Rather than serving secondary roles, educational artefacts actively shape learning through dynamic interactions among students, teachers, and materiality. The study employs socio-materiality, 4E cognition – cognition is embedded, embodied, enactive, and extended – and Material Engagement Theory to explain our observations. These perspectives consider learning as extending beyond the physical brain but involve the material world of the body and beyond. Using abductive reasoning, our interdisciplinary approach proposes a multifaceted typology, paralleling archaeological classifications to document evolving uses of educational artefacts. This framework reveals how artefacts mediate and shape educational experiences in unexpected ways. Ultimately, this research calls for greater awareness of the active, often unintended roles of artefacts within any learning environment.
Source: Ethnography & Education
Authors: Ruth Wouters, Klaas Vansteenhuyse
Institutions: University Colleges Leuven-Limburg, KU Leuven
Language: English
Subfield: Information Systems
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
Award: G2272852881
OpenAlex ID: W4416693197