The present study explored pre-primary students’ investigative activity
during a longitudinal, integrative technology education project: the
Power Creatures project. Investigative activity refers to the way young
children act in a learning context that combines inquiry-based
activities with creative hands-on activities, such as designing and
crafting. Nineteen pre-primary students (aged five to six years) and two
teachers participated in the case study. The main data set consisted of
six video-recorded small-group sessions in which the children
experimented with electronics and designed and made felted creatures
containing soft circuits. The data were analysed using a theory-based,
deductive content analysis. The results indicate that playful,
investigative activities support pre-primary students’ learning of
everyday technologies and that children can transfer their understanding
of the technological process from one situation to another. This
process requires careful pedagogical planning and scaffolding that
maintains the longitudinal process and adapts to its established and
evolving goals.