Methodology
This research was a case study of a Year 5 New Zealand
primary school class and their teacher during a technology
unit. This was a class of twenty seven children aged 9-10
years, of whom twenty three participated in the study.
They were taught in a standard general classroom with
children’s individual desks arranged in seven groups. It
also contained three desktop computers, four laptops, and
a projector. The class was taught by a general primary
teacher (female) with seven years teaching experience in
England and New Zealand. A comprehensive photographic
and video record of all activities was made throughout the
unit. The teacher’s whiteboards were photographed, and
also the pages of student workbooks and their finished
products. Selected photographs were used for semistructured
photo-elicitation interviews with each child and
the teacher at the end of the unit (Epstein et al, 2006).
The data enabled analysis of the activities using the
principles of the CA framework (Collins, 2006). An
interpretivist paradigm was used, whereby the researcher
combined evidence to interpret the pedagogical methods
of each learning activity (Cohen, Manion,& Morrison,
2000).
A qualitative analysis procedure recommended by
Lichtman (2006) was employed for coding and
categorising the data by interpreting, reviewing and
refining, and then developing themes or concepts from it.