Exploring Teachers Acceptance of Tangible Enhanced Educational Materials in Education. The Block Magic case

Abstract

This study aims at investigating teachers' acceptance of Tangible Enhanced
Educational Materials, namely hybrid materials that link physical and digital
contents in pre-school and first years of primary schools. It examines teachers'
approach to Block Magic, a functional prototypal system that enhances
the Logic Blocks Box. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews
with 17 teachers in schools located in four different countries (Italy,
Germany, Spain and Greece) about four different trials involving four different
schools, 257 students and two children with special needs. Results indicate
that this kind of material is well-accepted by teachers as a complementary
material. This implicates that they can be included in every-day school
activities supporting learning and teaching processes in a constructivist and
embodied cognition theoretical framework.