Educational artefacts matter. A collaborative inquiry into the complexity of classrooms

Despite the omnipresence of tangible materials in classrooms, educational research has largely overlooked their role and treated them as passive tools subordinate to human cognition. Informed by theoretical developments in sociomateriality and cognitive archaeology, this study characterizes an 'educational artefact' as both made and making: we make things which in turn make us. The study aims to reveal the complexities involved in developing, selecting, and applying educational artefacts to support learning. We investigate the types and origins of artefacts, pupils’ and teachers' selection, creation and implementation, and the emergent learning activities that artefacts configure. Building upon prior theorizing, we emphasize the centrality and possibilities of educational artefacts in classrooms and their inherent entanglement with humans. Combining collaborative ethnography and abductive analysis, 32 transdisciplinary scholars observed 40 lessons, involving 95 pupils across six classrooms (K2–K8). Interactions with educational artefacts were documented through both open-ended observations and observations guided by the Activity-Centred Analysis and Design (ACAD)-framework. Empirical material included 193 episodes referencing educational artefacts, abductively analyzed through iterative coding and member checking with observers and teachers. The major findings of this study are (1) Educational artefacts exist in diverse, often re-purposed forms and originate from multiple sources; (2) Through embodied experience, teachers (re)consider material properties, domain knowledge, and pupil interactions simultaneously when selecting and using artefacts; (3) Pupils dynamically engage with artefacts in the momentum through "thinging", i.e. thinking with and through materials; (4) Educational artefacts facilitate differentiation to individual needs by providing multiple material pathways to common learning goals. These findings challenge traditional views of artefacts as passive tools, repositioning them as active agents co-constructing learning activities. The study has implications for schools, teacher education, and educational publishers. Future inquiry can extend our collaborative ethnographic approach to other educational spaces.