“But then I am the robot’s brain!”: Children’s and preschool teachers’ communication during STEM teaching scaffolded by digital tools

In focus of this chapter are two longitudinal research projects involving children’s and preschool teachers’ work with digital tools and STEM. The projects are grounded in social sustainable development, foremost through children’s creative learning of digital technology and science, viewed as a democratic right for children to develop knowledge about. Variation theory and developmental pedagogy were used as theoretical framework, guiding the analyses of video data. The chapter reports on how implemented teaching involving digital tools benefits children’s reflective talk about scientific explanatory models and how abstract representations in science may challenge children’s learning processes. Furthermore, the chapter describes and discusses how robotics and digital programming stimulate children’s creativity and preschool teachers’ talk related to computational thinking and STEM.