Tangible Technologies for Childhood Education: A Systematic Review

Abstract

This study reviews published scientific literature on the use of tangible technologies in childhood education, in order to (a) identify the what tangible technologies have been used, (b) recognize the educational purposes and uses these technologies of, and (c) present a synthesis of the available empirical evidence on its educational e ectiveness. After systematically searching in WoS, 288 relevant articles were located and analyzed using the Science Mapping Analysis Software Tool from 1968 to 2018. Then, 29 relevant papers of the last five years were included in the review study. For each article, we analyze the purpose of the study, the type of tangible technology used, the research method applied, the sample characteristics and the main results observed. The articles reviewed suggest that the main tangible technology used in childhood education is the tablet and literacy (basic and emergent) is the area most studied with promising results.