Being Reflexive
An analysis of computing teachers’ lived experiences: implications for teaching practice, professional identity, and the significance of physical computing in education
Beginning with experience
Teaching with physical computing typically occurs within meticulously prepared lessons, where equipment is organised, learning objectives are clearly defined, and activities are planned with careful attention to detail.
However, classroom practice does not always proceed as intended.
A sensor may begin responding after previously failing to do so.
A circuit may malfunction despite careful and precise wiring.
A student may observe an aspect that the teacher did not anticipate.
A learning walk can remind teachers that classroom practice also operates within broader systems of accountability.
In these moments, teaching is revealed as a practice shaped not only by planning but also by the material, relational, and institutional conditions present in the classroom.
Physical computing renders these encounters particularly visible. Hardware, software, and human interactions are closely interconnected. Minor changes in a circuit, a line of code, or a student's observation can significantly alter the trajectory of a lesson.
Seymour Papert described such artefacts as “objects-to-think-with,” materials that facilitate learning through interaction, experimentation, and reflection. When students engage with microcontrollers, sensors, or LEDs, these artefacts become more than technological components. They actively contribute to the cognitive processes that occur in the classroom.
For teachers, these encounters are also meaningful. A device malfunction, an unexpected lesson outcome, or a brief exchange with a student can subtly reshape conceptions of teaching.
Reflexivity begins by revisiting such moments and posing the following question:
What aspects of teaching become visible when we pause to examine these experiences more closely?
Such experiences rarely disclose their meaning immediately.
Understanding develops gradually through revisiting a moment, reconsidering events, and viewing them from multiple perspectives. In hermeneutic phenomenology, this process is termed the hermeneutic circle, which refers to the movement between individual moments and the broader context in which they occur.
For example, a teacher may reflect on a specific classroom event, such as a malfunctioning circuit, an unexpected student question, or a lesson that did not proceed as planned. Upon revisiting that moment with greater distance or additional experience, the meaning of the situation may shift.
This iterative process leads to deeper understanding. Each return to the experience broadens comprehension, analogous to ripples expanding outward from a single event.
Hans-Georg Gadamer referred to this process as a fusion of horizons. Interpretations are influenced by the knowledge, experiences, and assumptions individuals possess. Encountering the experiences of others through conversation, research, or reflection can expand one's horizon of understanding.
Thus, meaning arises not from isolated events but through an ongoing dialogue among experience, interpretation, and reflection.
Circles, Horizons, and Understanding
Noticing the Familiar
Teaching often proceeds through routines that rapidly become familiar to educators.
A circuit does not function as expected.
A student engages in resolving a debugging problem.
Instructional equipment is prepared prior to the start of the lesson.
A colleague seeks assistance in planning an initial physical computing lesson.
A head of department evaluates curriculum options for the department.
A policy decision within a multi-academy trust subtly influences classroom practices.
Due to their repetitive nature, these practices often go unnoticed.
Jenner (2000) offers a helpful metaphor for this experience:
A man who lives by a waterfall does not "hear" the waterfall; it is so familiar that it goes unnoticed. Yet he notices the cry of wild geese in the sky when they pass overhead. But if the waterfall freezes overnight, he notices the difference immediately.
Hermeneutic phenomenology operates in a comparable manner. By revisiting and closely examining everyday experiences, the routine flow of professional practice is temporarily interrupted.
During this pause, aspects of teaching that typically remain unnoticed may become apparent.
In this study, a reflective pause was established through sustained engagement with teachers' experiences over an extended period. Multiple interviews with heads of computing departments and experienced teachers facilitated the development of classroom and departmental moments into crafted narratives, which were then interpreted using the hermeneutic circle.
This approach constitutes a methodological contribution to computing education research. Although phenomenological methods have occasionally been employed in the field, their application through extended dialogue, iterative story-crafting, and sustained interpretive analysis of teachers' experiences across classroom, departmental, and institutional contexts remains rare.
By decelerating the pace of everyday practice, the study reveals how the teaching of physical computing is influenced not only by technical practice but also by care, mentoring relationships, leadership responsibilities, and the organizational conditions experienced by computing teachers.
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The following crafted stories provide an opportunity to pause and examine these moments of practice in greater depth.
In hermeneutic phenomenology, understanding extends beyond explanation and continually returns to lived experience.
The reflections presented here provide a single interpretation of teachers' lived experiences with physical computing. However, interpretation remains open-ended, as each reader brings unique experiences, assumptions, and professional contexts to these narratives.
When readers' perspectives engage with the experiences described in these narratives, new meanings may emerge.
These stories are not intended as examples to replicate or models to emulate. Rather, they are offered as opportunities for reflective engagement and contemplation.
Through revisiting these stories after reflection, readers may become attuned to previously unnoticed aspects of teaching, such as moment-to-moment decision-making, the relational work involved in supporting students and colleagues, and the institutional conditions that influence classroom possibilities.