On April 25, 2025, we organized an event day for a preschool group at TAMK’s Sote Virtual Lab. The project began in January 2025 when we started forming the project team based on a proposal conveyed to us by our teacher, Minna Nurminen.
The planning and execution of the event were handled by us, the VETO students, from TAMK’s multidisciplinary degree program in Learning and Competence in Networks. The project team included project manager Vera Vuorio and members Rasmus Koski, Elli-Noora Liukkonen, Mari Rantanen, and Siiri Vehmaa. Additionally, Iina Marila participated in the project as an assistant.
After forming the team, we quickly got to work and visited Vehmainen Elementary School to get to know the preschool group. The school had several preschool groups, and the group participating in our project was called Vikkelät. Their teacher acted as our contact person.
During the project, we familiarized ourselves with the early childhood education plan, explored service design aimed at children, and studied the relevant legislation.
The purpose of the event was to test and evaluate how the technology of Sote Virtual Lab could be utilized in early childhood education. We created six activity stations for the children:
- Yeti Giant Tablet
- OiOi Experience Wall
- Magic Wall
- 360-degree Video Room
- Bee-bots
- Bass-reactive Bean Bag Chair and Breathing Sleep Robots
From the Sote Virtual Lab, we also had Jukka-Pekka Pirhonen at the event, who gave a presentation on the Pepper robot to the children. The presentation was part of the technology station and sparked great interest among the participants.
The event itself was successful. The children eagerly participated in the different stations and clearly enjoyed the experience.
Comments from the children after the day:
- “360 was my favorite”
- “Catching the orcs was fun”
- “It was fun – the experience wall, the round room, the robot, and the massage mat were nice”
- “Really fun, especially the experience wall”
- “The 360 room was cool”
- “It was fun, the robot”
We also received positive feedback from the preschool staff and hopes that such a project would be implemented again in the future.
This kind of collaboration is a great example of how technology and pedagogy can meet through play. It also exemplifies the possibilities of multidisciplinarity and cooperation. Additionally, it is a good opportunity to practically demonstrate the things learned from projects and courses.
Text translated by AI. Translation reviewed by Marjo Tienari.