Making meaning of and with artificial intelligence: digital materiality and multimodality in education ethnography

Yun Dai and Ziyan Lin

Chapter 37 in Research Handbook on the Anthropology of Education, 2026, pp 418-430 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Children today are increasingly exposed to Artificial Intelligence (AI) in their everyday lives and learning environments. Against this background, understanding how the young generation interacts with and makes sense of emerging technologies has become an important and timely area of research. This chapter addresses the methodological challenges in this domain by integrating the theoretical perspectives of digital materiality and multimodality. We examine how the material affordances of AI systems, and the semiotic resources available in digital environments, shape students’ meaning-making processes. Through a classroom-based ethnographic case study in an AI literacy curriculum, we illustrate how these perspectives reveal the embodied, social, and symbolic dimensions of learners’ interactions with AI. We conclude by reflecting on methodological and ethical considerations, emphasizing the importance of context-sensitive, evolving approaches in capturing the layered, dynamic nature of meaning-making in digitally mediated learning.

Keywords: Artificial intelligence; Computational technology; Digital ethnography; Multimodality; Programming (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035332908
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