ABSTRACT
This paper explores children's perceptions of technological advances through participatory research with children aged between 9 and 16 in Istanbul, Turkey. It offers a comprehensive understanding of life-stage approaches rather than emphasizing dichotomies between children and adults. Instead, it focuses on the potential advantages of childhood within various experiences. The theoretical and methodological frameworks aim to bridge the gap between the new materialist understanding and childhood studies, using a difference-centred approach.
The participatory workshops with children encompass three different stages, employing methods such as critical thinking, image theatre and community-based research. During these workshops, the categories of human and machine, baby-child-adult, are also explored and questioned by the children. As part of a child participation project, 35 children from lower and low-middle classes, including those with disabilities, migration backgrounds, and minority groups, were involved in the field study. This study examined children's intra-relational perspectives on Artificial Intelligence, virtual world experiences, space travel, and the possibilities of discovering new planets. Alongside unveiling their future imaginaries, this study also discusses the roles of children as active agents in a digitized society.
