Sociomaterial Agency of Tools¶

Theory · All theories
Evidence · 29 claims (22 for, 7 mixed) · 22 studies (9 qualitative, 5 theoretical, 4 causal, 2 review, 1 quant-synthesis, 1 design), q1–q3 · 3 of 22 report an effect size · 29 claims rest on one study

Description¶

Drawing on new materialist and posthumanist theory (Barad's concept of intra-action, in which matter and meaning co-constitute each other rather than matter being a passive backdrop to human intention), this perspective treats instructional tools and materials as active participants in learning, not neutral vehicles for a lesson's content. Materials carry forward cultural histories and associations — including gendered ones, such as sewing being coded feminine and circuit-building coded masculine — that shape who feels invited to use them and how they think while using them. The practical implication for design is that choosing "neutral" materials is not actually possible; material choices always carry some cultural coding, and thoughtful design can use that fact deliberately (e.g., pairing historically feminine-coded craft materials with rigorous technical content) rather than pretending it away.

Implications¶

Context¶

Relevant whenever an instructional design choice involves selecting between materially or culturally different tools to teach the same underlying concept (e.g., different circuitry kits, different programming environments, different craft/making materials)

Target Learners¶

Learners for whom the cultural coding of available tools affects whether they see themselves as suited to use them (e.g., girls and STEM-coded materials)

Target Learning Objectives¶

Achieving both rigorous disciplinary learning and broader participation by deliberately choosing materials whose affordances and cultural associations support the specific concept being taught

Claims¶

Material choice, not just instruction, shapes conceptual learning and who feels invited to learn [+M]
Despite a student's claims of purely human authorial agency, posthumanist analysis of his AI-mediated revision shows meaning co-produced through human-AI entanglement [+W] — attached 2026-10-12 from Zhaozhe Wang (2025), which proposed "Assemblage and rhizomaticity as posthumanist concepts for AI-mediated literacy".
AI systems are non-neutral socio-technical artifacts embedding cultural assumptions and power relations [+W]
Interactive dialogue with the AI tool, available only in some sites, promoted deeper engagement and student agency during revision [~W]
Students assisted by a gender-biased LLM produce career-plan essays with a significantly larger male-female agentic gap than students in neutral-LLM and no-AI control conditions [+M]
AI-assisted outputs are more similar to each other than purely human-authored ones, indicating a homogenization risk [+W]
Bias transfer is asymmetric: prompt condition affects agency in female-target essays but not male-target essays, suppressing female agency while male writing remains stable [~W]
A neutrally configured LLM assistant produced the lowest rate of gender-stereotypic occupation suggestions, below even the no-AI control condition [+M]
Detailed case study shows a spell checker's affordances are enacted in rich, creative ways beyond designers' intentions [+W] — attached 2026-10-18 from Gerry Stahl et al. (2009), which proposed "Affordances of artifacts are not fully predefined by the technology but depend on established practices consolidated in body schemas or habitus".
Neither youth nor loom alone drove the algorithmic production and fabric output; both actively produced it collaboratively [+W] — attached 2026-10-18 from Anna Keune (2024), which proposed "Baradian posthumanist intra-action and analysis of differences as a framework for studying collaborative learning".
What is possible for students to perceive or discern in a laboratory depends on the measurement technology used, even when the object of learning is the same [+W] — attached 2026-10-18 from Jonte Bernhard (2018), which proposed "Selective horizons model of technological mediation in laboratory inquiry".
Technology affordance conditions, manipulated via device-to-student ratio and scripts, shape role emergence, role coordination, and group structure in collaboration [+W]
Photogates do not determine the sign of velocity, cannot show zero velocity with non-zero acceleration at the turning point, and afford the Δv/Δx rather than the Δv/Δt definition of acceleration [+W]
The editorial reports that human-material interactions in fibre crafting produce algorithmic outcomes, with materials acting as collaborative agents (Keune) [+W]
In weaving, performed algorithms emerged as repeated youth-material movements one dimension at a time, producing reliable fabric outputs [~W]
Algorithms developed over time through changes in youth-material collaborations, defining learning as physical expansion of algorithmic production [+W]
Students are far more inclined to use conceptual and textual representational tools than arithmetical ones, and collaboration does not stimulate arithmetical tool use [~W]
An agentic cursor increased participants' understanding and predictability of the AI agent's actions during collaborative writing [+W]
Existing AI literacy frameworks treat teacher agency narrowly as tool adoption, leaving human–AI co-agency undertheorized [~W]
Teachers perceive that AI tools lower cognitive barriers and deepen students' conceptual understanding of abstract science content [+W]
Students exposed to the biased LLM showed no awareness of its influence, reporting lower perceived AI influence than neutral-condition participants despite larger bias effects [+W]
The study examined the genAI agent's influence on team discussion and outcomes and the influence of faculty facilitators on acceptance of the agent [~W]
Students' courses of action differed by instrumentation: photogate and tape-timer groups centred on numbers and dots with motion concepts rare, while probeware groups centred on motion concepts [+W]
LLM-based tools may interfere with reading comprehension and retention despite learners finding them helpful [+W]
Learners perceived male PALs more positively and recalled more with them than with female PALs, reflecting gender stereotypes [~W]
Learners using standard keyboard-based LLM workflows during pen-based study face a Referential Barrier and an Expressive Barrier [+W]
Assessment instruments are never neutral but always mediational, embedding a culturally biased telos [+W]
Children's tool use progresses from unspecific manual use to specific instrumental use governed by the tool's culturally established mode of acting [+W]
Reading comprehension is slightly worse on handheld devices than in print in between-participants studies (g = -.113) [+W]

The evidence by question¶

Does the choice of physical materials for a hands-on task change what learners come to understand and who takes part? Material choice shapes conceptual learning and who feels invited to learn [+M]
Do the assumptions built into an AI tool carry into what learners write and the feedback they get, and does configuring the tool change that? AI systems are non-neutral socio-technical artifacts embedding cultural assumptions and power relations [+W]

Constructivism — this perspective extends constructivism by treating the material substrate of a hands-on task, not just the learner's cognitive engagement with it, as consequential for what gets learned
Cultural-Historical Activity Theory — both treat tools as culturally mediating, though this perspective foregrounds material agency and gendered histories specifically

Examples¶

Hands-on Learning — this theory adds that which materials are used in a hands-on task is not an interchangeable implementation detail
Two-hour classroom AI literacy workshop combining LLM concepts with agency-preserving regulation practice

Key Sources¶

Peppler, K., & Thompson, N. (2024). Tools and materials as non-neutral actors in STEAM education. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 33(4-5), 719-756. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508406.2024.2380694
Barad, K. (2003). Posthumanist performativity: Toward an understanding of how matter comes to matter. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 28(3), 801-831.

Page metadata

Field	Value
`type`	`theory`
`title`	`Sociomaterial Agency of Tools`
`description`	`A new-materialist perspective holding that instructional tools and materials are non-neutral actors that actively shape what learners can think and do, carrying forward cultural histories (including gendered ones) rather than passively serving learner intention.`
`status`	`review`
`canonical`	`True`
`generated`	by `claude/unspecified` on `2026-08-29`
`trust`	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
`sources`	1 — `peppler-thompson-2024`

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