CAREER: Bricks & Blox Building Academy: Developing Spatial Skills & Engineering Identity through Embodied Play

Purdue University, West Lafayette IN

Investigators

Abstract

A well-known pathway into engineering is through sustained embodied play with building toys which have been historically associated with boyhood. While much previous literature has made associations between play with building toys and spatial cognition, other social-emotional cues experienced in the play environment that influence early engineering identity formation and self-concept have remained largely unexplored. This CAREER research project was developed to explore the recent and rapid growth of building toys designed “for girls” that have relied on the premise that girls would be more interested in playing with these toys, and that they would bring similar benefits in cognitive and psychomotor development. By examining embodied play from both a phenomenographic lens to understand the variations in how children experience play with building toys, and an ethnographic lens to identify discernible play interactions that can be cataloged and counted, this project is positioned to make empirical connections between narrative contexts, factors of interest and access, and desired developmental outcomes that vary across different identities and groups. This project will integrate research and educational outcomes through community partnerships with local organizations focused on informal learning environments, where learning through play is most feasible and accessible. Specific outcomes will include professional development opportunities for educators, school administrators, and program directors to help facilitate programs that support the development of spatial cognition and early engineering identity formation that is accessible to all students. The research team will utilize a multi-phased mixed-method research design to create and evaluate empirically-based recommendations and curricular materials designed for informal learning spaces. We will disseminate findings and resources broadly to scholarly communities, as well as to parents, practitioners, and toy companies. This CAREER project will utilize a two-phase mixed-method research design to study embodied play interactions and play experiences with building toys of 3rd-5th graders (girls and boys). The research methodology will use a concurrent design in Phase 1 with phenomenographic content analysis to understand how participants experience play differently and ethnographic video analysis to identify and catalog discernible verbal (indirect) and nonverbal (direct) embodied play interactions with building toys. In Phase 2, a sequential design will be used to quantify codified data and perform statistical correlations and comparison tests that define relationships to spatial ability, engineering identity, and demographic factors. The research activities will be organized and executed to interrogate three central hypotheses: i) girls will show higher levels of interest in playing with building toys when there are embedded narrative contexts that appeal to them, ii) girls who express interest in building toys also have regular access to them, and iii) girls and boys with similar levels of interest in and access to building toys will achieve similar benefits through their play experiences and interactions with them. Related educational activities will include the introduction of an afterschool program targeting spatial skill development with our Community Partners, which will also serve as the research context for large-group informal learning observations during Phase 2. Workshops will be developed and facilitated for pre-service and in-service teachers that present findings from this research to inform classroom practices that actively support the development of spatial skills for elementary school children, including at least one Train-the-Trainer workshop for directors of informal learning spaces. This study will inform efforts to broaden girls’ participation in engineering by (1) defining empirical relationships between embodied play interactions with building toys and the development of spatial skills, which are fundamental to many engineering disciplines; (2) describing the ways in which embodied play experiences with building toys shape, and are shaped by early engineering identity formation; and (3) defining how aspects of interest in and access to building toys are related to toy narrative, family environment, and demographic factors (i.e., age, sex, race, SES, urban/rural). The project is supported by a strong research team with two well-known community partners that are representatives of national organizations who can help facilitate the mindful and strategic dissemination of this work through vast notational networks of community organizations and NGOs. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.