1. Physical and Social Play in a Large Loose Parts Context
Assessing the Role of Preschoolers’ Engineering Play on Trajectories of
Physical and Social Play in a Large Loose Parts Context
Zachary S. Gold, Aura A. Mishra, & James Elicker
DISCUSSION
INTRODUCTION
METHOD (continued)
“Engineering play” behaviors are young children’s observable behaviors that parallel the engineering design process used by engineers during design and construction of human-made structures (Bairaktarova et al., 2011).
Unstructured free play with blocks and other “loose parts” is thought to provide young children with unique opportunities to build positive social relationships, and facilitate early learning, physical development, and cognitive development (Sutton, 2011; Wolfgang et al., 2001).
Preschoolers’ engagement with large loose parts has been shown to illicit higher rates of engineering play than the dramatic play area and the traditional outdoor playground (Gold et al., 2015).
No research has explored associations between rates of engineering play and physical and social play behaviors in a constructive play setting.
Given these preliminary findings we will further test if the moderation of the effect of time on the association between Engineering Play and Physical and Social Play behaviors also varies between children, even though there was no average effect across all children. There may be particular characteristics of some children that make engineering play more likely to predict their physical and social play. Future research should explore these characteristics.
It is possible that engineering play has cross-domain implications and could be beneficial during lesson plan development if one activity can benefit physical development, social development, and early STEM-related behaviors and thinking. Researchers should further examine if engineering play behaviors co-occur with physical and social play behaviors during constructive play.
Observation Setting
Indoor and outdoor settings were provided to children to play with
Imagination PlaygroundTM blocks - large, light-weight, moveable
objects and attachable pieces. These parts were promoted by
KaBOOM! a large national non-profit organization and are designed to
create a children-centered environment that allows for
experimentation, building and tearing down creations, and influencing
surrounding spaces.
Measures
Social play. Denham and colleagues’ (2012) observation instrument
for measuring preschoolers’ socio-emotional behaviors.
Physical play. Gallahue and Ozmun’s (2006) descriptions of children’s
physical ability.
Engineering play. Bairaktarova and colleagues’ (2011) nine-category
system of design- and construction- related behaviors.
STUDY GOALS
FIGURES AND IMAGES
RESULTS
Two mixed effect models were run to assess the effects of engineering play on physical and social play. Each child’s total number of observed intervals was divided into three equal thirds in order to understand how initial engineering play and changes in engineering play, affect other forms of play over the course of the observed play session.
Composite variables were created for three dimensions (1) Physical Play (Gross Motor Locomotor/Stability, Gross Motor Manipulates Objects, Fine Motor) (2) Social Play (Positive Social Play, Negative Social Play, Engages in Independent Activity) (3) Engineering Play.
Total Engineering Play over time was used as the predictor variable. Physical Play and Social Play over time were used as outcome variables.
Intercepts (baseline starting score) and trajectories over time were allowed to be random across children in order to assess between children variances.
Child gender, type of child care center, and number of observation intervals were included in the models as controls.
Physical Play activities at baseline across all children were and average Social Play activities at baseline across all children were While there were no average (fixed effects) of engineering play on physical and social play over time across all children, there was a significant increase in social play over time (Table 1.)
However, there were between person effects of engineering play on physical and social play over time, meaning that engineering play predicted some, but not all, children’s physical and social play over time (Table 2.)
Assess the role of engineering play on trajectories of physical and social play during a play session including Imagination PlaygroundTM blocks, designed to foster creative and imaginative constructive play (KaBOOM!, 2014).
Investigate if engaging in engineering play behaviors may require young children to also engage in physical and social play.
Discuss practical implications of engineering play as a useful cross-domain construct in early education settings.
METHOD
Participants
67 preschoolers (ages 3-to-5) from diverse ethnic backgrounds. 38
Head Start children, mostly below the U.S. Poverty Level. 29 university
laboratory school children who were children of faculty, staff, or
students.
Procedure
Two researchers observed and documented each child’s physical (30),
social (21) and engineering (9) play behaviors as they occurred in a
setting including Imagination PlaygroundTM blocks. Each behavior was
marked as present or absent during 20-second observation intervals.
Play sessions ranged from minutes.
Project funded by the A. L. Mailman Foundation and the KaBOOM! national non-profit organization, James Elicker, Principal Investigator.