Week15PowerPointspatialskillsandSTEM.pdf

STEM & Spatial
Skills

This Week’s Content

• Lecture on Spatial Skills – a key cognitive skill related to STEM and
Touchscreen study
• Article on Informal STEM learning – practical recommendations
• Two TED Talks about how to improve Science education
• Assignments:
• iLearn Activity that focuses on informal learning in museums and how to

apply that to working with children
• Forum to reflect on the week’s content and the experience of virtual

museums, zoos and aquariums

2

STEM & Spatial
Skills

• Transform & remember visual images
• Mentally manipulate structures
• Represent shapes, locations, & paths

Overview Spatial Skills

Spatial Skills

(Brosnan, 1998; Carroll, 1993; Casey et al., 2008; Newcombe
& Shipley, 2015; Uttal & Cohen, 2012; Wai, Lubinski, &
Benbow, 2009) 4

Development of Spatial Skills

Focus on individual
spatial entities

Attention towards
spatial relations

(Casey et al., 2008; Frick & Newcombe, 2015;
Piaget & Inhelder, 1956; Uttal, 2000)

Overview Spatial Skills
5

Individual Differences in Spatial Skills
• Emerge prior to kindergarten
• Motor skills (Newcombe & Frick, 2010)
• Play behaviors (Caldera et al., 1999; Levine et al., 2012; Verdine et al., 2014)
• Spatial language (Pruden, Levine, & Huttenlocher, 2011)

Overview Spatial Skills
6

Overview Spatial Skills

Spatial Skills & STEM

• Predict STEM achievement and attainment
(Newcombe, 2013; Uttal, Miller, & Newcombe, 2013; Wai, Lubinski, Benbow, 2009)

• Association between math and spatial skills begins in
infancy
(McCrink & Opfer, 2014; Mix et al., 2016; Verdine et al., 2014)

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Overview Spatial Skills

(Uttal et al., 2013)

Spatial Skills & Malleability

8

• Spatial skills can be
trained & improved
• Potential route to

improving STEM abilities
• Interest in malleability of

children’s spatial skills

Overview Spatial Skills

Malleability in Children
• Interventions that include:
• Block play

(Casey et al., 2008)

• Spatial language
interventions

. (e.g., Polinsky et al., 2017)

• Example: intervention at
children’s museum
• Highlights potential & value

spatial play

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10

Spatial Play

Overview Spatial Skills

Caldera et al., 1999;
Jirout & Newcombe, 2014;
Verdine et al., 2014;

Spatial
Language

Gentner et al., 2013
Pruden et al., 2011

Jirout & Newcombe, 2014
Levine et al., 2012
Yang & Chen, 2010

Puzzle
Play

Block
Play

Frequency of spatial play predicts children’s spatial abilities
(Jirout & Newcombe, 2015)

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Limits of Spatial Play

Overview Spatial Skills

65 pieces
for $29.99

12
Overview Spatial Skills Digital Spatial Play

Digital Spatial Play

• Engaging with blocks &
shape structures through
digital media
• Takes advantage of

existing environment

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Overview Spatial Skills Digital Spatial Play

Digital
Spatial Play

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Overview Spatial Skills Digital Spatial Play

Digital Spatial Play

15
Overview Spatial Skills Digital Spatial Play

Real World vs. Media

• Learning the map of Australia using app or puzzle (Eisen & Lillard, 2019)

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Overview Spatial Skills Digital Spatial Play

Real World vs. Media
• Learning to complete a Tower of Hanoi task
(Huber et al., 2016; Tarasuik et al., 2017)

• Learning the map of Australia using app or puzzle
(Eisen & Lillard, 2019)

• Quantity of maternal question asking during
physical or digital spatial play (Eisen, Jirout, & Lillard, 2019)

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Digital Spatial Play as a Context for Spatial Skill
Development

Overview Spatial Skills Digital Spatial Play

Videogames and Spatial Skills

(Lowery & Knirk, 1982; McClurg & Chaillé, 1987;
Subrahmanyam & Greenfield, 1994)

• Conducive to spatial skill development
§ Coordination of perspectives

§ Parallel processing

§ Physical & mental manipulation of 3D objects

Overview Spatial Skills Digital Spatial Play
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Affordances of Interactive
Digital Spatial Play

• Physically manipulate in ways that might otherwise be
impossible
• Directly manipulated (Sheehan & Uttal, 2016)
• Acting on the world facilitates processing of information

(e.g., embodiment: Aladé et al., 2016; Beilock & Holt, 2007)

Overview Spatial Skills Digital Spatial Play
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Overview Spatial Skills Digital Spatial Play

“Informal education takes place by
means of a host of cultural tools,

among which electronic media have
become increasingly important.”

Kaveri Subrahmanyam & Patricia Greenfield, 1994

22
Overview Spatial Skills Digital Spatial Play

New Question:
How can cognitive development occur within the context
of digital media?

My Research Project:
We investigated how young children play two
different spatially-oriented touchscreen games

Overview Spatial Skills Digital Spatial Play Individual Differences
23

Spatially-Oriented
Touchscreen Games

24

Busy Shapes

RelationShapes

TocaBlocks

Participants
• 111 Children
• Ages: 3- to 6-year-olds (M = 4.95 years)

§ 28 3-year-olds
§ 27 4-year-olds
§ 26 5-year-olds
§ 30 6-year-olds

• 52 Males, 59 Females
• 73% Caucasian
• 60.36% have parent with some graduate education or

higher Overview Spatial Skills Digital Spatial Play Individual Differences Current Study Methods 25

Procedure

Parent
Survey

Assessment
of Children’s

Spatial
Abilities

iPad
Games

Overview Spatial Skills Digital Spatial Play Individual Differences Current Study Methods
26

Parent Survey
• Part 1: BRIEF-P (Executive Function)

§ In the past 6 months, how often has each of the following behaviors (e.g.,
overreacts to a small problem; becomes upset with new situations) been a
problem?

• Part 2: Media Usage & Attitudes (Sheehan et al., 2018)
§ Parents’ attitudes to children’s media consumption
§ Earliest age of exposure to smartphones/tablets
§ Time spent using technology yesterday

• Part 3: Child’s play behaviors (Tougu et al., 2017)
• Part 4: Demographics

Overview Spatial Skills Digital Spatial Play Individual Differences Current Study Methods
27

Procedure

Parent
Survey

iPad
Games

3- & 4-year-olds 5- & 6-year-olds

Test of Spatial
Assembly

Children’s
Mental

Transformation
Task

Overview Spatial Skills Digital Spatial Play Individual Differences Current Study Methods

Assessment
of Children’s

Spatial
Abilities

28

3D TOSA
3- & 4-year-old Spatial Test

1 2 3 4 5 6

Trials

Verdine, Golinkoff, et al., 2014
Overview Spatial Skills Digital Spatial Play Individual Differences Current Study Methods

29

3D TOSA Scoring
3- & 4-year-old Spatial Test

Verdine, Golinkoff, et al., 2014

• Part 1: In relation to base piece
§ Vertical Location
§ Rotation
§ Translation

• Part 2: In relation to component pieces
§ Vertical Location
§ Rotation
§ Translation

Model

Base

Child’s Version

Component

Overview Spatial Skills Digital Spatial Play Individual Differences Current Study Methods
30

2D Test of Spatial Assembly (TOSA)
3- & 4-year-old Spatial Test

Verdine, Golinkoff, et al., 2014

Trials

1 2 3 4 5 6

Overview Spatial Skills Digital Spatial Play Individual Differences Current Study Methods
31

2D TOSA Scoring
3- & 4-year-old Spatial Test

• All scoring is in relation to
the base piece

• Horizontal & Vertical Location
• Adjacent Pieces
• Relative PositionBase Piece

Verdine, Golinkoff, et al., 2014
Overview Spatial Skills Digital Spatial Play Individual Differences Current Study Methods

32

Procedure

Parent
Survey

iPad
Games

3- & 4-year-olds 5- & 6-year-olds

Test of Spatial
Assembly

Children’s
Mental

Transformation
Task

Overview Spatial Skills Digital Spatial Play Individual Differences Current Study Methods

Assessment
of Children’s

Spatial
Abilities

33

Children’s Mental Transformation Task (CMTT)
5- & 6-year-old Spatial Test

7″

Look at these pieces. Look at these pictures. If you put the pieces
together, they will make one of the pictures. Point to the picture the
pieces make. (Ehrlich, Levine, & Goldin-Meadow, 2006)
Overview Spatial Skills Digital Spatial Play Individual Differences Current Study Methods

34

Procedure

Parent
Survey

iPad
Games

Overview Spatial Skills Digital Spatial Play Individual Differences Current Study Methods

Assessment
of Children’s

Spatial
Abilities

35

36

iPad Games
• Free & publicly available on IOS/Google Play
• Played both Busy Shapes (5mins), RelationShapes (7mins),

Toca Blocks (7 min)

• Shown demo & example
• Screen capture videos are recorded
• Scored on highest level reached & average time per level

Overview Spatial Skills Digital Spatial Play Individual Differences Current Study Methods

Busy Shapes

• Goal: sort the shapes

Overview Spatial Skills Digital Spatial Play Individual DIfferences Current Study Methods
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RelationShapes
• Goal: make sides the same

Overview Spatial Skills Digital Spatial Play Moderating Factors Current Study Methods
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RelationShapes

Overview Spatial Skills Digital Spatial Play Individual Differences Current Study Methods
39

40

Touchscreen Game Performance

Overview Spatial Skills Digital Spatial Play Individual Differences Current Study Methods

Busy Shapes Performance

Overview Spatial Skills Digital Spatial Play Individual Differences Current Study Methods
41

0.0000

5.0000

10.0000

15.0000

20.0000

25.0000

30.0000

35.0000

40.0000

Number of Levels

Younger Children Older Children

8.5

9

9.5

10

10.5

11

11.5

Time per level (seconds)

Younger Children Older Children

RelationShapes Perfomance

Overview Spatial Skills Digital Spatial Play Individual Differences Current Study Methods
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0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

Number of Levels

Younger Children Older Children

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Time per Level (seconds)

Younger Children Older Children

Age Related Differences

3 Year Old 5 Year Old

Questions

1. Connection between children’s prior media experiences
and touchscreen performance?

2. Effect of age on touchscreen performance?

3. Association between spatial abilities and touchscreen
performance?

Overview Spatial Skills Digital Spatial Play Individual Differences Current Study Methods Results
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45

Question 1: Children’s prior
media experiences and their

performance on spatially-oriented
touchscreen games

Overview Spatial Skills Digital Spatial Play Individual Differences Current Study Methods Results

Media & Touchscreen Performance

1. Age of exposure?

2. Frequency of tablet play?

Overview Spatial Skills Digital Spatial Play Individual Differences Current Study Methods Results
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Question 2: Is there an effect of age
on touchscreen game performance?

Overview Spatial Skills Digital Spatial Play Individual Differences Current Study Methods Results
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Age and Touchscreen Performance

• Busy Shapes

• Relationshapes

48

Question 3:
Is there a link between spatial abilities and

touchscreen game performance?

Overview Spatial Skills Digital Spatial Play Individual Differences Current Study Methods Results
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50

Overall Performance on Spatial Assessments

TOSA:
M = 61%, SD = 17.59,

Range: 29-103

CMTT:
M = 67%, SD = .13,

Range: 38%-91%

7″

5- & 6-year-olds3- & 4-year-olds

Overview Spatial Skills Digital Spatial Play Individual Differences Current Study Methods Results

Spatial Skills and Touchscreen Performance

• For 3 & 4 year olds the higher the spatial skills the better children did
on the touchscreen games
• 3 year olds with higher spatial skills performed more like 5 year olds
• It didn’t matter for 5 & 6 year olds

51

Toca Blocks

• Coded screen recordings of children’s TocaBlocks play for three categories
of play behaviors, and each category had two subcodes:
• Perspective Changes: adjusting the screen to change the environment

where play is occurring
• Exploratory: change in scenery/environment that seems to lack intention
• Strategic: precise changes in scenery/environment

• Blocks Play: engaging with the blocks or other objects in the digital
environment
• Exploratory: testing/figuring out what the blocks can do
• Construction: building or creating a pattern

• Avatar Play: direct interaction with the characters on the screen
• Exploration: using avatar to move through environment
• Manipulation: using avatar to make changes to environment (e.g., destroying blocks)

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Toca Blocks
Open Ended
Exploration

Toca Blocks
Open Ended
Exploration

Toca Blocks Findings

• No association with children’s spatial skills and the way they play Toca
Blocks
• Use the Avatar to explore more when they are older

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What does this all mean?

• That different spatial games require different spatial abilities
• That spatial abilities relate to how children play digital games

• BUT what we don’t know is if children play digital games that
promote spatial skills would they improve their spatial skills and STEM
abilities…..

• STAY TUNED!

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Thank You!

• Naomi Polinsky
• Dr. David Uttal, & Dr. Ellen

Wartella
• Jose Sotelo, Camille Msall,

Meriem Sadoun and all of the
RA’s at the Project on
Children’s Thinking
• Institute for Innovations in

Developmental Science at
Northwestern University

Overview Spatial Skills Digital Spatial Play Moderating Factors Current Study Methods Results Discussion
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