Can Parental Scaffolding During Spatial Play Predict Children’s Spatial Skills?

• In Event: Poster Session 01
  In Poster Session: PS 01 Topic - Cognitive Processes

Abstract

Spatial skills are central for everyday functioning, allowing us to encode the spatial features, locations, and orientations of objects as well as mentally manipulate this information. These skills make it possible to interpret maps and diagrams, but also are important predictors of later achievement across diverse STEM disciplines (Wai, Lubinski, & Benbow, 2009). A large body of research has shown a positive relation between constructive play, namely toys that involve construction manipulation and motion of objects in space, such as jigsaw puzzles, shapes, or construction blocks, and better spatial skills (Newcombe 2015, Dearing et al. 2012, Verdine 2014). Little is known, however, about the development of individual differences that accounts for the variability in spatial abilities and the extent to which the home environment may contribute to these differences.
The current study examined the relation between children’s constructive play at home and their developing spatial skills, as indexed by mental rotation task, which specifically measures the ability to mentally rotate an object in the space. To study this relation, we are currently recruiting a sample of 3- and 4-year-old children for an online study. In the study, parents were first asked to choose a puzzle from home, and were then recorded while playing with the puzzle with their child for 10 minutes. After the play session, children took part in a novel mental rotation task developed specifically for 3- to 5-year-old children. This task consisted of a training video, where children were presented with a cartoon giraffe in the center of the screen. On either side of the giraffe were two cartoon houses. The children saw the giraffe moving toward the house that matched the direction the giraffe was facing. After successfully indicating which house the giraffe would approach on two consecutive trials, children were presented with test trials where the giraffes were presented with various degrees of rotation starting at 45º followed by a gradual increase of 30º until the participant either failed or reached 180º. The highest degree of mental rotation that the participant correctly completed was then taken as a measure of mental rotation skill and the quantity as well as quality (i.e. difficulty) of the spatial toys were coded. The puzzle play recordings were coded for piece placement attempts and parental scaffolding behaviors (i.e., spatial language, persistence-focused language and level of assistance, including pointing and rotating).
Data collection for this study is ongoing. We have collected a total of 24 participants (46% females, mean age 3.92, SD = 0.71) for a priori selection sample size of 30 and expect to finish data collection in the coming month. We will create a composite score of parental scaffolding behaviors after behavioral coding is complete. We will then run a series of regression analyses to ask whether parental scaffolding and successful piece placement predict better performance on the mental rotation task. Our results may have implications for the design of easy, at-home interventions that help improve children’s spatial skills.

Authors

• Nicole Pochinki, Rutgers University - Newark
  Presenting Author

• Sussan Agbamu, Rutgers University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Dakota Ryan Reis, Rutgers University - Newark
  Non-Presenting Author

• Rebeca Soto Avalos, Rutgers University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sharon Starling, Rutgers University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Brenda Velarde, Rutgers university
  Non-Presenting Author

• Lisa M Oakes, University of California - Davis
  Non-Presenting Author

• Marianella Casasola, Cornell University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Vanessa Lobue, Rutgers University
  Non-Presenting Author