Spatial Talk and Question-Asking During Parent-Child Physical and Digital Play

• In Event: Parent-Child Interactions During Digital and Physical Playful Learning

Abstract

Spatial reasoning – an understanding of objects and their shapes, locations, paths, and relations – is an often-overlooked component of STEM education despite its link to STEM learning and professional success. Play with spatial toys like blocks and puzzles may advance children’s spatial skills (Jirout & Newcombe, 2015). Past research on spatial play has focused on physical toys, yet many popular digital games require spatial thinking (e.g., Minecraft, Tetris), and little research has examined how parents support their children’s digital play. We examined mother-child interactions during physical and digital spatial play, with a focus on scaffolding (i.e., question-asking; Yu, Bonawitz, & Shafto, 2017) and spatial language, which can both support spatial development. For example, mothers’ spatial language can promote children’s spatial language (Pruden, Levine, & Huttenlocher, 2011), and when adults ask children pedagogical questions (i.e., the questioner knows the answer and intends to teach), this can boost learning (Yu, Landrum, Bonawitz, & Shafto, 2018).
Sixty 5- and 6-year-olds (M = 71.3 months, SD = 7.4 months) and their mothers played with digital spatial games (Minecraft and Lumio Dragon Shapes apps on an iPad) and matched physical spatial toys (Minecraft blocks and tangram puzzles) for 10 minutes per toy/game. Videos were transcribed and coded for spatial language from the mother, child, and app, and question-asking from the mother. Based on prior comparisons of electronic books and toys to traditional ones, we expected that mothers and children would use more spatial language, and mothers would ask more questions, during physical spatial play than during digital spatial play. We also explored differences in the types of spatial language used.
As expected, mothers spoke more spatial words during physical play than digital play, F(1, 58) = 4.61, p = .036, ηp2 = .074 (see Figure 1), as did children, F(1, 58) = 4.94, p = .030, ηp2 = .079. During physical play, mothers and children used a higher proportion of spatial words related to dimensions and shapes, but during digital play, mothers and children used a higher proportion of spatial words related to location and direction, orientation and transformation, and deictics. Mothers asked more questions overall during physical play compared to digital play, F(1, 58) = 49.31, p < .001, ηp2 = .459, and asked more questions to male children than female during physical (but not digital) play, F(1, 58) = 5.42, p = .023, ηp2 = .086. Mothers also asked more of each question type during physical play, including pedagogical questions, F(1, 58) = 17.16, p < .001, ηp2 = .228, although the overall rate of pedagogical questions was low (see Figure 2).
In sum, play with physical blocks and puzzles evoked more spatial talk from mothers and children, and more question-asking from mothers, than comparable play with digital games. Although both physical and digital forms of spatial play could provide an inexpensive and easy way to foster spatial reasoning, our findings suggest that physical play is superior in promoting spatial language and maternal question-asking, both of which can support children’s learning.

Authors

• Sierra Eisen, Wesleyan University
  Presenting Author

• Jamie J Jirout, University of Virginia - Charlottesville
  Non-Presenting Author

• Angeline S Lillard, University of Virginia - Charlottesville
  Non-Presenting Author