Examining Causal Connections Between Block Play, Mathematics, and Executive Function

• In Event: Evaluating Preschool and School-Age Interventions That Promote Self-Regulation and Executive Function Skills in Children

Abstract

Introduction. Block play is ubiquitous in preschool classrooms and is purported to be critical for the development of school readiness (NAEYC, 2002). Yet, there remains little causal evidence to support these recommendations. Further, the most effective method of block play for supporting young children’s development has not been empirically evaluated. The objective of this study was to empirically evaluate the impacts of an intervention that consisted of different types of block play (unstructured, semi-structured) on children’s mathematics and executive function (EF) in a low-income sample. We hypothesized that children who participated in either of the block play intervention conditions would demonstrate greater gains on mathematics and EF compared to children in a business-as-usual (BAU) condition. Further, we expected that children in the semi-structured block play condition would experience greater gains in mathematics and EF relative to children in the unstructured condition.

Sample. Participants were 230 preschool children (50% female) from families with low incomes who were 4 years old at the beginning of the study (M = 4.35, SD = .57). Approximately 20% of children were Spanish-speaking dual language learners.

Methods. Children were assessed pre- and post-intervention on several mathematics and EF skills (see Table 1 for details on measures). Following pre-test, children were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: unstructured block play (n=70), semi-structured block play (n=72), or a BAU control (n=89). Children in both intervention conditions participated in small group (2-3 children) block play for eight weeks, twice a week for 15 minutes. At the beginning of each session, small groups were given a set of wooden unit blocks and an interventionist provided a prompt. For the unstructured condition, the prompt was the same each session: “Today, your job is to build together! You can build anything you want. I can’t wait to see what you build!”. For the semi-structured condition, prompts were different for each session and became more complex as the intervention progressed, which is in line with intervention research indicating that for children’s skills to be improved, those skills must be continuously challenged (Diamond & Lee, 2011). An example of one early prompt is: “Today, your job is to build a house together. I can’t wait to see the tower you build!” After providing the prompt, interventionists allowed children to play with little scaffolding.

Results. Multi-level models accounting for small-group level variance were conducted that controlled for pretest scores, child language, age, gender, and parental education. Results are shown in Table 2. When comparing intervention conditions to the BAU group, overall, effects were positive, albeit relatively small. For the unstructured condition, there were two significant effects (CMA-Geometry and HTKS) and one marginal effect (Day-Night Stroop), and for the semi-structured condition there was one significant effect (CMA-Geometry) and one marginal effect (Cardinality). There were no statistical differences when comparing the two intervention conditions.

Conclusions. Overall, our findings indicate that block play, when used intentionally in classrooms, can strengthen certain skills (e.g., geometry, global executive function) in preschool children from low-income backgrounds.

Authors

• Sara Anne Schmitt, University of Oregon
  Presenting Author

• David James Purpura, Purdue University, West Lafayette

• Robert Duncan, Purdue University, West Lafayette

• Lindsey Bryant, Purdue University, West Lafayette

• Tracy Zehner, University of Oregon, Eugene

• Brianna Devlin, University of Oregon

• Elyssa A Geer, University of Oregon

• Tanya Maria Paes, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital - Memphis