2023 Poster – Spatial thinking during tinkering challenges: The role of spatial information

March 25th, 2023 | RESEARCH

Tinkering activities designed for parents and children can foster spatial thinking, which benefits spatial skill development (Ramey et al., 2020). During tinkering activities, families may be challenged to use tools and materials to solve open-ended problems (Bevan, 2017). The problems specified by different tinkering challenges can highlight intrinsic or extrinsic spatial information (Chatterjee, 2008; Mix et al., 2018). In this project we asked, how does the spatial information highlighted by a tinkering challenge affect the quality of families’ spatial thinking?

Document

SRCD-2023-ST-PHC-Poster.pdf

https://www.luc.edu/media/lucedu/childrensmemory/pdfs/Naomi%20Polinsky%20-%20SRCD%202023%20ST%20&%20PHC%20Poster%20-%20update.pdf

Team Members

Naomi Polinsky, Author, Northwestern University
Elena Fiegen, Author, Northwestern University
Kaitlyn Hurka, Author, Northwestern University
Catherine Haden, Author, Loyola University Chicago
David Uttal, Author, Northwestern University

Funders

Funding Source: NSF
Funding Program: Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL)
Award Number: 1906839

Funding Source: NSF
Funding Program: Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL)
Award Number: 1906940

Funding Source: NSF
Funding Program: Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL)
Award Number: 1906808

Related URLs

Collaborative Research: Making Space for Story-Based Tinkering to Scaffold Early Informal Engineering Learning

Tags

Audience: Educators | Teachers | Elementary School Children (6-10) | Evaluators | Families | Learning Researchers | Museum | ISE Professionals
Discipline: Education and learning science | Engineering
Resource Type: Conference Proceedings | Reference Materials
Environment Type: Exhibitions | Making and Tinkering Programs | Museum and Science Center Exhibits | Public Programs