The Block Play Factor

A known driver of later mathematics and science learning, block play may also underpin spatial language and concepts

The National Research Council’s 2006 report, “Learning to Think Spatially,” emphasized the importance for young children of learning spatial skills, both as a foundation for later learning in mathematics and science and for success in everyday life—a finding which has been confirmed by many other studies.

The report also found, however, that spatial skills are often not explicitly taught in many Kindergarten classrooms. One way to support the development of spatial skills in young children is through ... play with blocks.

Some of the potential contributions of block play to spatial learning for young children were investigated by a group of researchers, primarily from Temple University. Previous research had indicated that block play may encourage mathematical thinking and build spatial visualization abilities, contributing to later achievement in middle and high school mathematics.

The Templeton researchers were interested in the extent to which block play was associated with the use of spatial language, because they believed that spatial language may support spatial reasoning ability. Previous research had also suggested that differences in individual children’s knowledge of spatial language predicted performance on assessments of spatial skills.

The researchers set up three play situations. In the free play condition, a parent and child played with a set of blocks with no guidance. In the guided play condition, the parent and child were given a set of five numbered photographs, which showed the steps necessary to build a particular structure. In the pre-assembled condition, the pair were given a pre-made structure they could play with together. In each condition, the same combination of blocks and other objects, such as figures of a firefighter, a pilot, and two civilians were used.

A second investigation examined segments of parent-child interactions in other contexts to establish a baseline against which to compare the amount of spatial language used in the block play situations. The children involved were between 3 and 4.5 years old.

What were the results?

• Parents in the guided play condition used significantly more spatial language than in the free play condition or the pre-assembled condition.

• Children in the guided play condition used significantly more spatial language than in the free play condition, though no significant differences were found between the free play and pre-assembled conditions.

• Both parents and children used significantly more spatial language in the block play situations than in the other contexts examined.

What does this mean for our classrooms?

One anomaly in the results appears to be the finding that there was no difference between the children’s use of spatial language in the guided and pre-assembled conditions. It seems that the pre-assembled condition provided opportunities to use different kinds of spatial language, such as: “The fireman is climbing all the way up to the top of the building.”

The researchers also noticed that there were times in the guided play condition where children became absorbed with the materials and parents played less assertive roles. The addition of different opportunities for the use of spatial language, and the stretches of play where there was less talk, seem to have contributed to less production of spatial language from children in the free play condition (relative to the pre-assembled play condition) than expected.

It may also be possible, however, that the very young children involved may not have had a strong enough command of some of the spatial language to produce it. If the latter is the case, then the type of modeling and scaffolding from a more experienced partner that is evident in the guided play condition becomes even more important.

The scaffolded support in the guided play condition was facilitated by the presence of a specified end goal. This allowed parents to provide specific guidance and feedback along the way to that end goal, which ensured opportunities for the modeling of contextualized spatial language.

Though the guided play situation seemed to maximize the use of spatial language, the comparison with other parent-child interactions shows that block play in general seems to provide an ideal opportunity to expose young children to spatial language and support them in the development of spatial language and concepts.

This research seems to offer some direct guidance for teachers of young children in making use of block play activities to expose children to the spatial language that will underpin their development of spatial concepts.

References

Ferrara, K., Hirsh-Pasek, K., Newcombe, N., Michnick Golinkoff, R. and Shallcross Lam, W. (2011) “Block talk: Spatial language during block play” in Mind, Brain and Education 5 3, pp. 143-151.

National Research Council (2006) “Learning to think spatially.” Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

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