Playful Materials Catalyze Imaginative Play and Shift the Nature of Engineering Design for Preschool-age Children and Their Families

April 2nd, 2022 | RESEARCH

In collaboration with Metropolitan Family Service (MFS), we conducted a three-year design-based research study to better understand how the characteristics of hands-on, home-based family engineering activities influence how preschool-age children and their parents engage in the engineering design process. Four themes emerged from the study: (1) Families used their imagination and activity narrative elements to set the design context, (2) Families evaluated and revised their solutions based on imagination-driven constraints, (3) Families creatively modified the design space, and (4) Imaginative play fostered user-centered design.

Document

SRCD_poster_03_17_email.pdf

Team Members

Scott Pattison, Author, TERC Inc.
Gina Navoa Svarovsky, Author, University of Notre Dame
Amy Corbett, Author, Metropolitan Family Service
Maria Eugenia Perdomo, Author, Metropolitan Family Service
Smirla Ramos-Montañez, Author, TERC, Inc.
Catherine Wagner, Author, University of Notre Dame
Viviana López Burgos, Author, Independent Consultant
Sabrina De Los Santos, Author, TERC Inc.

Citation

Identifier Type: doi
Identifier: 10.13140/RG.2.2.19143.16803

Funders

Funding Source: NSF
Funding Program: EngEd-Engineering Education
Award Number: 1930848
Funding Amount: $399,371.00

Related URLs

Design and Development: Research Exploring Activity Characteristics and Heuristics for Early Childhood Engineering (REACH-ECE)

Tags

Access and Inclusion: English Language Learners | Ethnic | Racial | Hispanic | Latinx Communities
Audience: Educators | Teachers | Families | Learning Researchers | Museum | ISE Professionals | Parents | Caregivers | Pre-K Children (0-5)
Discipline: Education and learning science | Engineering
Resource Type: Conference Proceedings | Research Products
Environment Type: Informal | Formal Connections | Pre-K | Early Childhood Programs

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This material is supported by National Science Foundation award DRL-2229061, with previous support under DRL-1612739, DRL-1842633, DRL-1212803, and DRL-0638981. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations contained within InformalScience.org are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of NSF.

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