Malleability of spatial skills: bridging developmental psychology and toy design for joyful STEAM development

Frontiers in Psychology

Psychology

Melisa Erşan¹  Çiğdem İrem İleri²  Aylin C. Küntay²  Tilbe Göksun²  Duru Kalaça³  Aykut Coşkun⁴ 

[1] Department of Design and Technology, Parsons School of Design, The New School New York, NY, United States;Department of Psychology, Koç University, Istanbul, Türkiye;Department of Psychology, Koç University, Istanbul, Türkiye;Department of Media and Visual Arts, Koç University, Istanbul, Türkiye;Koç University-Arçelik Research Center for Creative Industries, Koç University, Istanbul, Türkiye;

关键词: informal STEAM development;    toy design;    construction toys;    mental rotation;    mental folding;    perspective taking;    spatial cognition;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1137003

 received in 2023-01-03, accepted in 2023-08-25,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Previous research has established that advances in spatial cognition predict STEAM success, and construction toys provide ample opportunities to foster spatial cognition. Despite various construction toy designs in the market, mostly brick-shaped building blocks are used in spatial cognition research. This group of toys is known to enhance mental rotation; however, mental rotation is not the only way to comprehend the environment three-dimensionally. More specifically, mental folding and perspective taking training have not received enough attention as they can also be enhanced with the construction toys, which are framed based on the 2×2 classification of spatial skills (intrinsic-static, intrinsic-dynamic, extrinsic-static, extrinsic-dynamic). To address these gaps, we compile evidence from both developmental psychology and toy design fields to show the central role played by mental folding and perspective taking skills as well as the importance of the variety in toy designs. The review was conducted systematically by searching peer reviewed design and psychology journals and conference proceedings. We suggest that, over and above their physical properties, construction toys offer affordances to elicit spatial language, gesture, and narrative among child-caregiver dyads. These interactions are essential for the development of spatial skills in both children and their caregivers. As developmental psychology and toy design fields are two domains that can contribute to the purpose of developing construction toys to boost spatial skills, we put forward six recommendations to bridge the current gaps between these fields. Consequently, new toy designs and empirical evidence regarding malleability of different spatial skills can contribute to the informal STEAM development.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
Copyright © 2023 İleri, Erşan, Kalaça, Coşkun, Göksun and Küntay.

【 图 表 】

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