Author of Blocks Back in the Spotlight Again
Equally I load up my trunk with containers of blocks and plant materials in training for still another training for early childhood teachers, I tell myself that I am getting too erstwhile for all this schlepping. Only equally quickly equally the thought crosses my mind, a surge of excitement and free energy pulses through me. After six years of facilitating professional evolution sessions on the exploration of materials with teachers, I am more convinced than ever that blocks are one of the most essential materials for the early babyhood classroom.
"Why then, in the proper name of school readiness, is block play marginalised, if not disappearing from children's classrooms?" asks Margie Carter in the foreword to Creative Block Play (Hansel 2017). Increasingly, immature children today are sitting in front end of two-dimensional screens and worksheets instead of having playful, hands-on, sensory experiences with 3-dimensional objects (Hansel 2015). Why is this a trouble and what is it about blocks, and wooden unit blocks in particular, that make them such an important material for young children?
The science of block play, maths and shapes
Many early childhood experts, including Friedrich Froebel, Caroline Pratt, Harriet Johnson, Elizabeth Hirsch, and Mary Jo Pollman, accept documented the value of blocks for children's learning, offering testify that when children are given time to plan, construct, and create with blocks, they develop socially, emotionally, cognitively, and physically (Hansel 2017, 5). This evidence is now being confirmed by scientists using new technologies to see the inner workings of the encephalon.
According to Dr. Jo Boaler, a professor of mathematics pedagogy at Stanford Academy, brain research now shows that as you acquire something deeply, the synaptic activeness in the brain will create lasting connections (unlike when y'all acquire something in a superficial way) and that "synapses fire when we accept conversations, play games, or build with toys" (Boaler 2016, i). In other words, edifice with blocks to experience their 3-dimensional properties volition create a lasting pathway in the encephalon and a deeper understanding of shape, whereas identifying 3 dimensional shapes on a workbook page is unlikely to build understanding of shape and three-dimensionality.
The importance of spatial skills
In addition, at that place is heady new show linking good spatial skills and children's future achievement in all the STEM (Science, Applied science, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects (Lubinski 2013; Newcombe 2010). "Despite the evidence, however, the importance of spatial skills is often overlooked as a key characteristic of STEM education. This frequent neglect of spatial development creates an additional barrier to children's STEM learning" (Berkowicz and Myers 2017) and reminds those of us in early childhood pedagogy that nosotros must showtime paying attention to developing spatial skills. While laying the foundation in the STEM subjects is of import, especially for underserved populations and those underrepresented in the STEM fields, including girls, spatial skills are disquisitional in many other fields, as well every bit in everyday life, such as when we load upward a trunk with blocks and navigate our manner to a new location for the outset time.
The not bad news is that spatial skills can be improved with practice. While not all experts concur on a common definition of what spatial skills are (Hansel 2017, twenty), almost concord that the use of manipulatives helps children make sense of abstract concepts. Wooden unit blocks are a perfect example of a child-friendly manipulative that tin can be used to strengthen spatial skills. Think well-nigh how a kid recreates a zoo with blocks while closely referring to a map of the zoo and carefully ensuring that each zoo creature fits into the enclosures she has made to scale.
Which block activities foster spatial skills?
Get-go with giving children ample time for open up-ended exploration with blocks, just don't stop there. If y'all really want to see children's spatial thinking flourish, target the spatial skills in the table below and offer block activities that encourage spatial linguistic communication and challenging tasks! Now the spotlight is on yous!
| Block action | Spatial Skill |
|---|---|
| Constructing with blocks | Transforming shapes by rotating, sliding or flipping them (making as many combinations every bit possible through manipulation) |
| Filling containers with blocks; filling enclosures with objects | Learning to judge capacity and volume. How many tin can fit into the container? Does the object fit into the enclosure? |
| Fitting blocks together and taking them autonomously | Decomposing (part-whole integration, which involves seeing the shapes embedded in other shapes and seeing them every bit a whole) |
| Irresolute the shape and arrangements of blocks by stacking or enclosing | Composing (physically or mentally combining shapes to make different shapes) |
| Observing block constructions from different viewpoints, such as from higher up, from backside or in front of a mirror | Perspective-taking (considering the perspective of someone who is in a unlike location and how that view might be different from yours) |
| Describing positions, directions and distances such as exterior, within, over and nether while building | Using spatial language in context |
| Building on the floor or outdoors | Moving one'due south trunk in infinite |
| Using blocks to correspond other objects | Representing symbolically ane object for another |
| Interpreting spatial relations in drawings, pictures and photos | Using non-exact reasoning. Seeing connections between 3-dimensional objects and two-dimensional representations |
| Cartoon 3 dimensional constructions or reproducing real-life structures | Understanding spatial relationships and reinforcing visual-spatial retention |
| Comparing and measuring the size, shape, thickness, length and height of blocks | Comparison objects. Scaling upwardly or downwards (imagining objects or amounts as proportionally larger or smaller) |
| Making a model from a map or blueprint | Visually interpreting maps and blueprints |
| Building a bridge | Learning to gauge the altitude between objects |
| Designing with blocks | Creating patterns (radial, linear, symmetrical tessellations) |
| Playing hide and seek with blocks | Locating and remembering locations of objects |
| Putting blocks dorsum on the shelves (marked with the shape of the blocks) | Classifying, sorting and sequencing shapes |
References
Berkowicz, Jill and Myers, Ann. "Spatial Skills: A Neglected Dimension of Early Stalk Educational activity." Retrieved on June 27, 2017 here.
Boaler, Jo. 2016. Mathematical Mindsets: Unleashing Students' Potential through Artistic Math, Inspiring Messages and Innovative Instruction. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Hansel, Rosanne. 2017. Artistic Block Play: A Comprehensive Guide to Learning through Building. St. Paul, MN: Redleaf Press.
Hansel, Rosanne. 2015. "Bringing Blocks Dorsum to the Kindergarten Classroom." Young Children 70 (1):44-51.
Lubinski, David. 2013."Early on Spatial Reasoning Predicts Later Inventiveness and Innovation, Especially in STEM Fields." Science Daily. July fifteen.
Newcombe, Nora. 2010. "Picture show This: Increasing Math and Science Learning by Improving Spatial Thinking." American Educator, Summer 2010, 29-43.
Pollman, Mary Jo. 2010. Blocks and Beyond: Strengthening Early Math and Science Skills through Spatial Learning. Baltimore, Md: Brookes.
Source: https://www.communityplaythings.co.uk/learning-library/articles/blocks-back-in-the-spotlight-again
0 Response to "Author of Blocks Back in the Spotlight Again"
Post a Comment