Page 12 - Toy & Hobby Magazine NovDec20Jan21_Mag

STEM
PLAY-BASED LEARNING
“This supports a perception that STEM is very much for girls, and that they have and can take a leading role in STEM explorations during play.”
engaged in STEM has been demonstrated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In unprecedented times, the global community is calling for greater knowledge and engagement in STEM to support the decision-making and practices of the general community. COVID-19 has highlighted this pressing need.
“In contrast, most governments around the world have reported that there is a declining number of graduates in STEM- related fields, and a growing disengagement in STEM within schools, particularly for girls and children from culturally diverse backgrounds,” she says.
The preliminary study results centred on
an investigation into four to six-year-old girls’ activities in STEM, to find out if and how a Conceptual PlayWorld could positively contribute to their interest and activity in STEM subjects.
As part of the study, teachers and researchers designed an educational experiment to support girls’ participation in learning of STEM.
The focus of the program was a Conceptual PlayWorld using the story of Robin Hood, which required engineering principles and scientific concepts to solve social problems.
Fleer says that the early results suggest that a Conceptual PlayWorld gives girls access to resources and positions them
as leaders.
“In our educational experiment we implemented a Conceptual PlayWorld over 12 weeks, with a specific focus on role-playing and acting ‘as if ’ engineers and scientists researching problems, being in engineering teams, and designing and prototyping solutions.
“The outcomes show how a Conceptual PlayWorld; gives girls access to resources; positions them as leaders of engineering
teams; values their contributions in scientific discussions; and, shows consistent use by girls
of technical language, design visualisation, and critical and problem solving thinking associated with engineering.
“When teachers were with the children in the imaginary play, they regularly invited girls to take leading roles, and were named as scientists or engineers,” Fleer continues.
“We found that within the new distributed activity setting, the new practices of engineering and scientific thinking meant that the children changed their roles from students to engineers/scientists, when not in role as characters in the story.
“This supports a perception that STEM is very much for girls, and that they have and can take a leading role in STEM explorations during play.
“This suggests that a girl’s identity in STEM is being developed at the beginning of their early explorations of these fields of inquiry and practice,” she says.
Ongoing studies with teachers, parents, students and schools across Australia will be conducted with the support of PhD candidate Tanya Stephenson. ❉
ABOVE: Professor Marilyn Fleer - Foundation Chair in Early Childhood Education and Development at Monash University.
LEFT: A student engages in STEM.
12 TOY & HOBBY RETAILER NOVEMBER / DECEMBER / JANUARY 2021