Early puzzle play: A predictor of preschoolers' spatial transformation skill
| Autor: | Joanna Cannon, Susan C. Levine, Janellen Huttenlocher, Kristin R. Ratliff |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2012 |
| Předmět: |
Male
Spatial ability Article Mental rotation Task (project management) Developmental psychology Child Development Mental Processes Sex Factors Developmental and Educational Psychology Humans Family Longitudinal Studies Parent-Child Relations Life-span and Life-course Studies Demography Principal Component Analysis Communication Parent education Reproducibility of Results Play and Playthings Variation (linguistics) Spatial transformation Socioeconomic Factors Child Preschool Space Perception Female Psychology Spatial language |
| Zdroj: | Developmental Psychology. 48:530-542 |
| ISSN: | 1939-0599 0012-1649 |
| DOI: | 10.1037/a0025913 |
| Popis: | Individual differences in spatial skill emerge prior to kindergarten entry. However, little is known about the early experiences that may contribute to these differences. The current study examines the relation between children’s early puzzle play and their spatial skill. Children and parents (n = 53) were observed at home for 90 minutes every four months (six times) between 2 and 4 years of age (26 to 46 months). When children were 4 years 6 months old, they completed a spatial task involving mental transformations of 2D shapes. Children who were observed playing with puzzles performed better on this task than those who did not, controlling for parent education, income, and overall parent word types. Moreover, among those children who played with puzzles, frequency of puzzle play predicted performance on the spatial transformation task. Although the frequency of puzzle play did not differ for boys and girls, the quality of puzzle play (a composite of puzzle difficulty, parent engagement, and parent spatial language) was higher for boys than girls. In addition, variation in puzzle play quality predicted performance on the spatial transformation task for girls but not boys. Implications of these findings as well as future directions for research on the role of the role of puzzle play in the development of spatial skill are discussed. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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