Sex Differences in Block Play in Early Childhood Education

Farrell, Muriel

doi:10.1080/00220671.1957.10882468

Cited by 17 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…The fact that no gender differences were found in the current study additionally speaks to the educational validity of blocks as a tool in the classroom. Although prior research has typified a greater male preference for play with blocks (Farrell, 1957; Farwell, 1930; Saracho, 1994, 1995), it seems that girls may be just as motivated to play with construction materials. Indeed, for all of the conditions in the current study, it was found that girls and boys did not differ from one another in the amount of time spent engaging with the blocks.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Block Talk: Spatial Language During Block Play

Ferrara

Hirsh‐Pasek

Newcombe

et al. 2011

Mind Brain and Education

176

166

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Spatial skills are a central component of intellect and show marked individual differences. There is evidence that variations in the spatial language young children hear, which directs their attention to important aspects of the spatial environment, may be one of the mechanisms that contributes to these differences. To investigate how play affects variations in language, parents and children were assigned to 1 of 3 conditions: free play with blocks, guided play, or play with preassembled structures (Study 1). Parents in the guided play condition produced significantly higher proportions of spatial talk than parents in the other two conditions, and children in the guided play condition produced significantly more spatial talk than those in the free play condition. Study 2 established baselines of spatial language during activities not involving spatial materials. Proportions of spatial words were lower than those in any of the conditions of Experiment 1. In sum, interaction with blocks naturally elicits elevated levels of spatial language, especially in the context of guided play, suggesting simple-to-execute educational interventions.Spatial skills are a crucial component of human intellect. They allow us to encode information about small and large-scale objects-such as the location of our watch under a book, or which way to turn to reach a destination. They also allow us to mentally transform this information, such as imagining what we might see if approaching an intersection from an alternative direction. Spatial skills provide a foundation for learning in the disciplines of science,

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Block Talk: Spatial Language During Block Play

Ferrara

Hirsh‐Pasek

Newcombe

et al. 2011

Mind Brain and Education

176

166

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show abstract

“…However, by nursery school age, boys spend more time than girls playing with guns, fire engines, and carpenter tools (Farrell, 1957;Rabban, 1950;Sears, Rau, & Alpert, 1965), and consistently select stereotypically masculine toys and activities on picture tests (DeLucia, 1963(DeLucia, , 1972Fauls & Smith, 1956;Sears et al, 1965). Children's preferences for sex-appropriate activities increase with age, but this finding is consistently stronger for boys than for girls (Nadelman, 1974; Raynor, Note 1; Smith, Note 2; Ward, 1968).…”

Section: Sex Typing In Childrenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Latitudes of Masculinity: Reactions to Sex‐Role Deviance in Men

O’Leary

Donoghue

1978

Journal of Social Issues

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The popular assumption that the male role, as traditionally defined in our society, is narrowly defined and that men who deviate from that role risk devaluation is reexamined. Two studies are presented which did not support the hypothesis that the adult male role is restrictive. A review of the literature relevant to the latitudes of acceptable masculine behavior is presented and a reconceptualization of the definition of the adult male role is proposed.

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“…Gender differences in block building performance have been investigated since the late 1950s (e.g., Farrell, 1957 ; Margolin et al, 1961 ; Clark et al, 1969 ). Early work in younger children samples suggested that more boys play with blocks than girls, boys spend more time in the block area ( Farrell, 1957 ), and girls are more interested in non-block activities compared with boys ( Margolin et al, 1961 ). More recent studies (e.g., Caldera et al, 1999 ; Snow et al, 2016 ) have obtained inconsistent results with regard to gender differences in children’s preference for block building.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Individual Differences, Types of Model and Social Settings on Block Building Performance among Chinese Preschoolers

Zhu

Meng

et al. 2018

Front. Psychol.

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Children’s block building performances are used as indicators of other abilities in multiple domains. In the current study, we examined individual differences, types of model and social settings as influences on children’s block building performance. Chinese preschoolers (N = 180) participated in a block building activity in a natural setting, and performance was assessed with multiple measures in order to identify a range of specific skills. Using scores generated across these measures, three dependent variables were analyzed: block building skills, structural balance and structural features. An overall MANOVA showed that there were significant main effects of gender and grade level across most measures. Types of model showed no significant effect in children’s block building. There was a significant main effect of social settings on structural features, with the best performance in the 5-member group, followed by individual and then the 10-member block building. These findings suggest that boys performed better than girls in block building activity. Block building performance increased significantly from 1st to 2nd year of preschool, but not from second to third. The preschoolers created more representational constructions when presented with a model made of wooden rather than with a picture. There was partial evidence that children performed better when working with peers in a small group than when working alone or working in a large group. It is suggested that future study should examine other modalities rather than the visual one, diversify the samples and adopt a longitudinal investigation.

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Sex Differences in Block Play in Early Childhood Education

Cited by 17 publications

References 0 publications

Block Talk: Spatial Language During Block Play

Block Talk: Spatial Language During Block Play

Latitudes of Masculinity: Reactions to Sex‐Role Deviance in Men

The Impact of Individual Differences, Types of Model and Social Settings on Block Building Performance among Chinese Preschoolers

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