Toy‐playing behavior, sex‐role orientation, spatial ability, and science achievement

Abstract

The purpose of this correlational study was to examine the possible relationships among children's extracurricular toy‐playing habits, sex‐role orientations, spatial abilities, and science achievement. Data were gathered from 282 midwestern, suburban, fifth‐grade students. It was found that boys had significantly higher spatial skills than girls. No significant differences in spatial ability were found among students with different sex‐role orientations. No significant differences in science achievement were found between girls and boys, or among students with the four different sex‐role orientations. Students who had high spatial ability also had significantly higher science achievement scores than students with low spatial ability. Femininely oriented boys who reported low playing in the two‐dimensional, gross‐body‐movement, and proportional‐arrangement toy categories scored significantly higher on the test of science achievement than girls with the same sex‐role and toy‐playing behavior.

Adult student perceptions of traditionally sex-typed toys

“…While the toys in this study failed to manifest salient differences with respect to Structure and Productive Play, research continues to demonstrate that males and females are exposed to different types of toys, resulting in dichotomous cognitive experiences (e.g., Carpenter & Huston-stein, 1980;Serbin & Connor, 1979;Sprafkin et al, 1983;Tracy, 1990). …”

“…Texture (soft vs rough) Shape (rounded curves vs sharp lines) (Leinbach & Hort, 1989); Activity (fine motor movement vs gross motor movement) (Eaton, Bargo, & Keats, 1981;Goldberg & Lewis, 1967;Hoffman, 1977;Huston, 1983;Liss, 1983;Tracy, 1990); Sociability (small group activity vs large group activity) (Huston, 1983;Maccoby, 1990); Gender (feminine vs masculine); Depth (two-dimensional vs three-dimensional) (Serbin & Connor, 1979;Tracy, 1990); and Structure (high structure vs low structure) (Carpenter & Huston-Stein, 1980;Wolfgang, 1983). Subsequent to completing the dissimilarity ratings, subjects rated each of the ten toys on each of the eight dimensions, 80 ratings in total, along a 9 point scale.…”

“…A major theme in the women's liberation movement is a rejection of mutually exclusive conceptualizations of sex roles and the struggle for equal accessibility for both sexes to all occupations and activities (Flerx et al, 1976). Promoting androgyny in girls may provide them with more opportunities for intellectual stimulation and development (Tracy, 1990). For example, androgyny has been positively correlated with selfesteem, supporting the claim that individuals who combine the positive elements of masculinity and femininity are best adapted for healthy psychological functioning (Bem, 1975;Huston, 1983).…”

Investigating the Effects of Teaching Based on an Analysis of High School Students' Knowledge State of Concepts Associated with Astronomical Observation

“…이러한 원인 중 하나는 교과서 의 천문학 교과 내용이 위계적인 계열성을 갖지 못 하고, 또 학생들의 인지적 발달 수준에 따라 교수-학 습되지 못하는데 있다고 볼 수 있다 (윤마병, 2010). 즉 학습자의 천문 개념 형성의 비구조화와 이전의 시·공간적 감각의 미비가 새로운 개념의 이해를 방 해하는 요인으로 작용할 수 있고 (구자홍, 2000;명전 옥, 2001;Smith and Schroeder, 1979;Tracy, 1990), 천문학에 대한 개념의 위계가 제대로 규명되지 못했 기 때문이라고 볼 수 있다 (이양락 외, 2007; 채동현, 2000). 과학 개념의 위계 구조는 학습자가 직면한 학 습과제에서 좀 더 높은 수준에 있는 기능을 성공적 으로 수행하기 위한 필수적인 요소이다 (임청환, 1992;정진우 외, 1996;Bergan, 1980).…”

Identifying the task characteristics that predict children's construction task performance

“…As cognitive development will impact on children's assembly ability, it is not surprising that play preferences for construction toys have also been linked to the development of visuo-spatial skills (Brosnan, 1998;Caldera, Culop, O'Brien and Truglio, 1999), which in turn have been related to later achievement in maths and science (Assel, Landry, Swank, Smith & Steelman, 2003;Burnett, Lane, & Dratt, 1979;Casey, Nuttall, Pezaris & Benbow, 1995;Casey, Nuttall, & Pezaris, 1997;Geary, Saults, Liu, & Hoard, 2000;Robinson, Abbott, Berninger, & Busse, 1996;Tracy, 1990). Further evidence that early play with construction tasks is linked to later academic achievement is provided by Wolfgang et al (2003) who identified a relationship between LEGO performance at preschool and mathematical achievement in high school, and Kamii, Miyakawa and Kato (2004) who concluded that block play encourages the development of mathematical thinking in young children.…”