Using sensors to study the social dynamics of outdoor play.

Abstract

1 This paper reports an exploratory case-study introducing a new method to quantify 2 children's social interactions during unstructured outdoor play. Movements of 18 3 children were tracked using wearable sensors over 20 sessions of outdoor play at 4 school. Sessions were divided between two play conditions: Baseline; the usual play 5 environment and Intervention; in which a playground intervention was implemented. 6 Sensor data were used to build a network representing the social interactions that took 7 place each day. Questionnaire-based measures of social and communication skills were 8 completed by teachers, and peer nomination was used as a child-based measure of 9 social skills.

The impact of loose‐parts‐play on schoolyard social participation of children with and without disabilities: A case study

“…Moreover, as also suggested elsewhere (Gibson et al, 2018), some time for exploration might be needed before children can immerse themselves in a new and adventurous play environment that possibly involves different social dynamics. A child who feels lonely in mainstream education can be tense because s/he cannot understand others well, or because of being bullied, may find it difficult to feel comfortable enough to fully engage in creative play, even in solitude, or at least may necessitate a longer period to do so.…”

“…Yet, the observed increase in the quantity of solitude play, which might have attracted less attention and therefore went unnoticed by the teachers, suggests that the affordances of the loose‐parts provide children with more opportunities for solitude play, which they were happy to take. Recently, Gibson and colleagues (Gibson et al, 2018) suggested a greater variability in social connectedness across LPP sessions and an increase in connectedness over time. In our data, we noticed a peak in social participation at the first LPP session, followed by a decrease during the remaining sessions.…”

“…The first goal of this case study was to examine whether LPP had an impact on children's outdoor social participation. We focused on two primary school‐aged classes, uniquely combining traditional with advanced observational and sensing methodologies in research on playground dynamics (e.g., Engelen et al, 2018; Gibson et al, 2018; Veiga et al, 2017). We applied a mixed‐methods concurrent triangulation design (Hanson et al, 2005), where quantitative data were prioritized and qualitative data were analysed separately to cross‐validate the quantitative findings and further understand them.…”

“…Few studies, mostly qualitative, suggested increase in cooperative play (Bundy et al, 2008; Kuh et al, 2013; Mahony et al, 2017), and one case study found an increase in group connectedness expressed by decreased sex segregation and increased collaborative opportunities for marginalized children (Heravi et al, 2018). Yet, few quantitative studies found no improvement in indicators such as peer acceptance, social skills, peer group size (Gibson et al, 2017), or group connectedness (Gibson et al, 2018). It has been suggested that the social impact of LPP may be difficult to detect in children with high baseline level of social competence (Bundy et al, 2008) and that children at social risk may potentially benefit more from the intervention, possibly because LPP provides new social opportunities based on capacities such as creativity (Bundy et al, 2008; Gibson et al, 2017).…”

Quantifying unusual neurological movement phenotypes in collective movement phenotypes

“…The analysis of the movement patterns of different parts of the body such as eyes [1], muscles [2] and legs [3] in humans [4,5] and animals is important in assessing their overall welfare. Investigating abnormal locomotion patterns, however, is key towards early diagnosis of a number of neurodegenerative diseases such as Batten and Huntington disease.…”