Early Elementary Students’ Use of Shape and Location Schemas When Embedding and Disembedding

Abstract

Elementary students’ early development of embedding and disembedding is complex and paves the way for later STEM learning. The purpose of this study was to clarify the factors that support students’ embedding (i.e., overlapping shapes to form a new shape) and disembedding (i.e., identifying discrete shapes within another shape) through the use of filled shapes as opposed to shape frames. We recruited 26 Grade 1 students (~6–7 years old) and 23 Grade 3 students (~8–9 years old), asked them to work on two layered puzzle designs from the Color Code puzzle game, and interviewed them about their thinking processes. The first graders had higher success rates at fixing and embedding the tiles correctly, and students at both grade levels improved on the three-tile design when encountering it a second time about two months later. The four-tile design was more difficult, but students improved if they could identify a correct sub-structure of the design. Successful students used a combination of pictorial shape strategies and schematic location strategies, systematically testing tiles and checking how they could be embedded. The results suggest that helping students focus on sub-structures can promote their effective embedding.

Play, Problem-Solving, STEM Conceptions, and Efficacy in STEM: An Introduction to the STEM in Early Childhood Education Special Issue

“…These ten articles [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] demonstrate the depth of Early Childhood Education and STEM-related topics. In fact, it is critical to consider how important play, puzzles, and everyday experiences are in STEM instruction.…”

“…STEM is often examined with young children's engagement with tablets and software. However, the research designs from Bofferding et al [1], Hollestein et al [2], Lewis Presser et al [3], and Welch et al's [4] studies used concrete play at the center of young children's STEM engagement and development, suggesting the importance authentic socially constructed realities that children create for play and problem-solving should be leveraged more often in Early Childhood classrooms. Findings evidenced emergent development of young children's activities, and provided variance of initial perturbations, access points, teacher collaboration, and teacher facilitation in STEM.…”