Open-Ended Play With Magnetic Unit Blocks: The Educational and Collaborative Impact of Modular Mighty Magz on 4-6 Year-Old Children

• Main Author: Benjamin Scott Coulson Howe
• Format: Thesis
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: Psychology not elsewhere classified; magnetism; children; modular mighty magz; mega magz; ANOVA; north pole; peripheral variables; North Pole
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1184/r1/6686270.v1; https://figshare.com/articles/Open-Ended_Play_With_Magnetic_Unit_Blocks_The_Educational_and_Collaborative_Impact_of_Modular_Mighty_Magz_on_4-6_Year-Old_Children/6686270

The goal of this study was to investigate whether young children’s collaborative play and learning about magnetism could be enhanced by open-ended play with an innovative type of magnetic unit blocks that teachers could use in conjunction with an explicit lesson about magnetism. This research was completed as part of a dual thesis: the BXA Capstone Project and the H&SS Honors Thesis. The BXA Capstone Project was dedicated to the design and construction of the toy: Modular Mighty Magz. The H&SS Honors Thesis was dedicated to the experimental evaluation of the educational and collaborative impact of Modular Mighty Magz. The four-year-olds and kindergarten children at the Carnegie Mellon Children’s School participated in four different assessments. Children were given a three part pre- and post-test interview that asked questions about magnets and magnetic fields, magnetic poles, and magnetic versus non-magnetic objects. Between the pre- and post-test interviews, the children’s teachers did a group lesson about magnetism during circle time and then gave the children time in groups of four to play with either Modular Mighty Magz or a common magnet toy, Mega Magz, in a separate room for 15 minutes. The play time was used to determine the collaborative impact of Modular Mighty Magz versus Mega Magz. A 2 (age [four-year-olds/kindergarten]) x 2 (toy [Modular Mighty Magz/Mega Magz]) mixed design ANOVA was conducted for all four of the dependent measures. Overall the results showed that every child improved, with kindergartners performing better than the four-year-olds, between the pre- and post-test interviews on the magnet and magnetic field questions and magnetic pole questions. This demonstrated the creation of an effective teacher lesson. There was a three-way interaction between age, toy used, and the magnetic versus non-magnetic object questions. It was determined that the four-year-olds did not improve on this test or have any benefit in which toy they used. However, the children who were given Modular ...