What Does Play Have to Do With It? A Concrete and Digital Spatial Intervention With 3-Year-Olds Predicts Spatial and Math Learning

Abstract

Spatial skills like block building and puzzle making are associated with later growth in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics learning. How these early spatial experiences—both in concrete and digital platforms—boost children’s spatial skills remains a mystery. This study examined how children with low- and high-parental education use corrective feedback in a series of spatial assembly tasks. We further ask whether this spatial learning increases near- and far-transfer spatial and math skills. U.S. preschoolers (N = 331) were randomly assigned to either a “business-as-usual” control or one of six spatial training groups (comprising concrete and digital training with modeling and feedback [MF], gesture feedback, or spatial language feedback). Children were trained for 5 weeks to construct 2D puzzles that match a model using a variety of geometric shapes. Pre- and posttests evaluated 2D and 3D spatial assembly, spatial language comprehension, shape identification, and math performance. Results indicate performance enhancement in trained 2D spatial assembly across all six trainings. Digital gesture feedback transferred, boosting 3D spatial assembly performance. Both concrete and digital spatial language feedback trainings increased shape identification performance. Concrete-MF significantly (and digital-MF marginally) increased word problem math performance for children with lower parental education. Finally, collapsing across conditions, both concrete and digital training increased overall spatial skills, especially for preschoolers with lower parental education. Transfer to overall mathematics performance was far less robust. Overall, early concrete and digital spatial assembly experiences seem to support preschoolers’ spatial skill development but have a minor impact on mathematics skill development.

Public Significance Statement Understanding how different types of spatial training impact children’s learning can inform the design of effective interventions to enhance science, technology, engineering, and mathematics skills, particularly among those from underresourced backgrounds. Results from the present study suggest that spatial assembly training improved spatial skills and possibly math word problem skills of children with lower parental education. This research illustrates the potential of both concrete and digital spatial assembly in fostering early spatial ability and possibly math ability, offering promising avenues for equitable and accessible educational interventions.