Early Engineering in Young Children’s Exploratory Play with Tangible Materials

Abstract

The developmental importance of play in early childhood is well documented. However, little research exists to date to describe how child play relates to engineering thinking. The goal of this study is to determine whether spontaneously occurring classroom play and involvement with open, semi-structured and structured artifacts such as sandboxes, water tables, and puzzles, may reveal precursors to engineering thinking and acting. To gather such evidence we conducted a series of naturalistic field observations of preschool children engaged in free play with these artifacts. This study describes ways this play activity enables children’s involvement with engineering ideas and engineering activities. Findings from this study contribute to our understanding of how play environments can become vehicles for enhancement of early engineering knowledge and action.