McDougal Emily, Silverstein Priya, Treleaven Oscar, Jerrom Lewis, Gilligan-Lee Katie, Gilmore Camilla, Farran Emily K
University of Surrey, Guildford, UK.
Evidence Based Practice Unit, University College London and Anna Freud, London, United Kingdom.
Dev Sci. 2024 Mar;27(2):e13432. doi: 10.1111/desc.13432. Epub 2023 Jul 5.
Lego construction ability is associated with a variety of spatial skills and mathematical outcomes. However, it is unknown whether these relations are causal. We aimed to establish the causal impact of Lego construction training on: Lego construction ability; a broad range of spatial skills; and on mathematical outcomes in 7-9-year-olds. We also aimed to identify how this causal impact differs for digital versus physical Lego construction training. One-hundred and ninety-eight children took part in a six-week training programme, delivered twice weekly as a school lunch time club. They completed either physical Lego training (N = 59), digital Lego training (N = 64), or an active control condition (crafts; N = 75). All children completed baseline and follow-up measures of spatial skills (disembedding, visuo-spatial working memory, spatial scaling, mental rotation, and performance on a spatial-numerical task, the number line task), mathematical outcomes (geometry, arithmetic, and overall mathematical skills) and Lego construction ability. Exploratory analyses revealed evidence for near transfer (Lego construction ability) and some evidence for far transfer (arithmetic) of Lego training, but overall transfer was limited. Despite this, we identified key areas for further development (explicit focus on spatial strategies, training for teachers, and embedding the programme within a mathematical context). The findings of this study can be used to inform future development of Lego construction training programmes to support mathematics learning.
乐高积木搭建能力与多种空间技能和数学成绩相关。然而，这些关系是否具有因果性尚不清楚。我们旨在确定乐高积木搭建训练对7至9岁儿童的乐高积木搭建能力、广泛的空间技能以及数学成绩的因果影响。我们还旨在确定数字与实体乐高积木搭建训练的因果影响有何不同。198名儿童参加了一个为期六周的训练项目，该项目每周两次，在学校午餐时间以俱乐部形式开展。他们分别接受实体乐高积木训练（N = 59）、数字乐高积木训练（N = 64）或积极对照条件（手工制作；N = 75）。所有儿童都完成了空间技能（分解、视觉空间工作记忆、空间缩放、心理旋转以及在空间数字任务即数轴任务上的表现）、数学成绩（几何、算术和整体数学技能）和乐高积木搭建能力的基线和随访测量。探索性分析揭示了乐高积木训练在近迁移（乐高积木搭建能力）方面的证据以及在远迁移（算术）方面的一些证据，但总体迁移是有限的。尽管如此，我们确定了进一步发展的关键领域（明确关注空间策略、对教师进行培训以及将该项目融入数学背景中）。本研究的结果可用于为未来乐高积木搭建训练项目的发展提供参考，以支持数学学习。
