Influences on children's play with a STEM toy: Interactions among children, parents, and gender-based marketing
Open Access
- Author:
- Coyle, Emily Fay
- Graduate Program:
- Psychology
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- February 26, 2015
- Committee Members:
- Lynn Susan Liben, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Lynn Susan Liben, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Janet Swim, Committee Member
Eric Loken, Committee Member
Carla Zembal Saul, Committee Member
Margaret Louise Signorella, Committee Member - Keywords:
- gender
gender development
STEM
play
informal learning - Abstract:
- Women and girls are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) at most levels. Gender Schema Theory suggests that early on, girls and boys gravitate toward different experiences, approaching what they perceive as culturally appropriate for their gender and avoiding what they perceive as inappropriate. Gender-differentiated play may thus shape actual skill development and gender attitudes. Marketing toys as "for girls" or "for boys" may influence children’s willingness to play. Because spatial/mechanical toys are traditionally marketed primarily to boys, and spatial skill has been linked to success in STEM fields, one contributor to the STEM disparity may be boys’ early spatial skill advantage. Although girls play less with construction toys, we know little about how children’s and parents’ gender beliefs influence play, and whether marketing affects toy interest. I examined these factors, focusing on mothers’ and children’s interest in, and play with, a construction toy marketed explicitly to girls versus to boys. GoldieBlox is a new toy with an accompanying story. Children address challenges that arise in the narrative by assembling simple machines (e.g., belt- drives), combining a traditionally feminine mode of play – reading – with a traditionally masculine one – construction. Sixty-one mother-child dyads (age 4-6 years) played together with either GoldieBlox or BobbyBlox (modified to use masculine colors and male character). Mothers were given a few minutes to prepare for play and familiarize themselves with the toy. Dyads then played together for 15 minutes after which children played independently with the toy for 5-7 minutes. Children were assessed for mechanical learning at post-test. Findings confirmed that toy marketing affected how mothers and children used the toys, what they thought about the toys, and how much children learned from the toys. Mothers engaged in more building during familiarization with BobbyBlox than with GoldieBlox. Mothers used different scaffolding strategies with daughters versus with sons, reading to daughters and demonstrating building to sons, resulting in differential support of mechanical learning. Girls built more overall with GoldieBlox and boys built more overall with BobbyBlox. Ultimately, however, girls learned more from BobbyBlox than from GoldieBlox and boys learned more from GoldieBlox than from BobbyBlox. These effects also interacted with individual differences in children’s gender salience. This research tested the role of the gender salience filter in Liben & Bigler’s (2002) Dual Pathways model. Highly salient girls especially benefitted from play with BobbyBlox and did not learn when playing with GoldieBlox. This suggests that for STEM intervention, marketing STEM by gender may not be a successful approach. Overall, marketing powerfully affected toy use and learning, a finding that has both practical and theoretical implications.