Integrating play-based learning and STEM practices

By Blythe Romano, Research Specialist with the Association of Children’s Museums.

Since 2020, the Association of Children’s Museums (ACM) and Oregon State University STEM Research Center (OSU) has been working on the development of a set of tools that explore the intersection of play and STEM for young learners at children’s museums and science centers. The U.S. National Science Foundation funded project, InterPLAY will provide practitioners with resources that assess the efficacy of their STEM-focused exhibits.

InterPLAY is informed by research demonstrating that guided play provides rich engagement with STEM phenomena and practices. The research team conducted a series of on-site observations, surveying the ways in which low structure play (utilizing loose parts or objects) and high structure play (involving games or ludic play with rules and convergent outcomes) appeared in certain exhibit environments. The goal of these observations was to better understand how STEM content is presented in exhibits targeting children ages three to eight years old and how the presentation of this content impacts the playful learning approaches by children visiting these exhibits.

These observations, conducted at 11 museums across the United States, led to the development of the InterPLAY Framework Constructs, which draws connections between exhibit structures and the STEM behaviors they encourage in children. The framework outlines the following three concepts:

1. STEM-embedded play design - This concept asks practitioners to examine how the exhibit is designed to encourage a child to experience or observe STEM phenomenon. Practitioners utilizing this framework concept can examine their exhibits by paying attention to the physical spaces of their museums and asking questions, such as “What is this space and what does it do?” Qualifiers for low versus high structure play design at exhibits can be found further detailed in the Framework Constructs.
    
2. Facilitators of play-based STEM - This construct pays more attention to the combination of social play activities with other children, adults, or practitioners that facilitate engagement in STEM practices. An example could be a child watching another child reposition the weights on a toy boat (low structure), or an adult explaining how rain becomes groundwater (high structure).
    
3. STEM Practices - This construct investigates how the exhibit is designed to support the use of STEM practices. It involves examining how children can explore STEM phenomenon in the space as opposed to just experiencing or observing it. This would entail engaging in behaviors like testing and revising or using evidence to communicate, ask questions, and make predictions.

The Play-Based STEM Exhibit Engagement Observation Tool is to be used in tandem with these framework concepts to understand what is happening at STEM-based museum exhibits. The Observation Tool involves a checklist of specific STEM, social, and adult behaviors to look for when performing on-site observations.

While the website housing InterPLAY’s toolkit resources is currently under construction, ACM and OSU will formally launch the site and the toolkit this upcoming fall of 2024 with a webinar talking museum practitioners through how to use the framework, the observational tool, and a soon-to-be-released reflection guide.

The research team behind InterPLAY is confident that these tools will give the field a vocabulary for discussing their STEM exhibits and an ability to recognize the importance of play.