Help Evaluate the Discovery Center
Learning Through Play
It is widely believed that children learn by playing, but if you observe children’s play activities, you may notice that the process of ‘playing’ is inherently unsystematic. This contradiction has made the question of how children learn during play of particular interest to parents, teachers and researchers. To find out what play is all about, cognitive scientists have developed and are testing theories about how children might learn through play.
Toddler Causal Wands
What conditions allow toddlers to learn cause and effect relationships?
Toddlers may be able to learn two events are associated, but toddlers may not understand that they can act on objects to produce an effect. This study considers whether toddlers use cues from adults to understand cause and effect relationships.
In one condition, toddlers see a red block that appears to move by itself and touch a blue block. When the blocks touch, a toy lights up and spins. The blocks move apart and the toy turns off. Children watch this several times, and then see a trial where the blocks move together, but the toy doesn’t light up. We predict children will look up to the toy, expecting it to ‘go’, indicating they’ve learned that the two events are associated.
Children are then handed the red block and asked to make the toy ‘go’. We predict that toddlers in this condition will play, but will not push the blocks together – that is, despite learning the association, toddlers will not have learned the causal relationship.
In other conditions, the researcher introduces cues - she pushes the blocks together herself or gives language cues - to help children learn the causal relationship. Children are again handed the red block and asked to make the toy ‘go’. We predict toddlers in this condition will have learned the causal relationship and will push the blocks together to produce the desired effect- indicating they have learned the causal relationship, not just the association.
This study may help us better understand whether toddlers use cues from adults to aid in learning cause and effect relationships
Learn about other research related to Learning Through Play.
This research is conducted by the Early Childhood Cognition Lab
Try it at the Museum
Bird Sounds
Step up to the Bird Songs exhibit in the Discovery Center and let your child press the buttons. As they press each button, point to the picture of the bird and listen to its song.
Does your child seem to have a favorite bird song? Do they know which button to press to hear that bird sing?
Verbalize the cause and effect relationship: “Listen, Billy, when you press that button, we hear the cardinal singing! Can you make a different bird sing?”
Try it at Home
Everyday Causal Play
Every activity you do with your child- whether playing, reading, cooking or cleaning- is an opportunity for them to learn about cause and effect. Show your child that turning a faucet causes water to flow (or stop flowing). Share ‘hidden picture’ books with your child and let them go through the motions that cause the characters to appear from behind the page. Help your child to press the ‘right’ button in an elevator and see how the button lights up to indicate your desired floor.
Every opportunity your child has to ‘do it myself’ is an opportunity for them to learn associations among events and how they can cause effects in the objects they encounter each day. Talking with your child as she has these experiences helps her understand: “I can make things happen”.
The Living Laboratory initiative is made possible through support from the National Science Foundation.