The power of story, science and play

Fleer’s Conceptual Playworld is an innovative play based model integrating Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) concepts. Journalist Elise Cuthbertson talked with the program designer Marilyn Fleer (pictured), Monash University Laureate Professor of Early Childhood Education and Development.

A group of five year olds is reimagining the classic Robin Hood story. The heroic outlaw of English folklore becomes an engineer, so do his merry friends in Nottingham. Robin and the engineers hit the books and search through some child friendly YouTube videos. They devise a pulley system to break into a castle where Robin’s perennial rival, the Sheriff of Nottingham, is hoarding wealth he has stolen from citizens. In the end, through their engineering nous, Robin and friends win and share the wealth evenly among Nottingham’s inhabitants.

This is just one example of how the Conceptual Playworld can be implemented in an early childhood education setting, with the intersection of story, science and play.

“What we’ve learnt from our research is that imagination and play and imagination and learning are hand in glove,” Fleer said.

Imagination, she said, is central to children’s understanding of STEM concepts.

“If you develop children’s imagination through play, you are actually developing their foundational capacity to be thinking abstractly and to imagine concepts – because a lot of concepts are very imaginary.”

The strength of the Conceptual Playworld model is in its adaptability and synergy with teachers’ talents. Fleer said the model’s success pushes back against previous academic literature which claims early childhood teachers are not teaching STEM effectively.

“Early childhood teachers are terrific with children’s literature. They’re wonderful with dramatisation and storytelling… so this Conceptual Playworld model draws on all of their strengths and what’s unique about it is that early childhood teachers and the children create the Conceptual Playworld together.

“It takes what teachers are already doing but it positions them very powerfully into the play and it provides the vehicle… the children are so motivated to solve problems. They’re learning STEM concepts in the service of their play [and] the children are so engaged.”

Fleer said young children were naturally curious about STEM concepts in coming to terms with the world around them.

“The infant is already exploring gravity when they throw things from their high chair, they’re feeling the wind on their face and wondering what it might be and how balloons float… children are already super curious and we know this from the research.”

What we’ve learnt from our research is that imagination and play and imagination and learning are hand in glove.

An ARC laureate first

The Conceptual Playworld model is part of Fleer’s broader research project, which was recently awarded a prestigious Australian Research Council (ARC) Laureate Fellowship.

The $3.2 million grant will fund a five year research project, including a longitudinal study into children’s curiosities and interests.

“Nobody has looked at, longitudinally, the interests of children and the curiosity that they have – in the world and especially not in Australia. It will be an absolute first,” Fleer said.

“If we already know what toddlers and preschoolers and infants are interested in, then we can really work with that content in our curriculum.

“We’ll be able to have that evidence and it will be so exciting. My best guess is that we’re going to blow the minds of primary and secondary teachers – they will be so gobsmacked at what young children can do.”

The research project will also consider the development of artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality (VR) resources to support play based STEM education at home.

It’s the first time the ARC Laureate Fellowship has ever been awarded to a researcher in the field of early childhood education. Fleer also received the Kathleen Fitzpatrick Fellowship – a grant for exceptional female researchers to assist in mentoring women in their field.

“I feel so proud for us in early childhood education. It’s so exciting. It’s an honour,” Fleer said.

Girls in STEM

The under-representation of girls and women in STEM study and industry has long been flagged as an equity concern.

Fleer said she observed the exclusion of girls in STEM education in her career as an early childhood teacher and then later explored the deepening trend as an academic.

“The same things that happened 20 years ago are happening now. We haven’t changed the story for girls and we haven’t opened up the opportunities for them.”

The Conceptual Playworld provides an opportunity to change this story for girls.

Fleer said in free play settings girls often kept themselves on the periphery while boys were more likely to take an active role. The Conceptual Playworld model provides teachers with the ability to give girls a clear role in the story.

In the Robin Hood example, Fleer said the teachers who created that Playworld named the girls – as well as boys – as engineers from the beginning, providing them with a clear opportunity to engage.

With women accounting for just 12% of the Australian engineering workforce, Fleer believes change has to start early.

“The pipeline of girls in STEM has to begin in early childhood. Girls are interested… it’s just that all these blocks get put in their way and one of them is just this wall of boys being in there and getting their hands on everything before the girls do.

“We have to change the story in early childhood education because of children’s absolute passion in the STEM area.”

Using Conceptual Playworld

Early childhood teachers interested in the Conceptual Playworld model can download the program’s free app or online resources.

Further resources will continue to be released as the research develops.

Would you like to be involved?

Fleer is also looking for early childhood services to formally participate in the research project.

To find out how you can be involved, visit https://www.monash.edu/conceptual-playworld/