What a difference something like this might have made in my own mathematical mindset as a learner and beginning teacher. As a failry new grandmother, I would love to know more about some of the books that were used to help children develop spatial reasoning. I am wondering about access to participation in this program especially for families. Would/will the cost of a tablet and apps be a gatetkeeper?  I am also wondering about your plans for supporting parents and childcare workers to support development of spatial reasoning

Hi Carolyn and Kathy - Great questions! Our first app-Map Adventure- is available for free in the Apple app store and the Family Guide is online. We're developing a set of hands-on classroom activities, additional family activities, and a new tablet app that uses augmented reality elements. The existing family guide does include some suggested books, but we are currently testing more books. 

This is a great question about access! The tablets might be a gatekeeper to some, but for preschools they only need one tablet to effectively use the apps. For both classroom and home activities, we include many hands-on activities and books, so teachers and parents can engage in useful learning without the apps.  With the proliferation of tablets, we anticipate that access to tablets will increase over time too.

Supporting teachers and families is really critical! In each of our studies, teachers receive professional learning sessions and we are also exploring ways to build a digital guide for teachers that supports teachers. We anticipate that the family guide will be accessible on phones, so that parents/caregivers can find the activities easily, and supportive elements that support parents/caregivers can help preschoolers engage effectively. 

Greetings Ashley, Thank you for the reply.  There are so many apps that come up when  you type in Map Adventure.  Is there another name that I should type into Apple app store.

Sure! Here is the Apple App store link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/gracie-friends-ma...

For the Augmented Reality app, we're scheduled to publish that in early 2024 when our iterative development process is completed. We look forward to sharing that out that app and all of our findings then! :)

Hi Margo, 

We'd love for you to follow our work! I created a link for anyone to securely enter their contact information and I will email when the app and guides are ready for the public. 

https://go.edc.org/FOWAcontact 

The issue of inequity and access is really important! For both schools and families, many activities were designed to use everyday materials and books. Activity descriptions are available to adults on tablets, computers, or phones. These apps will be released for free, so anyone can download the apps with an Apple device (we hope to add Android devices in the future). Once an app is downloaded, there is no need for internet access, so teachers and families can download using public wifi, then use at home without the internet. We hope that as tablets become more ubiquitous, more and more preschoolers will have ready access to these apps!

Hi Xime!

This work has been so interesting and exciting. As we're continuing the research and development, we're gathering a list of design principles and things to consider in subsequent iterations of the AR app.

Many of the emerging lessons are around considerations of the user--at what height will children be playing, will they be at a table or near a flat surface, will they be sitting in a chair or have the ability to move around 360 degrees, and to what extent can they safely move around their space while also using the tablet?--which has huge implications on design. We're also considering the size, number, and placement of digital augmentations--what makes the experience exciting and manageable and what makes the experience overwhelming or too challenging? And of course we're exploring the limitations of the technology and how spatial orientation can be supported specifically by this technology. We've explored various onscreen elements and character reactions to support the learning in addition to designing the interactive gameplay with spatial orientation goals. 

We're still early in the development process, so there's much more to come in the coming year!

Hi Lelli - Your software for hand sketching sounds really promising! Yes, our team would be interested in a collaboration! 

For the demonstration of efficacy, that's a great question! We are piloting right now and will revise the hands-on and AR app again prior to a small comparison study next year. We'll likely need a larger study in a future project, as our focus at this point is on designing the AR app in a way that's educationally beneficial. I'd love to do a lab-based study focused on the app prior to a full RCT. 

That's an excellent point, Margo! We hope the final AR app will be available on phones. We have used video for teachers on other projects successfully and we hope to do that here too. For parents, a series of short videos is definitely something we've been thinking about :-)

I want to echo what Margo said as I am reading posts all the way through again. The use of short videos 5-10 minutes might also be a good professional learning format for busy teachers especially after the initial learning.

Hi Latrenda,

Great question! How we prepare teachers and parents to engage with preschoolers around spatial orientation is really important. For our current project, we meet individually with teachers to review activities and, most importantly, highlighting the particular mathematical goal for each activity and discuss ideas for implementation. We will use teachers' feedback (along with advisor feedback) to revise activities for the next study, so we highly value what teachers think these activities should entail. For example, in our user study, teachers and families found that children really struggled with aerial views of objects and in our revision, we stepped out activities that included this aspect, so that preschoolers had more and deeper experiences with viewing objects at ground view and with an aerial view.

For parents, we have short description of the lessons and directions. We also provide all the materials for parents piloting the activities. With parents feedback from this pilot, we'll both revise the activities and create a digital family guide to provide parents greater access and direction. Family activities include books and hands-on activities, such as creating a map of a room in the house, using a treasure map to find objects, and singing songs. 

Thanks for your questions! 

Ashley,

Thanks for your response.  I love that your project design is so responsive to teacher input - I'm sure this ensures greater engagement and buy-in from the teachers.  The parental involvement activities sound very engaging for all.

Thanks for your work with students.

Thanks, Judith! We look forward to sharing more as the project progresses!