What Babies Can't Learn from Screens by Dr. Jill Uhlenberg

 

Cultural trends indicate that many adults are not only offering, but encouraging infants to interact with screens. This is despite the research that has shown the need for very young children to experience real people and objects (Francis & Whitely, 2015; Kuhl, 2010) in order to develop spatial reasoning. Spatial reasoning is an important part of mathematics that depends on children’s manipulation of real objects and experiences with real people. Here are some of the reasons for providing these experiences rather than resorting to screen time. Items 3-6 below are ideas from (Piaget and Inhelder (1967).

What babies can’t learn from screens:

1. Sensory development. How things (I am including people here!) taste, smell, feel. While screens can provide sound and colors, they limit the full sensory experiences involved with real objects.

2. Textures. Again these can be depicted visually but screens cannot engage children with differences in textures other than visually. 

3. Depth perception. Very young infants begin their understanding of space with the concepts of near and far. On a screen everything is the same distance from the infant—distant objects are smaller and nearby objects are larger, but this may just be size rather than closeness. 

4. Separation of objects. On a screen, everything is all part of one thing—the screen. Real objects are separate from each other. Infants learn that objects are separate by grasping and handling them.

5. Object permanence. This begins early in life through learning the continuity of objects. By turning objects in their hands, babies learn that the object continues on different sides. 

6. Object constancy. A solid object’s size and shape does not change. On a screen we can easily enlarge or reduce these. This is the beginning of concepts of conservation.

I admit to allowing my grandchildren use of tablets and other screens. However, my goal has been to ensure that more time is spent with real people and objects than screens. Francis and Whitely (2015) report that young children do not readily transfer knowledge about two-dimensional objects to three-dimensional objects. They need practical experiences examining all kinds of objects in order to develop a
strong understanding of spatial reasoning.

For ideas on supporting your infants and toddlers as they interact with objects, click on Contents and Containers, Block Play  Exploring Light and Exploring Sound.  

Francis, K., & Whitely, W. (2015). Interactions between three dimensions and two dimensions. In B. Davis et al., (Eds.), Spatial reasoning in the early years: Principles, assertions, and speculations (pp. 121-136). New York: Routledge.

Kuhl, P. (October, 2010). The linguistic genius of babies. Retrieved from Patricia Kuhl: The linguistic genius of babies | TED Talk

Piaget, J., & Inhelder, B. (1967). The child’s conception of space. New York, NY: Norton.

The Other Side of Math for Infants and Toddlers by Dr. Jill Uhlenberg

 

Many adults focus on numerals, counting objects, and helping young children learn the order of numbers. While these are important basics for mathematical learning, there is another side to math that is just as important; that is, learning about spatial relationships. Spatial understanding is a foundation for a substantial amount of math that we use as adults. This includes map-reading, measuring, classifying, recognizing and developing patterns, and more.

Infants and toddlers can develop spatial understanding through exploration of simple household items like plastic storage containers with lids, nesting cups and spoons, and muffin tins, along with objects to place inside these containers. Given plenty of time and adults who are willing to observe rather than direct the children’s experiences, young children can construct basic knowledge of spatial relationships. We collected 50 hours of video in order to examine how 12- to 36-month-olds used contents and containers and what they learned in the process. Adults can support this learning in the following ways:

    

Provide a variety of containers and objects for the children to explore. If possible, include a container that is large enough for the child to climb into. You will observe them placing containers on their heads, feet, and hands. Placing everything in a tub or drawer that is accessible will allow the children to engage freely, learning about the materials, then combining the materials in different ways to see what happens.

    

Spend time observing these explorations. You may want to name the materials and actions using spatial terms: you put the scarves in the bowl; I see you put the red ball beside the yellow ball; oh, the canister is on your head! You may be surprised at how the children use the materials. Over time, you will see growth in the children’s understanding of space and shapes. We also noticed that the children spent long amounts of time exploring, busting the myth of short attention spans typically attributed to toddlers.

  

 Allow the children to decide whether a problem has been solved rather than the adults expecting perfection. That is, we suggest accepting approximation. If a child is satisfied with the result of some experience, note this as a step in their development of spatial understanding, and watch for refinement in future explorations.

    

The favorite materials in our observations were plastic balls (ball pit type) of different sizes and colors. The children combined these balls with muffin tins (we had three sizes from mini-muffin to large muffin sizes). Using these materials, very young children began by testing whether one ball would fit in each of the 12 cups of the muffin tin. As adults we know these sizes are constant, but at 12 months of age, this is new knowledge. Other spatial understandings/math learning constructed with muffin tins and balls included these examples:

• One-to-one correspondence—one ball fits in one cup;

• Estimating space—using the medium ball in the medium-sized muffin tin; noticing which balls fit and which did not; pouring a bowl full of balls into a too-small canister; trying to place a lid on a too-full container;

• Classification—sorting balls by color or size; older preschoolers may use two characteristics, but infants and toddlers can generally only sort on one attribute;

• Patterns—placing balls in the muffin cups in a particular order (color, size, selected cup, etc.) that is repeated;

• Distribution—performing the same act on the same materials repeatedly, like placing the same ball in each of the muffin cups one by one; this mathematical process shows up later when adults are calculating equations.

    

The more experiences, the more advanced the children’s use of materials became. Eventually they began
combining materials in creative ways by constructing towers of bowls, canisters, nesting containers, and other objects. These explorations lead logically into the use of blocks, another strong component of spatial understanding. When you recognize and celebrate infants’ and toddlers’ bent for objects and containers, you are supporting their beginning spatial understanding. You will be surprised at the wealth of knowledge they construct over their first three years.