Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Teachers College Educational ...

Meaningful clicks, significant bricks:
Perceptions of creativity and agency in physical and virtual play
Lillian Spina-Caza,
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 110 8th Street, Troy, NY 12180,
Email: spinal@rpi.edu
Abstract: Two important questions define this research: First, does how an activity is
performed – physically or virtually – impact on young people’s perceptions of creativity
and agency? And second, is there a connection between mode, self-perceptions, and
gender? An experimental field study conducted at a lower SES, rural elementary school
comparing similar physical and virtual activity found the answer to both of these
questions is yes. The research presented here makes significant associations between
virtual activity, gender, and young people’s sense of their own creative abilities emerging
through the performance of play at a popular, commercial children’s Internet
environment.
Interactive Virtual Technology and Children’s Self-perceptions
One of the “red” threads appearing throughout much of the literature on children and interactive virtual
technology (IVT) use is a call for young people to be creators and not just consumers of computer culture,
producers of and not just participants in the virtual worlds they inhabit. Frequently, the main reasons
cited for encouraging IVT use include the development of information technology (IT) proficiency, media
literacy skills, scientific reasoning and spatial skills, and other informal educational opportunities (Gee,
2007; Hayes, 2008; Kafai, 2006; Loveless, 2007; Livingstone, 2003). Equally compelling reasons for
exploring the effects of IVT use on young people, however, include a deeper understanding of how virtual
environments alter creativity and/or agency perceptions considered essential for a developing child
(Bronfenbrenner, 2005; Craft, 2000; Hart, 1979; Healy, 1998).
Activity Theory (AT) provides a solid basis for this research, as it acknowledges the role of both individual
creativity and agency in human computer interaction (HCI) (Kaptelinin & Nardi, 2006). AT alone,
however, does not tell the entire story. A child’s subjective experiences in virtual play can also provide
critical insights into what types of IVT are most supportive of contributive play and, consequently, more
supportive of learning and development. As Bronfenbrenner (1979) suggests, there is an active and
creative aspect to children’s play, and a young person’s belief in their ability to reshape or contribute
something to his or her environment, to “discover, sustain, or alter its properties,” is a hallmark of
development (p. 10). Rogoff (1993), too, suggests, though individuals are bound to environment, a
person may be transformed as they “…make a process their own through their (necessarily creative)
efforts to understand and contribute to social activity” (p. 141).
AT is enriched by embracing both an Ecological Systems Theory (EST), which views human development
as a process of a person’s interactions with his or her environment, and also a Creativity Theory of
Development (CTD) (Kozbelt, Beghetto & Runco, 2010), which suggests individual and environmental
attributes support or constrain creative activity. The Creative Agency Model (CAM) introduced in this
study brings together elements of all three to operationalize creativity and agency in the context of IVT
use. In this model, creativity and agency are considered processes or functions of activity-environments
and performance-perceptions. Since there is a dearth of empirical research measuring children’s
confidence in their own creative abilities within the context of real or virtual activity, CAM offers a robust
way to explore the impact of moving activity from physical to virtual spaces.
Breaking New Ground in Virtual Studies
An experimental field study was conducted with 42 fourth and fifth graders at a rural, lower SES,
elementary school in upstate New York, to compare the effects of similar physical and virtual play activity,
isolating for gender. Significant effects were found for both creativity and agency perceptions in response
to virtual play activity. Positive effects were gendered, with girls showing increases in several creativity
dimensions, and boys showing an increase in one of four agency dimensions. For boys, feelings of
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