Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Teachers College Educational ...

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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 71
control and mastery increased in virtual play, confirming existing findings in videogames research (Colley, 2003; Jenkins, 2006). Unrelated to gender, both girls and boys showed a decrease in other dimensions associated with agency, including feelings of self-confidence, self-evaluation, and self-assertion. The research presented here breaks new ground on several levels. First, it compares similar physical and virtual activity in an experimental study to determine the effects of mode on creativity and agency perceptions. No other known study has made such a comparison. Second, it brings children’s selfperceptions to the study of virtual play activity so that we might better understand the implications of transferring different types of activities from physical to virtual spaces on concepts of self, important to overall development and knowledge construction. Third, it addresses surprising gender differences found for both creativity and agency perceptions. Finally, it introduces the CAM model as a framework for how we might approach the study and design of interactive virtual technology going forward. References Bronfenbrenner, U. (2005). Making human beings human: Bioecologial perspectives on human development. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. Colley, A. (2003). Gender differences in adolescents’ perceptions of the best and worst aspects of computing at school. Computers in Human Behavior 19(6), pp. 673-682. http://dx.doi.org.libproxy.rpi.edu/10.1016/S0747-5632(03)00022-0 Craft, A. (2000). Creativity across the primary curriculum: Framing and developing practice. London, UK: Routledge. Gee, J. (2007). Good video games + good learning: Collected essays on video games, learning and 72
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Harnessing the Power of Emotionally
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