Project aim
Recently, the importance of developing spatial thinking has been recognized with the European Union stimulating its development at an early age. Many studies of ways to foster spatial thinking of young children, through online activities as well as embodied activities, have been conducted and provide valuable insights that can be used in preschool settings. In design and engineering, spatial thinking is required to imagine and visualize novel and creative solutions and products. However, design play in preschools has not been researched in the context of spatial thinking so far. Next to this, little is known on individual differences in the way preschools use and develop spatial thinking skills in early childhood. Therefore, in collaboration with Sciencehub TU Delft the aim of this project was to:
-Gain insight into diversity of learners and the way they engage and interact with design activities in a classroom context.
-Develop educational innovations which take the diversity of learners into account, and stimulate spatial learning in the context of Design and Technology Education.
-Develop a tool for educational professionals which communicates the findings of this project.

Methodologies employed
Throughout the project the following methodologies were employed:
Literature research exploring spatial ability in the context of preschoolers, education, design and play.
-Participatory qualitative interviews and observations with preschoolers in their classrooms to explore different play preferences.
-Generative design research methods grounded in ethnographic research and therapeutic practices to discover how preschoolers with different play preferences interact with an empathic, story-based open-ended design challenge.
-Focus group with preservice teachers to explore how they currently take the diversity of learners into account.
-User tests with preschoolers and teachers to test and improve the proposed design interventions.

Research outcomes
Exploring the context of preschooler and teachers resulted in the following summarised research outcomes:
-Important play preferences for preschoolers are: construction play, pretend play, open-ended objects, and defined objects.
-The play preferences of children influence the length and nature of design activities as well as the design outcomes.
-Design activities stimulate children to practice spatial thinking in a creative context.
-Teachers know a lot about their students, so the intervention should allow them to use this knowledge.

Intervention – preschoolers
Based on the research outcomes two variations of assignments, which have the same learning goal, were designed. Each variation focused on a different set of preferences, allowing the preschoolers to interact with the assignment that fits their preferences best.

Intervention – teachers
A booklet summarising the outcomes of this project was made. An actionable step-by-step plan and worksheet were created with which teachers can design their own variations of assignments based on preferences of students in their class.
The interventions were evaluated with preschoolers and (preservice) teachers, and showed promising results. Recommendations regarding improvements and implementation are provided.

At the moment design is taught in primary education. Teachers often use the design cycle which consists of six phases: 1) Exploring & formulating the problem, 2) Generating & selecting ideas, 3) Generating & selecting concepts, 4) Building prototypes, 5) Testing & optimising and 6) Presenting. There are several tools available for teachers to use when doing a design assignment in class. These tools are focused on exploring, ideating and presenting, but tools for prototyping are missing. In a previous project Nadine Rodewijk developed a game, the Prototype-discussion-game, which was meant to help children in purposefully prototyping. This game is the starting point of this project and the goal of this project is to develop materials that are a contribution to the available tools for designing in primary education and make children use prototyping in a meaningful way.Explorative research, interviews, observations and literature, show that children often do not have a goal when prototyping, while experts use prototyping to find things out. Designing is an iterative process and prototyping allows you to iterate. At the moment children often only make one prototype at the end of their process for communication purposes.In this project three tools are (further) developed in order to stimulate the children to purposefully prototype and use prototyping to iterate in their design process. Due to COVID-19 all the tests in this project could not be performed in schools, since all schools were closed. Therefore, all the tools are tested at home. One of the developed tools is the Skill tool. The goal of this tool is to teach children necessary skills for prototyping. When children do not know how to make things, they will not be able to make meaningful prototypes in a design assignment. Children get a step-by-step instruction in text and image which they have to follow. In the last step the children need to apply the skill they just learned in a different context. This way children already have practised applying the skill in a different context before they have to create a specific prototype in a design assignment. Another tool is the Prototype-discussion-game of Nadine which is further developed. The goal of the game is to make children aware of the different goals prototypes can have. The Prototype-discussion-game is a card game in which groups of 3-4 children have to combine prototypes with goals. The children have five cards with different goals for prototypes on them and they need to combine one of the cards to a card with a prototype on it. The children need to give an argument for their choice and need to discuss which goal fits best with the prototype card. The tests in this project show that the game makes children aware of the different goals and is experienced as a nice and educational game to play. The last tool developed for children is the Iteration tool. The goal of this tool is to guide children through the necessary stages in order to iterate (see Figure 1). In order to iterate you first need to look forward and plan for the prototype you are about to make. Then you execute your plan and once it is finished, you look back and reflect on your progress and process. Lastly, you process your learnings and decide on what the next step would be before you enter the iteration model again by planning for your new prototype. The tool consists of multiple worksheets which are related to the stages of the iteration model. The tests show that using the Iteration tool helps the children to prototype purposefully. In this project there is also a tool developed for teachers. This Info booklet provides information about the role of prototyping in a design process. The booklet also provides examples and information about the tools developed in this project that can be used in class when prototyping. Teachers mentioned that this booklet is very informative and can be useful when preparing a design assignment.

In het hedendaagse onderwijs wordt steeds meer aandacht besteed aan 21e-eeuwse vaardigheden. Ontwerpend leren is een goed middel om leerlingen 21e-eeuwse vaardigheden bij te brengen, aldus de Verkenningscommissie wetenschap en technologie primair onderwijs (2013). Om sturing te geven aan ontwerpend leren zijn de breed geformuleerde 21e-eeuwse vaardigheden door Klapwijk, Kok, Visschedijk en Holla (2017) verder gespecificeerd en aangevuld tot zeven ontwerpvaardigheden. Om te bepalen wat formatieve evaluatie van ontwerpvaardigheden oplevert, is onderzocht welke invloed het formatief evalueren van de ontwerpvaardigheid divergent denken heeft op het leerproces van leerlingen in de bovenbouw van het primair onderwijs.

Om deze vraag te beantwoorden is een casestudie opgezet binnen de context ‘Gymmen in de toekomst’, waarin leerlingen uit groep 8 van het primair onderwijs een nieuw gymspel ontwerpen in groepen van vier leerlingen. In de casestudie zijn twee interventies van formatieve evaluatie opgenomen. In de eerste interventie voorafgaand aan het brainstormen, hebben de leerlingen klassikaal de leerdoelen van de ontwerpvaardigheid verhelderd door gezamenlijk adviezen op te stellen om divergent te denken. In de tweede interventie is de brainstorm stilgelegd om te bepalen of de leerlingen aan deze succescriteria voldoen (feedback) en waar nodig het proces bij te sturen (feed forward). 

Uit het onderzoek is gebleken dat de twee aangereikte werkvormen voor formatieve evaluatie de leerlingen ondersteunen bij het divergent denken. Door het opstellen succescriteria voor divergent denken in de werkvorm vaardigheid in beeld, hebben de leerlingen een gemeenschappelijke taal ontwikkeld waarmee zij de ontwerpvaardigheid divergent denken kunnen concretiseren. Uit de post-interviews blijkt dat het nadenken over de invulling van de ontwerpvaardigheid divergent denken, en het vastleggen hiervan in woord en beeld, een effectieve aanpak is om de leerdoelen voor de leerlingen te verhelderen. 

De werkvorm op de goede weg? ondersteunt de leerlingen bij het bepalen van het eigen niveau ten opzichte van de gestelde succescriteria voor de vaardigheid divergent denken. De werkvorm helpt de leerlingen om te bepalen welk deel van de vaardigheid zij al beheersen en waar zij zichzelf kunnen verbeteren. Zo bleek bij het stilleggen van de brainstorm dat veel leerlingen vooral binnen één ideegroep (balspelen) aan het divergeren waren, waardoor er weinig gevarieerd werd. Bij het bepalen van de volgende stap in het leerproces van de leerling is de werkvorm minder effectief gebleken, aangezien de werkvorm voorziet in klassikale feedback die niet toegespitst is op het proces van de individuele leerling of dat van de projectgroep. 

Concluderend kan worden gesteld dat het formatief evalueren van de ontwerpvaardigheid divergent denken ervoor heeft gezorgd dat de leerlingen zich beter bewust zijn van deze ontwerpvaardigheid. De leerlingen hebben een helder beeld van de vaardigheid en kunnen dat verwoorden in hun eigen taal. Daarnaast stelt het de leerlingen in staat om voor zichzelf te bepalen in welke mate zijn de vaardigheid beheersen, het helpt de leerling om te identificeren wat goed gaat en wat verbeterd kan worden. In het bepalen van een actie om het divergente denken te verbeteren ondersteunt de werkvorm in dit onderzoek onvoldoende.