Playful STEM Learning: A Cultural-Historical Analysis of a Child’s Motive Orientation within a Conceptual PlayWorld

Abstract Conceptual PlayWorld (Fleer in Early Years, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1080/09575146.2018.1549024 ; Res Sci Educ 49:1257–1278. 2019a. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11165-017-9653-z ) is a model of intentional teaching that supports children’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) learning with proven success in imaginary play-based settings. This study uses the Conceptual PlayWorld model to create conditions of STEM learning in Australian playgroups. Working with 16 families at a playgroup site in Victoria, 37.16 h of data were collected over ten months to support children’s STEM learning. Three play episodes of a focus child were analysed to show imitation as an aspect of his engagement in imaginary play, as the child explored the science learning about whales and sea life. Hedegaard’s (in Learning and child development: a cultural-historical study, Aarhus University Press, Aarhus N, 2002) conceptualisation of motives and Vygotsky’s (in: Rieber, Carton (eds) The collected works of L. S. Vygotsky. Cognition and language (a series in psycholinguistic), Springer, Berlin, 1987. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-1655-8_9 ) concepts of imitation and social situation (Vygotsky, in: Rieber (ed) The collected works of L. S. Vygotsky child psychology, cognition and language (a series in psycholinguistic), Springer, Berlin, 1998. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-5401-1 ) were employed to understand the relations between motives, imitation, and imaginary play in this child’s engagement in science learning. As the child engaged in the drama of the story and collective imaginary play concerning sea life and whales, it created motivating conditions for science learning. Analysis further revealed the motivating conditions that served as sources of imitation, such as the collaboration between the caregiver, the pedagogue-researcher and the child during play. Thus, imitation offers insights into the child’s emerging motives within the Conceptual PlayWorld.