Eastern Student Rachel Borden Participates in Renowned TIMPANI Toy Study

2016 Dec 13

The Center for Early Childhood Education (CECE) at Eastern Connecticut State University announced on Dec. 12 that "Plus-Plus," a toy made by the Danish company Plus-Plus, has been named the 2016 TIMPANI (Toys that Inspire Mindful Play and Nurture Imagination) Toy. The annual study, which is now in its eighth year, investigates how young children play with a variety of toys in natural settings.

Rachel Borden '16 of Milford, who majors in Early Childhood Education, was among the student participants in the study.

This year, 10 toys were selected for the study by teachers, faculty and student researchers. The toys were placed in preschool classrooms in Eastern's Child and Family Development Resource Center, and student researchers used hidden cameras to videotape children playing with the toys. Researchers then coded the footage according to the study's evaluation rubric, which includes four subscales: thinking and learning, cooperation and social interaction, creativity and imagination, and verbalization.

"I will definitely think about the toys that I put in my classroom," said Borden, an aspiring early childhood educator. "Some toys are great for imagination, while others may be great at fostering thinking and decision making. If I really want my students to work on socializing more, I'll pick a toy that's going to help and foster that."

Plus-Plus (Midi size) received the highest overall score in this year's study. It also scored the highest in the "thinking and learning" and "creativity and imagination" subscales. In addition, the toy scored very highly with both boys and girls and with children from different ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds.

"I found coding footage during our research to be enjoyable, as well as discussing our findings once the study was completed," said Borden. "It was intriguing to see unexpected results from toys we did not expect to rate so well. It was also interesting to discuss how gender, age, ethnicity and socioeconomic status influenced the play quality of preschool children."

Professor Jeffrey Trawick-Smith, principal investigator of the study and Phyllis Waite Endowed Chair of Early Childhood Education, noted, "Plus-Plus is a construction toy, and we've found from previous research that construction toys do very well on our evaluation rubric. As children are building with these toys, they're creating designs; they're testing out their designs; they're re-building their structures. So if you think about it, construction toys like Plus-Plus are really simple engineering tools for very young children." Plus-Plus is the fourth construction toy to be named the TIMPANI toy of the year since the study began in 2010.

"This research was a highly enjoyable and eye-opening experience for me. By working as a researcher, I have truly learned the importance of careful observation and data collection," said Borden, whose tasks also included coding footage using the study's evaluation rubric, and data analysis and interpretation. "I have also learned how important it is to use reliable and valid measures to find accurate results."

"The TIMPANI study is ground-breaking, empirical and thought-provoking, and has garnered international attention since we started it eight years ago," said Eastern President Elsa Nunez. "Eastern faculty and students are providing research-based guidance to preschool teachers, parents and others on toys that promote children's intellectual growth, social interaction and creativity. In the process, our early childhood education students are learning to conduct empirical research of the highest quality."

To view the video of the 2016 study, visit www.easternct.edu/cece/timpani/. For more information, contact the CECE at (860) 465-0687 or visit the website.