Making with Monsters — Laura Bloch

Laura Bloch, M.A. Instructional Technology & Media
Maria Lopez-Delgado, M.A. Design and Development of Digital Games

Problem

Girls, more than boys, tend to assume their encounters with challenges or failures are due to their own inabilities or inadequacies, and consequently give up.

Goal

"Making with Monsters" aims to teach girls to expect challenges as a natural part of the making process, teach them strategies to face challenges, and increase their emotional intelligence and growth mindset.

Rationale

The application prompts girls to begin the making process by contemplating the problem-solving strategies they will need. By helping them to expect and accept the inevitability of challenges, the design aims to increase girls' sense of agency and growth mindsets.

Prototype screen titled 'Claim Your Trophy' asking how you're feeling and which monster was most helpful — Claiming the trophy — reflecting on the feeling and on which strategy actually worked.

Prototype screen asking 'What monsters might help you on your journey?' with eight strategy cards — Choosing strategies — each helper monster represents a concrete problem-solving move, from looking it up to asking an expert.

Field Observations

We visited the New York Hall of Science and Dazzling Discoveries' Makerspace, where children were involved in the act of making. We noticed that children, especially girls, showed frustration and sadness when faced with challenges or failures. Many didn't appear to have the strategies or desire to overcome their challenges.

Iterations

Iteration 1"Hall of Fail"

Hall of Fail page showing cards documenting failed builds with descriptions, lessons learned, and comments

Iteration 2Challenges as branches on a tree

Student reflection page showing a hand-drawn tree with challenges and lessons written on its branches, beside a feed of classmates' challenges

User Insights

Saw "monsters" as friends
Expected monsters to help solve problems
Eager to share knowledge with each other
Anticipated challenges

Iteration 3Monsters as challenges to be defeated

Prototype screen asking 'What monster are you battling?' with cards for Missing supply monster and Doesn't turn on monster

Iteration 4Monsters as challenges to be defeated with powers

Prototype screen asking 'How are you feeling?' with five faces and 'What power will you use to defeat this monster?' with strategy cards

Research

Different scholars have confirmed that children see failure as a reflection of their own abilities, and that it's even more prevalent in girls (Altermatt & Broady, 2009) (Dweck, 1986; Dweck & Leggett, 1988). As cited by Dai (2002), girls often react to failure by giving up, doubting their capabilities, and reacting with annoyance and sadness.

When confronted with challenges, it can be more difficult for girls to accept "letting themselves down" than it is for boys (Carpenter, 2009). Dweck (1987) also highlights the fact that girls often don't see past successes in confronting challenges as an indicator that they may be capable of solving similar problems.

Sadler et al. (2012) observed that girls' interest in STEM-related fields is decreasing in high schools. Additionally, girls were shown to react better to STEM-related areas when the activities involved collaborative work, creativity, hands-on experiences and real-world applications (Cooper, R. & Heaverlo C., 2013).

References

Altermatt, E. R., & Broady, E. F. (2009). Coping with achievement-related failure: An examination of conversations between friends. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly: Journal of Developmental Psychology, 55(4), 454–457.
Borasi, R. (1994). Capitalizing on Errors as "Springboards for Inquiry": A Teaching Experiment. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 25(2), 166–208. doi:10.2307/749507.
Carpenter, Peter (2009). Failure in Education. FORUM, 51(1), 35–40. http://doi.org/10.2304/forum.2009.51.1.35.
Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. New York: Random House.
Dweck, C. S. (2007). Is Math a Gift? Beliefs That Put Females at Risk. In S. J. Ceci & W. M. Williams (Eds.), Why aren't more women in science?: Top researchers debate the evidence (pp. 47–55). Washington, DC, US: American Psychological Association.
Gorman, M. E., Plucker, J. A., & Callahan, C. M. (1998). Turning Students into Inventors: Active Learning Modules for Secondary Students. Phi Delta Kappan, 79(7), 530–535.
Lottero-Perdue, Pamela S. and Parry, Elizabeth A. (2017) "Perspectives on Failure in the Classroom by Elementary Teachers New to Teaching Engineering," Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER): Vol. 7: Iss. 1, Article 4. https://doi.org/10.7771/2157-9288.1158
Maltese, A., Simpson, A., & Anderson, A. (2018). Failing to Learn: The impact of failure during making activities. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 30, 116–124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2018.01.003
Martinez, M. E. (1998). What is Problem Solving. Phi Delta Kappan, 79(8), 605–609.
Ryoo, J. J., Bulalacao, N., Kekelis, L., McLeod, E., & Henriquez, B. (2015). Tinkering with "Failure": Equity, Learning, and the Iterative Design Process. FabLearn Conference 2015 at Stanford University, September 2015.