Experimental Group Differences in Children’s Bracing Ability

Science education research investigates young children’s understanding of materials in technological settings linking the concept of matter to tangible properties such as weight or heaviness. Children’s comprehension of elements enables them to support and reinforce the structural stability of towers when presented with wobbly structures. Young children understand the relationships between the properties of materials, stability, and bracing during construction. Sixty-eight families (M child age = 5.5 years) were recruited at the entrance of the Skyline building construction exhibit at a children’s museum and were randomly assigned to two conditions. This consisted of the demonstration group (experimental group) and the non-demonstration group (the control group). Children were then tasked with strengthening a wobbly structure of a skyscraper or a bridge, first with their parents followed by the second task to be completed independently. We will analyze the effect of the cross-bracing demonstration on children\u27s building behavior in an engineering exhibit. We will discuss the ratio of functional to total pieces used, such as cross-braces or triangle pieces. We predict that children who received the cross-bracing demonstration will exhibit greater success at properly using functional pieces to create a stable structure compared to children in the control group.https://orb.binghamton.edu/research_days_posters_2021/1097/thumbnail.jp

Gender Differences in Children’s Prior Play Experiences as a Predictor of Success in Engineering Tasks

Studies have shown that female student’s science and mathematical achievements are consistent with those of their male peers. Nevertheless, women are dramatically underrepresented in STEM professions, with women making up just 12 percent of working engineers. Since it has been found that early exposure to STEM concepts and practice leads to later success in the field, it is important that we understand the differences in engineering skills and levels of interest in young children. This study examines gender differences between young children in multiple measured variables of building tasks at an engineering exhibit in a museum. The sample consists of 68 families, child M age = (5.5 years). In this study researchers asked children to fix a wobbly skyscraper or bridge, and also asked parents to complete a questionnaire regarding their child’s play interests. Children’s attempts at fixing the structures were coded from videotape records at the museum. It is hypothesized that parents will report male children having greater prior experience and interest with engineering games than females, which may predict greater success in the building tasks. We will report results on potential gender differences in children’s prior play experiences and interest as a predictor of success in these building tasks.https://orb.binghamton.edu/research_days_posters_2021/1100/thumbnail.jp

The Effects of Prophylactic Cyclosporin A on Experimental Allergic Neuritis (EAN) in the Lewis Rat: Induction of Relapsing EAN Using Low Dose Cyclosporin A

Experimental allergic neuritis (EAN) was induced in Lewis rats by inoculation with bovine intradural root myelin plus adjuvants. Animals treated with high dose (30 mg/kg) cyclosporin A (CsA) 3 times per week did not develop clinical EAN during the period of CsA treatment, but had an episode of EAN after cessation of CsA treatment. Animals treated with low dose (4 mg/kg) CsA 3 times per week developed EAN during the period of treatment, and after cessation of CsA treatment all of these animals developed relapsing EAN with disease continuing for up to four episodes. In contrast, 30-40% of untreated animals had a mild second episode of EAN but no further attacks. Histological studies performed in treated and untreated animals at the time of clinical episodes revealed inflammation and demyelination in the spinal roots and dorsal root ganglia. When animals were challenged with a second inoculation at age 7 months, one of 15 untreated control animals but none of the CsA treated animals developed an episode of EAN