Building minds with blocks: The impact of a play-based professional development on preschool teachers' competencies and children's learning

Lazzara, Lukas; WEBER, Anke Maria; Leuchter, Miriam

doi:10.1016/j.tate.2025.105144

Article (Scientific journals)

Building minds with blocks: The impact of a play-based professional development on preschool teachers' competencies and children's learning

Lazzara, Lukas; WEBER, Anke Maria; Leuchter, Miriam

2025 • In Teaching and Teacher Education, 165, p. 105144

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

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https://hdl.handle.net/10993/65372

DOI
10.1016/j.tate.2025.105144

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Keywords :

Block play; Preschool; Professional development; Scaffolding; Teacher training; Education

Abstract :

[en] The study examined the impact of Professional Development (PD) on preschool teachers' content knowledge (CK), pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), and scaffolding practice. In a pre-post-follow-up design, 77 teachers were assigned to three groups (EG1: block play curriculum materials + PD, EG2: block-play curriculum materials, CG: no materials). Results showed improvements in teachers' scaffolding after the PD, but no changes in CK or PCK. The use of block-play curriculum materials and scaffolding was associated with an improvement in children's math knowledge, but not with their stability knowledge. The study highlights the need for practice-oriented PD aligned with preschool teachers' everyday practice.

Disciplines :

Education & instruction
Theoretical & cognitive psychology

Author, co-author :

Lazzara, Lukas ; Department of Children and Youth Education, RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau, Germany

WEBER, Anke Maria ; University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences (FHSE) > Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences (DBCS) > Lifespan Development, Family and Culture

Leuchter, Miriam ; Department of Children and Youth Education, RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau, Germany

External co-authors :

yes

Language :

English

Title :

Building minds with blocks: The impact of a play-based professional development on preschool teachers' competencies and children's learning

Publication date :

October 2025

Journal title :

Teaching and Teacher Education

ISSN :

0742-051X

eISSN :

1879-2480

Publisher :

Elsevier Ltd

Volume :

165

Pages :

105144

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Additional URL :

https://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0742051X25002215?httpAccept=text/xml

Funders :

German Research Foundation

Funding text :

This research was supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG), grant number 446745359 .

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since 10 July 2025

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