Math is the logical foundation of STEAM education, and it is often regarded as a boring and abstract subject by children because of its large number of symbols and formulas. Building blocks, as a tangible educational auxiliary tool, perfectly solve this problem—they turn abstract mathematical symbols, concepts and theorems into touchable, operable and playful hands-on activities, letting children perceive, understand and master mathematical knowledge in the process of building blocks. In the integration of building blocks and STEAM math education, children no longer passively memorize formulas and do exercises, but actively explore and discover mathematical rules through their own hands, which truly realizes the transformation of math learning from “rote memorization” to “inquiry understanding” and lays a solid foundation for the cultivation of mathematical thinking and logical reasoning ability.
Building blocks are the best enlightenment tool for early mathematical cognition, helping young children establish the concept of numbers, shapes and quantities in play. For toddlers and preschoolers, stacking building blocks can exercise the ability of counting and one-to-one correspondence—they count the number of blocks while stacking, and understand the connection between numbers and actual quantities. Sorting building blocks by shape, size and color cultivates children’s classification and sorting ability, which is the preliminary foundation of logical thinking. In addition, building blocks of different shapes let children intuitively recognize basic geometric figures (square, rectangle, circle, triangle) and their characteristics, and understand the difference between plane figures and three-dimensional figures through stacking into three-dimensional structures. These early mathematical cognition activities based on building blocks are simple and interesting, and let children form a positive perception of math, eliminating the fear of math learning from the source.
For primary school children, building blocks can be used to interpret elementary mathematical concepts in depth, making abstract knowledge such as addition and subtraction, fractions, symmetry and measurement concrete and visual. When children build a tower with 5 red blocks and 3 blue blocks, they can easily understand the concept of addition (5+3=8) by counting the total number of blocks; when they take away 2 blocks from the tower, they can perceive the meaning of subtraction (8-2=6). For the abstract concept of fractions, children can divide a large square block into four small square blocks, and understand that one small block is 1/4 of the large block, and two small blocks are 1/2—turning invisible fraction concepts into tangible block combinations. In addition, building blocks can also help children learn measurement knowledge: using long blocks as a “ruler” to measure the length and width of other works, comparing the height and size of different block structures, and establishing the initial concept of length, area and volume. The symmetry of math can also be easily displayed through building blocks—children build mirror-image structures on both sides of a central line, which intuitively understands the meaning of axial symmetry and cultivates spatial imagination.
What’s more valuable is that building blocks cultivate children’s mathematical thinking and logical reasoning ability in the process of structural building, which is the core of math learning in STEAM education. When children want to build a stable bridge with building blocks, they need to think about how to arrange the blocks to distribute the load evenly, how to design the support structure to prevent collapse, and how to match the number of blocks to ensure the balance of the structure—this series of thinking processes is the exercise of logical reasoning and critical thinking. In the face of the problem of “the tower collapses easily”, children will analyze the reasons (narrow base, uneven weight distribution), put forward solutions (widen the base, place heavy blocks at the bottom), and test the feasibility through practice—this process of “problem analysis-hypothesis-problem solving-verification” is the concrete embodiment of mathematical thinking. Unlike the fixed thinking of doing math exercises, the mathematical thinking cultivated by building blocks is flexible and exploratory, which can be applied to the solution of various practical problems.
In the interdisciplinary integration of STEAM, building blocks realize the combination of math and other disciplines, making math a practical tool for exploring the world. When children build a solar system model with building blocks, they use mathematical knowledge such as scale and proportion to determine the size of each planet block and the distance from the sun, combining math with astronomy; when building a mechanical car with gear blocks, they use the mathematical relationship of gear rotation ratio to ensure the normal operation of the car, integrating math with engineering and technology. This interdisciplinary application makes children understand that math is not an isolated subject in textbooks, but a practical tool that can be combined with astronomy, engineering, science and other disciplines to solve real-world problems. It further stimulates children’s initiative to learn math and makes them realize the practical value of mathematical knowledge.