Construction toys for girls to promote STEM readiness

New York Times : A front-page article reports that Mattel is introducing a Barbie construction set in response to a pair of marketplace shifts: More dads are doing family shopping, and more parents want to see girls’ math and science skills developed. Susan Levine, chairwoman of the psychology department at the University of Chicago and co-principal investigator at the National Science Foundation’s Spatial Intelligence and Learning Center, says that better development of spatial thinking in a child means a higher likelihood of her choosing STEM later, and that blocks, puzzles, and construction toys promote spatial development. Anne Marie Kehoe, vice president of toys for Walmart US, reportedly said that, with the Barbie addition, construction toys for girls will rise dramatically to about 20% of the toy construction category this year. The Barbie toys involve, for example, pink mansions.