06/01/2021
presents us with strong evidence for the profound influence of early experiences. In order to build healthy connections from the outset, young children need responsive and rich social interactions with caregivers, combined with sufficient nutrients and an environment free of toxins (CDC at Harvard University, 2016). Playful experiences offer a unique context for these supportive and rich learning experiences in early childhood.
What global citizenship, coping and thriving look like for children may differ dramatically across time, culture, and context, but the deep understanding that comes from effective learning experiences will no doubt be an important step. In playful experiences, children tap a breadth of skills at any one time. When playing together, children are not just having fun but are building skills of communication and collaboration. A game of hide-and-seek helps them to manage feelings about the unknown while also helping them to think about what other people know and see.
Beyond enjoyment, have the potential to give children the skills they will need in the future that go beyond facts. Playful experiences appear to be a powerful mechanism that help children not only to be happy and healthy in their lives today but also develop the skills to be the creative, engaged, lifelong learners of tomorrow.
Regardless of whether a play activity falls closer to free play, guided play or games on the continuum, optimal learning through play happens when the activity (1) is experienced as joyful, (2) helps children find meaning in what they are doing or learning, (3) involves active, engaged, minds-on thinking (4) involves iterative thinking (e.g., experimentation, hypothesis testing), and (5) involves social interaction (the most powerful resource available to humans —other people). These characteristics are based on a theory presented by Hirsh-Pasek, Zosh, Golinkoff, Gray, Robb, & Kaufman (2015) where they provide evidence that a deep, conceptual understanding requires that children are active (minds- on) and engaged (not distracted) with meaningful material especially in socially interactive contexts.
Research shows how child-centred preschool lays a more solid foundation for later learning than an academic focus alone (Marcon, 2002; Campbell & colleagues, 2008; Weisberg, Hirsh-Pasek & Golinkoff, 2013). A number of educational programmes offer inspiration for future efforts. For example, those which emphasise the importance of children actively directing their own experiences have been shown to lead to positive results on academic as well as social and behavioural measures (Lillard, 2016).
A number of well-controlled studies have compared the effects of academically oriented early education classrooms with those of play-based classrooms. The results are quite consistent from study to study: Early academic training somewhat increases children’s immediate scores on the specific tests that the training is aimed at (no surprise), but these initial gains wash out within 1 to 3 years and, at least in some studies, are eventually reversed. Perhaps more tragic than the lack of long-term academic advantage of early academic instruction is evidence that such instruction can produce long-term harm, especially in the realms of and development.
Neuroscience is beginning to uncover the neural mechanisms of the characteristics of playful experiences and how these link to learning. This is covered in a literature review titled ‘Neuroscience and learning through play: a review of the evidence’ (Liu, Solis et al., 2017), and more insight is anticipated over the next decade as the technology improves enough that testing infants and young children in more naturally occurring situations (e.g., play situations) becomes more affordable and less invasive.
https://www.legofoundation.com/media/1063/learning-through-play_web.pdf
https://teachertomsblog.blogspot.com/2019/12/what-research-tells-us-to-do.html
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/freedom-learn/201505/early-academic-training-produces-long-term-harm
