" Education is what the child does in order to discover........it is not about pouring information into an empty vessel."

David Attenborough, Enough Rope, ABC TV

June 16th, 2008

 Learning through play

"Children develop their self-concept through demonstrating competence. In their play they enjoy imagining, creating, constructing, building and make believe. "

"Children demonstrate a range of cognitive competencies and are constantly trying out comparisons by

• analogous reasoning (it seems like this, or like that),  
• hypothesising and questioning,
  
• logical reasoning, and
  
• understanding causal attribution. 

• some children will be ‘synthesisers’,
  
• others build understanding slowly and in segments,
  
• some will rely on leaps of insight,
  
• while others estimate and guess.
  

The ‘match’ of effective scaffolding to the thinking and learning of the child is of vital importance.

• seeking to know the child through working with families,
  
• observing,
  
• questioning and
  
• sharing information with previous educators to ensure that planning for the child’s learning is tailored to individual and group interests and abilities."

"Learning experiences must allow children to use as many of their senses as possible, since it is through the sensory pathways that the brain interprets and creates its knowledge structures."

Play as curriculum

• perseverance
• concentration
• attention to detail.

• self-awareness
• intellectual development
• development of social skills.

Play as Literacy

Play promotes four major skills that are crucial to the development of Literacy: 1. underlying cognitive skills: the ability to learn deliberately 2. the development of symbolic representation 3. oral language (very important for our ESL students) 4. introduction of content related literacy skills and concepts Scaffolding Literacy through Play Bridging the gap between play-based learning and formal practice “Children learn best when all areas of an integrated, carefully planned curriculum are implemented informally using methodologies that are interactive, practical and enjoyable. Children should have opportunities to experience much of their learning through well planned and challenging play”(p.7) Council for the Curriculum Examinations And Assessment (CCEA),  Northern Ireland Curriculum. Play: crucial for learning Another way to view play is to think of it as “active participatory learning.”  In her article, Anne Epstein from Highscope defines what active learning means. students having hands-on experiences linked to real life situations creating such experiences based on the interests of the children through active learning, students construct their understandings by making choices, students also are involved in problem-solving and decision-making, both necessary skills for learning adults act as guides, directors and facilitators of learning adults expand children’s thinking with diverse materials and nurturing interactions. You can find out more by visiting the High Scope Learning website

Motivating Young Learners

"Young children learn from everything they do. They are naturally curious; they want to explore and discover. If their explorations bring pleasure or success, they will want to learn more. During these early years, children form attitudes about learning that will last a lifetime.

Children who receive the right sort of support and encouragement during these years will be creative, adventurous learners throughout their lives. Children who do not receive this sort of support and interaction are likely to have a much different attitude about learning later in life."

Links

"When we talk about play we are referring to children's active involvement in their learning."

Foundation Phase Guidance Material: Play/Active Learning. An overview 3 to 7 years (Draft 2005)

Department for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills
Welsh Assembly Government

Play: central to learning

Watch this EXCELLENT video from Teacher TV UK where teachers talk about how they have made play central to learning in their classrooms. You will see this demonstrated in a variety of educational settings.


Other Teacher TV videos demonstrating learning through play:

Creative development through play

Physical development through play

Language and Literacy development through play

Mathematical development through play

Importance of listening to children and scaffolding learning through play

• create a supportive learning environment
• encourage reflective thought and action
• enhance the relevance of new learning
• facilitate shared learning
• make connections to prior learning and experience
• provide sufficient opportunities to learn
• inquire into the teaching–learning relationship."

• socially
• emotionally
• physically and
  
• intellectually

• develop thinking
• develop problem-solving strategies
• use and extend oral language
• learn literacy and numeracy practices
• develop imagination and creativity
• explore ways to symbolise experiences

ABC News online

• all their senses
• make connections to prior knowledge
• practice and master learning
• sustain concentration
• take risks.

"When children engage in play, they bring diverse background experiences, developing identities and perceptions about their own and others' social and cultural experiences.They draw on their own experiences and perceptions of others, to create contexts for play."

Play and Cognitive development
Supporting best practice in play:ECA Australia
Why is play important?

Recognising the power of play

• intrinsically motivated
• pleasurable
• objects and actions take on new meaning
• process rather than product-approach
• freely chosen.

 

Some of the benefits of play are

• stimulates cognitive development
• contributes to emotional development
• Contributes to social development
• facilitates language and literacy skills
• facilitates early mathematical concepts and skills.

Implications for the classroom

•  learning environments should allow for active learning
• tasks should be about problem-solving
• involve challenge
• variety of hands-on materials made available
• games, play, construction and exploration should facilitate learning

Finally, she asks us to challenge the anti-play climate that exists in some areas of education.