The Power of Play in Pre-K & Kindergarten

1. The Power of Playin Pre-K & Kindergarten The Road to Learning Eva C. Phillips, Winston-Salem State University, 2012

2. Where are we headed? • The guiding mission of the NC State Board of Education is that every public school student will graduate from high school, globally competitive for work and postsecondary education and prepared for life in the 21st Century. (NCSBE, 2006).

3. What is a 21st Century Learner?

4. How do we get there?

5. Early Learning Standards • A common set of age-appropriate developmental standards, Widely Held Expectations • “a lens through which to view the curriculum, the learning environment and the every day activities children experience” http://www.earlylearning.nc.gov/Foundations/pdf/PART-02-introduction.pdf

6. Common Core State Standards “Standards do not tell teachers how to teach, but they do help teachers figure out the knowledge and skills their students should have so that teachers can build the best lessons and environments for their classrooms” http://www.corestandards.org/

7. Start with the Child

8. What does theory tell us?

9. Solid Foundation of Early Childhood Theory • Piaget • Dewey • Montessori • Bruner • Vygotsky

10. Common thread… • Young children learn best through active exploration and interaction with their environment = PLAY!

11. Play defined…over 100 different meanings for play(Oxford Dictionary of the English Language) • The natural unfolding of the germinal leaves of childhood. Froebel • Play is what the body wants to do, work is what the body is obliged to do. Mark Twain • Play is the foundation that supports the house of higher learning. Lisa Murphy

12. What is YOUR definition of Play? Jot down your thoughts What is play? Share with your table partners

13. What is YOUR definition of a “play-based curriculum”? Jot down your thoughts Play-based curriculum? Share with your table partners

14. What is Play? • The world of a child • Universal language of children • A way of life for young children • It is what children do • It is how they see the world • It is how they react to the world around them • It is how they learn new concepts

15. What is Play? • It is dynamic, active and constructive • It is focused on process • It is self-correcting • It is a relevant context for authentic assessment • It is the vehicle through which a teacher is able to teach specific educational goals.

16. What is a Play-based Curriculum? • It is an emergent curriculum in which teachers… • Take an active role in balancing spontaneous play, guided play, directed play and teacher directed experiences • Use the power of play to foster children’s development • Integrate what children have learned within relevant contexts

17. What “play-based” is NOT?

18. What a Play-based Curriculum is NOT! • Not a laissez-faire curriculum in which anything goes • Not organized chaos • Not free time • Not something to keep kids busy • Not a time for the teacher to take a break

19. Cognitive Play Creative Play Language Play Manipulative Play Social Play Types of Play

20. Taking it up a notch = Mature Play • High-Level play that: • Provides the most educational benefits • Promotes learning and development • Is constructive • Is organized • Is goal-oriented • Is Imaginative

21. Taking it up a notch = Mature Play • Play experiences through which children • Develop problem-solving skills • Expand & refine understandings • Expand & refine use of language • Learn about their world…construct knowledge • Make choices • Try out different roles • Adjust to working with others • Exhibit persistence

22. Taking it up a notch = Mature Play • 3 Critical Components: • Imaginary situations • Explicit roles • Implicit rules • Becomes more elaborate over time (Bodrova & Leong, 2004)

23. Taking it up a notch = Mature Play • Teacher Supported • Training / Coaching • Guiding • Scaffolding • Participating

24. Taking it up a notch = Mature Play • Includes an integration of ALL types of play • Cognitive • Creative • Language • Social • Manipulative

25. What Does the Research Say?

26. What does the research say? • Positive correlation between play and cognitive development • Optimal brain development occurs when the child interacts with the environment and the environment is responsive to that interaction • Children engaged in play - develop a variety of important brain connections

27. What does the research say? • Correlation between high-quality play and • Perspective taking • Abstract thought • Narrative recall • Problem solving • Literacy skills

28. What does the research say? • Positive & intentional teacher involvement in play yields: • Increased high-level play experiences • Longer and more elaborate play episodes • Higher level of cognitive activity • Increased amounts of reading and writing behaviors

29. What does the research say? • Pretend play has been linked to many skills including: • Improved verbal fluency • Imagery • Self-regulation • Persistence • Cooperation • Less unwarranted aggression • Greater signs of early creativity

30. What does the research say? • Play-based programs are more beneficial for low-income children relative to promoting academic achievement over time. **These findings are particularly true for males - usually the most difficult group to reach!

31. What does the research say? • Results of Play Deprivation • Children don’t know how to play • Lack of imagination • Long-term cognitive skills will be diminished • Normal play behavior absent in the lives of violent, antisocial men

32. Let’s Play

33. Reflection

34. Table Talk Did you develop any 21st Century attributes while playing? What conditions contributed to and/or hindered your High-level play?

35. Why Play?

36. Play Affects Children’s Motivation • Develop more complex hierarchical systems of immediate and long-term goals. • Context in which children first demonstrate their ability to delay gratification.

37. Play Facilitates Cognitive Decentering • Enables children to take other children’s perspectives for coordinating multiple roles and negotiating play scenarios. • Enables children to coordinate their cognitive perspectives with those of their learning partners and teachers. • Leads to the development of reflective thinking and metacognition.

38. Play Advances the Development of Mental Representations • Child separates the meaning of objects from their physical form. • Child uses language as a means to represent objects when no objects are present. • Operating with symbolic substitutions leads to abstract thinking and imagination.

39. Play Fosters the Development of Deliberate Behaviors • Children exhibit deliberate physical behaviors through play. • Children exhibit deliberate social behaviors through play. • Leads to the extension of mental processes such as memory and attention.

40. Children Benefit Academically through Play • Easier adaptation to school settings and expectations. • Meaningful social interactions with adults and peers. • More relevant content area learning.

41. What about Rigor through Play? • ABSOLUTELY! • True developmentally appropriate programs • Facilitate play experiences that have purpose and intent • Embed standards within play • Constantly and appropriately challenge children • Facilitate acquisition of knowledge through meaningful, integrated contexts • Provide a foundation for future knowledge

42. Thoughts About Play

43. Nurturing Children Through Play • David Elkin (2007) writes: Children learn more easily through play than they do through instruction • They are programmed for play • It is their birthright • Plays serves as a fundamental way of learning about self and the world and is a mode of discovery and invention

44. Thoughts about play • “Play offers a safe means for the young of a species to practice and perfect vital survival skills…purpose is to develop skills required for adult life”(Johnson, 2005)

45. Thoughts about play “Play is a very effective way for children to accumulate a vast amount of basic knowledge about the world around them” (Johnson, 2005)

46. Thoughts about play • “Children’s thoughts become visible through play.” (Hatcher & Petty, 2004)

47. Thoughts about play • “Play keeps children’s minds actively involved…it is therefore one of the best ways to provide the kind of stimulation, positive affect, integration, and lack of stress that the new brain research calls for in working with young children” (Johnson, 2005)

48. Thoughts about play • “Play is an expression of our creativity; and creativity is at the very root of our ability to learn, to cope, and to become whatever we may be.”(Fred Rogers, 1994)

49. Thoughts About play • “Constructive play, like food, love, care and hope, is an essential building block for children - a critical part of the foundation children need to lead healthy, happy and productive lives.”(Playing for Keeps,2005)

50. Thoughts about play • “Play is like a gold mine in its potential for facilitating literacy.” (Gretchen Owocki, 1999)