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Current Play Research
Construction Block Research
| E-Books
Research |
Parental vs. Expert
Play Beliefs |
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Construction
Block Study
Spatial skills are basic to
human intelligence and are connected to success in science, techn ology,
engineering, and mathematics. Recent research shows that spatial language
from parents and other caregivers plays a critical role in the foundation of
spatial competencies (e.g., school readiness in reading maps, mathematics).
This study asks two questions. First, does block play between parents and
children stimulate spatial talk? Second, do particular kinds of
block play offer richer contexts for spatial language?
Forty-eight 3- to- 5
year-old children (half male, half female) participated in a two-phase study
study. In the initial 10 minute phase, children were assigned to one of
three play contexts: play with a preassembled block structure (a
heliport), free play with a set of blocks (figures and vehicles) or guided
play with a step-by-step pictures that help parents and children build a
particular structure (e.g. a heliport). All engaged in a second phase for additional 10-minutes of guided play where
they were asked to build another structure (e.g. a garage).
The findings suggest that
block play generates a substantial amount of spatial language. First, at
baseline, 5% of all language used by parents contained spatial words like
“on top, “ “next to,” or “in the middle.” That is, when playing with
blocks, 1 in 20 of the parental words describe something spatial. Second,
the context of spatial language did make a difference. In phase 1 of the
study, the parents in guided play used even more spatial language than did
those in the other conditions. In guided play, roughly 8% of parental speech
was spatial and this effect held in the second phase of the study when all
families were in guided play. Fully 1 out of 12 words in this context were
spatially-relevant. Taken together, these results demonstrate that block
play stimulates conversation about shapes, sizes, patterns, relations
between objects, orientation of objects and how objects move through space.
Block play encourages just the sort of language that might help children
build early skills related to math and science. Future research will
investigate how this spatial language translates into child outcomes and how
we might use block play as an playful intervention that encourages more
spatial language within families.
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E-Book Research
Are electronic books more academically stimulating than traditional books? With Molly Collins of the Erikson Institute, we are finding out. In one study, children at two local children’s museums (Please Touch and Chicago Children’s Museum) are asked to choose one of the displayed books to read with a parent. Three to 5 year olds were participants and 85% had e-books at home. Nonetheless, preliminary findings suggest that children overwhelmingly choose traditional books. Further their interactions with parents are completely different with the two types of books. With traditional books parents ask more questions about the content of the book and are more engaged with the children. In contrast, e-books tend to stimulate more directives from parents (e.g., Do this.. push the button). Little in the e-book interaction reinforces the kinds of dialogic reading though to promote reading skill. In a second study, children came into the lab and were assigned either an e-book or a matching traditional book. Preliminary data suggest similar patters are emerging.
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Parents' and Experts'
Play Beliefs Research
In conjunction with Fisher-Price, Inc, this study
investigated parental beliefs about the nature and academic value of play. This
research addressed three questions: (1) What is considered play by modern
parents? (2) Do parents recognize the academic learning value associated
with play? and (3) Do parents differ from experts in these beliefs?
Parents and
child development experts participated in an internet survey.
Twenty-six common childhood activities were presented individually to the
participants (e.g., dress-up, using blocks, organized games, reading, using
electronic media, playing "house," going to the museum). First, participants
rated each activity as a form of play on a 7 point scale (1 = not a form of
play, 7 = definitely a form of play). Second, participants rated each
activity on its academic learning value on a similar scale (1 = no academic
learning value, 7 = academic learning value).
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What is
play?
Parents identified two forms of play. Unstructured play
represents activities requiring imaginative or creative processes, often
lacking clearly delineated rules or goals (e.g., dressing up, using
blocks). Structured play represents activities with an inherent process
or goal directed structure, often found in life skill development
activities (e.g.,
reading, doing chores) and electronic toy activities (e.g., T.V.,
video).
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Do parents recognize
the academic learning value in play?
Yes! Parents believe both structured
and unstructured forms of play have inherent academic learning value;
however, they identified more learning value in structured activities
than others.
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Do parents differ from experts in these
beliefs? In
agreement with parents, experts believe unstructured activities are
playful in nature. Conversely, experts view structured activities as
non-play behavior. While experts also valued play for academic
learning benefits, they acknowledged more learning value in unstructured
activities than structured activities.
The
research suggests parents and experts may have different definitions of
play. While experts define play in narrower terms, parents classify more
activities as play. This differentiation may provide one answer to the
apparent "switch" from free play activities to more structured,
academically-focused activities. A broadening definition of play may
result in a society that identifies more behavior as playful with less
delineation in types of play—allowing for an increase in structure in
children’s lives in educational and home settings.
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