The Power of Play-Based Learning in preschool and elementary school | Edutopia
New research shows play-based learning can be more effective than direct instruction at improving outcomes for early learners—particularly in the development of mathematical and spatial skills.
The mere presence of the word play in the teaching method known as play-based learning can alarm some parents of early childhood learners. Students, even our youngest students, should be “playing” at home. They come to school to learn , they might say. That distinction—between “learning” and “play”—is a false one, according to early childhood educator and author Erika Christakis. Although kindergarten and elementary classrooms often devalue it in favor of direct instruction or seat time, play is the “defining feature” of all mammalian development, and its “signature” is apparent in the bodies
saved by
related reading
- Building complex reasoning skills online through open-ended activitiesearly.khanacademy.org
- What Is Play? How Children Define It | Psychology Todaypsychologytoday.com
- School is Not Enoughmap.simonsarris.com
- The 10 Most Significant Education Studies of 2021 | Edutopiaedutopia.org
- How Might We Learn?andymatuschak.org
- Schools Don’t Just Fail to Develop Critical Thinkers. They Punish Them.katypurviance.substack.com
- Schools Don’t Just Fail to Develop Critical Thinkers. They Punish Them.katypurviance.substack.com
- Nintil - On Bloom's two sigma problem: A systematic review of the effectiveness of mastery learning, tutoring, and direct instructionnintil.com
- learning playgrounds | design is a partydesignisaparty.com
- Pedagogy Recommendationsparentheticallyspeaking.org
- Play, attention, and learning: How do play and timing shape the development of attention and influence classroom learning? - PMCpmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Khan Academy Early Product Development — Game designers vs. education researchers on unguided instructionklr.tumblr.com