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1 Why Play = Learning: A Challenge for Parents and Educators ROBERTA MICHNICK GOllNI<OFF, KATHY HIRSH-PASEK, AND DOROTHY G. SINGER Computers are useless. They only give you answers! -Pablo Picasso Imagine a world in which children are encouraged 10 parrot answers. to fill in Ihe blanks. and 10 nOI go beyond the facts. Imagine a world in which onc size fits all (as in today's educational standards), and no size fils any. Madeleine l'Englc (1962) describes just such II world in her classic book, A Wrinkle i/I Timt!. Below them the lown was laid QuI in harsh angular patterns. The houses in the OU1- skins were all exactly alike. small square boxes painled gray .... In front of all the houses children were playing. Some were skipping ropes. some were bouocing balls. Meg fell vaguely that was wrong with lheir play .... "Look!" Charles Wallaee said suddenly. "The)"re skipping and bouncing in rh)'thm! Everyone's doing il at exaetl)' the same moment." This wos so. As the s1cipping rope hit the pavemenl, so did the boll. As the rope curved over the head of the jumping child, lhe child with lhe ball coughl lhe ball. Down came the ropes. Down came the balls. Over and over again .... All in rh),thm. All identical. Like the houses. Like the palhs. Like lhe nowers. (p. 103) From the living room to the classroom, children are being increasingly programmed and structured-as are Ihe teachers who teach them. There is little lime for play: the focus is on memorization of the "facts." Indeed, play is viewed as a waste of time when more important "work," the work of memorizing and parroting, could be done. As the pressure on children in school increases, paradoxically their abil- ity to relax and just have fun through play is being restricted. Today, for example, many schools have reduced or eliminated recess time (see chapter 3). This is unfOrtUnale, because during recess, children engage in rough- and-tumble play (pouncing, chasing, and wrestling), which is distinct from ag- gression (Gordon, Kollack·Walker, Akil, & Panksepp, 2002). In Finland, recess is an imponant pan of Ihe schedule, and children return to classrooms refreshed

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Why Play = Learning: A Challenge

for Parents and Educators

ROBERTA MICHNICK GOllNI<OFF, KATHY HIRSH-PASEK,AND DOROTHY G. SINGER

Computers are useless. They only give you answers!-Pablo Picasso

Imagine a world in which children are encouraged 10 parrot answers. to fill in Iheblanks. and 10 nOI go beyond the facts. Imagine a world in which onc size fits all(as in today's educational standards), and no size fils any. Madeleine l'Englc(1962) describes just such II world in her classic book, A Wrinkle i/I Timt!.

Below them the lown was laid QuI in harsh angular patterns. The houses in the OU1­skins were all exactly alike. small square boxes painled gray.... In front of all thehouses children were playing. Some were skipping ropes. some were bouocing balls.Meg fell vaguely that ~omelhing was wrong with lheir play....

"Look!" Charles Wallaee said suddenly. "The)"re skipping and bouncing inrh)'thm! Everyone's doing il at exaetl)' the same moment."

This wos so. As the s1cipping rope hit the pavemenl, so did the boll. As the ropecurved over the head of the jumping child, lhe child with lhe ball coughl lhe ball.Down came the ropes. Down came the balls. Over and over again.... All in rh),thm.All identical. Like the houses. Like the palhs. Like lhe nowers. (p. 103)

From the living room to the classroom, children are being increasingly programmedand structured-as are Ihe teachers who teach them. There is little lime for play:the focus is on memorization of the "facts." Indeed, play is viewed as a waste oftime when more important "work," the work of memorizing and parroting, couldbe done. As the pressure on children in school increases, paradoxically their abil­ity to relax and just have fun through play is being restricted.

Today, for example, many schools have reduced or eliminated recess time (seechapter 3). This is unfOrtUnale, because during recess, children engage in rough­and-tumble play (pouncing, chasing, and wrestling), which is distinct from ag­gression (Gordon, Kollack·Walker, Akil, & Panksepp, 2002). In Finland, recessis an imponant pan of Ihe schedule, and children return to classrooms refreshed

4 Play· Learning: How Play Motivates Growth Why Play - learning; A Challenge ;

and ready to leRm; indeed, Finnish children score high on reading tests (Alvarez.2(05). Reseurch finds that rough-aDd-tumble play not only is a physical releasebut also "may facilitate friendships llnd promote cooper'l\ive pro-social behav­iors and 8uitudes" (Scott & Panksepp. 2003. p. 549). Children who play together[earn to work together.

Class lime ilCroSS the country is now spent in either assessment or assessmentpreparation-in having children learn to fill in the blanks with rotc answers. Theclassrooms that used to display children's work and drawings now devOIe theirwalls to "testing lips" designed to help children do well on standardized assess­ments. The multibillion-dollar educlltionaltoy induslry sells toys that tCllch iso­rated facts to children young enough to push their buttons and ring their bells.There exists II booming tUiaring industry for the preschool set so that Johnny canenter kindergarten at lhe head of his class. Schools have either dropped or cutback on creative curricula such as music and art. These cultural activities are con­sidered unnecessary flourishes in an educational system that is obsessively focusedon core academic topics such as reading and math,

According to u recent statement in the Wall Street JOllf/wl. "President Bush'sNo Child Left Behind program pushed districts to require more from youngerpupils. As a result, in many districts. skills once thought appropriate for first orsecond graders are being taught in kindergarten. while kindergarten skills havebeen bumped down to preschool" (Kronholz. 2005, p. B1). Is it any wonder thatpreschoolers lire being expelled as a disciplinary measure lit unprecedented rlltes(Gilliam. 200.5)1 Gilliam's nalional survey of 3.898 prekindergarten classroomsreveals that 10.4% of teachers reported expelling at least one preschooler withinthe past 12 months of the study. Rates were found to be highest for olderpreschoolers and African Americans, More boys were expelled than were girls,and the boys were having more bchaviorul problems in school. The highest rmesfor expulsion were in faith-affiliated centers and for-profit childcare, Are Ihesechildren being expelled because the school expectations have changed and theyhave little time for play?

Our living rooms and classrooms have become pressure cookers, and childrenare gelling less opportunity to be active physical players. In fact. some have sug­gested Ihllt children suffer from a "nature deficit disorder" (Lou\', 200.5) becausethey spend so lillie time outside at pllly, Is it any wonder that third graders in NewYork City (according to the Nt\\' York Times; Schwartz, 2005) wake up cryingand with stomachaches because they know they are to take a high-stakes testthmday? Parents praise videos like Bab)' EinSlein for having beautiful trees, llppar­ently forgctting Ihat these arc available for endless inspection. and for free, in thereal world. Obesity and childhood hypertension are on the increase in thc 0 10 6sets. The Mayo Clinic Web site offers a chilling view on the long-term effects ofchildhood obesity.

Over the past 30 years. lhe rate of obesity in the US has more lhan doubled forpreschoolel'5 and adolescents. and it has more than tripled fOf children ages 6 to II.Obese children get a head start on health problems such as diabetes and hean dis­ease, oflen carrying these problems inlo an obese adulthood. , , ,Obesity may soonlOp smokiny as lhe nalion's mOSI pre\'entable cause of death. (Mayo Clinic. 2005)

Obesity in childrcn seems an inevitable outcome of the fncI that even childrenunder 2 are spending an average of 2 hours II day watching television (Rideout.Vandewater, & Wanella, 2003). This docs not include the extra 40 minutes a daythey spend watching videos. Children as young as 3 months are already viewingtelevision and VCRs (see chapter 9), A report from the American PsychologicalSociety in 2003 (Schwartz. 200.5) tells us that 25% of sixth graders watch 40 ormore hours of television per week. effectively turning media viewing into a full­time job. A statement by Anderson et aL (2003) captures the dramatic situationAmerican children find themselves in: "Children ages 0-6 spend more time onentertainment media than on reading. being read to. and playing outside combined"

(p. )00).'..

THE PROBLEM HAS NO BORDERS

Children in other Western countries are also playing less with peers and parents,In Ihe past. schools could count on children arriving with some literacy skills thatthey acquired in play with parents and other adulls, In Englnnd. children are nowstarting school unable even to recite a simple rhyme. A survey entitled "YoungChildren'sSkills on Entry to Education," administered by the British government'sbasic skills agency (Smithers. 2003). was given to more than 700 leachers. Teachersclaim that half of all children now start school at4 or .5 unable to speak audibly.be understood by others, respond to simple instructions, recognize their own namcs.or even count to .5. Smithers states that learning nursery rhymes on a parent orcaregiver's lap has traditionally been seen as an important first step toward lit­eracy and numeracy skills, as well as key to phonological awareness.

The anicle llllnellts the lack of adult participation and playful learning in the.~e

children's lives, At the same time, television and computers seem 10 serve as sub­stitutes for parental guidance. Several chaplers in this book attest to the impor­tance of parental or teacher guidance in children's playas a way 10 foster learning

(see, for example. chapters 8. 6, and .5).In Ireland, Ready, Steady, Learn is a program organized in response to the lack

of playtime in schools. health care. and childcare facilities. A million pounds hasnow been allocated to local authorities 10 expand play facilities,

From a conference in London, with researchers from Sweden. Austria. Itllly,Australia, and Brazil, a strong message emerged aboutlhe importance of play 10

children's lives and learning (Hartmann. 2(02). Teachers were trying 10 encour­age more imaginative play in the classrooms, Despite the slrong evidence infavor of play and the intcnlationalatlention.teachers in Brazil continue to believethat the classroom is best used for learning only and that the playground is for

play.In a five-country (France, Germany. Great Britain, Japan. :l11d the United States)

study conducted by LEGO on parents' beliefs about play, 94% of the parents agreedIhat time spent playing is time spent learning (LEGO Learning Institute. 2(02),Nonetheless. parents felt that more time should be given to cognitive tasks at theexpcnsc offree time when play occurs. Parents in this study seem confused about

6 Play - Learning: How Play Motivates Growth Why Play - learning: A Challenge 7

whether play is really a way 10 lealTl. The same finding emerged in a more recentsurvey conducted by Fisher-Price that asked pacems to rank the benefits of play.Parents ranked "Icurning through play" as number 12 on a list of 14, while "re­leasing energy" was rated as number I (Glick GryCe. 2005). Many parents do notseem to appreciate that children eun Jearn II'" they play and that through play. chil­dren are motivated to learn the basic skills they will need for success in school.

Zigler and Bishop·Jo.~ef (chapter 2) wrote, "Play is under siege," As a result.lhe academic. social, artistic. llnd creative skills that flow naturally from ordinary.everyday, unstructured play are also threatened. This book returns play to centerstage, flying in the ftlce of trends all around us that minimize and disparage it.Here we review the evidence that play, especially guided play. offers a road tolearning. Children need play tllongside more traditional learning 10 build socialand cognitive skills. In short. these chapters set forth the evidence that play pre­pares children to not only be better people but also be better prepared to work inwhat Tom Friedmtln (200.5) calls tOOay's "nllt world." where everyone has readyaccess to the facts.

Florida (2002) estimates that 30% oflhe workforce now is part of what he callsthe "creative class." Even working- and service-class jobs require the generationof ideas rather than mere physical labor: 'The nation's geographic center of grav­ity has shifted away from Irllditional industrial regions 10 new axes of creativityand innovation" (p. II). In his new book, A Whole New Mind: Moving From theInformation Age to the ConceplllClJ Age (200.5), Daniel Pink make.~ a similar lIr­gument. He writes:

The last few decades hove bc:longed to a certain kind of person with a certain kindof mind~ompliler progralllmel'5 who could crank code, lawyers who could craflcontracts, MBAs who could crunch numbers. But the kcys to the kingdom are chang­ing hands. The future belongs to a vcry diffcrent kind of person with a very differ­ent kind of mind-ere:lIors and cmpathizers, pattern recognizers and meaningmakers. These people-artislS, inventors, designers. storytellers. caregivers.consolers, big picture thinkers-will now reap society's richest rewards and shareits greateSI joys. (Pink, 200.5)

The world is moving toward an emerging creative class thaI values conceptu31knowledge and original thinking. Ironically, our educational system is going inthe opposite direction, liS if we were educating children for the 191h ccntury in­stead of the 21st. Instend of encoumging cre3tivity, think.ing outside the box, orcoloring outside the lines. we nrc requiring children to memorize infonnation, evenin the face of the fnctthat information constantly changes. This is not to say thatwe do not need to know facts; we do. But the power of knowledge comes fromweaving those facts together in new and imaginative ways. And facts change. Weno longcr believe the world is nat, or lhat the element phlogiston makes up theuniverse, or that ulcers come from stress. This book confronts the prevailing popu­lar "fact" that play is immaterial to children's development. Play is crucial tochildren's mental health. and it prepares children for school. It offers both socialand cognitive advantages for children and the adults they will become.

WHY PLAY IS IMPORTANT TO CHILDREN'SEMOTIONAL HEALTH

Vygotsky said many years ago that play helps children work out the rules for socialinteraction and allows children to be at their best. Research supports whtlt Vygotskywrote in 1932: "In play it is as though he were a head taller than himself"(Vygotsky, 1930-1935/1978, p. 102), as though the child were trying to jumpabove his normal behavior competencies. Play is important for building socialcompetence and confidence in dealing with peers, a life skilllhat is essential forfunctioning in school (Howes, 1992; Howes & Matheson, 1992; Raver, 2002;Singer & Singer, 2005), as well as in life on the job.

For children who have difficult Iif6"circumstances, emotional problems, ordevelopmental delays. play may be even more critical. Haight, Black, Jacobsen,and Sheridan (chapter II) demonstrate how children who have been traumatizedcan usc pretend play with their mothers to work through the effects of the stress.As Haight et al. write, children can gain immeasurably from "constructing mean­ing from emotionally challenging experiences" (p. 210) through pretend play.Reltltedly, children with autism have limited ability to engage in symbolic play(see chapter 12). Research suggests that play-based interventions hold promisefor helping these children overcome some of their social limitations.

Play is also critical to self-regulation and children's ability to manage their ownbehavior and emotions. As Berk, Mann, and Ogan (chapter.5) state, "Self-regulationis central to our conception of what it means to be human-the foundation forchoice and decision making. for mastery of higher cognitive processes, and formorality" (p. 74). For example, when a child learns 10 inhibit her reach to thelight socket when told "no," 10 delay gratification (dessert is after dinner), or tocalm herself when she is upset, she is manifesting the developmcnt of self­regulation. Play is the place where children practice these skills.

An example of how this occurs is when children play the role of the teacher inprelend play. To do this, they must adopt another perspective and practice the rulesthat operate in the classroom. They are also internalizing the words that help lhemcontrol their own outbursts, such as when they imperiously tell a "pupil" to taketurns and sit down. When children acting as teacher scold the "pupils," they aremaslering their own reactions to when they were last scolded. Make-believe playis rule based, and children work at following the rules. They also use playas away to work though their own emotions, as demonstrated by one child experienc­ing trauma (a mother dying of cancer) and another child leaming self-control andmore adaptive behavior. That liule boy fought with other children in school andbehaved aggressively at home (Singer & Singer, 200.5).

As Pricssler (chapter 12) indicated, "Pretend play bridges the gap between relllevents in the changing world and imagination within one's head" (p. 233). Playseems to scrve as a buffer for children who often need to cope with change anddigest baffling new experiences. This fact was illustrated in a study on movie view.ing. Children exposcd to a stressful movie scene were allowed to htlve a free playperiod either before or after viewing the film. Both of Ihe groups allowed to play

8 Play· Learning: How Play Motivates Growth Why Play - learning: A Challenge 9

declined on measures of Slress and anxiety compared with a group that was notallowed to play (Barnett & Stann, 1981), Even on the first day of preschool. chil­dren who played more evidenced less anxiety about their transition (Damel[, 1984).

This message about play holds nOI only for preschoolers but also for olderchildren. Middle sc:hoolers are suffering from increased pressure and the lack ofdowntime needed to absorb the evcnlS of the day and regroup their emotions.Research by Luthar and Latendresse (2005) suggests that "we need to raise aware­ness of the potential cost of overscheduled. competitive lifestyles" (p. 52) in thateven affluent teenagers show serious problems in anx.iety, depression. and sub­stance abuse. No one is immune to the effects of missing relaxed family time. Playand unscheduled downtime are central to our emotional well-being throughoutour lives.

THE GOOD OLD DAYS WHEN PLAY WAS VALUED

It was not always the case that play was perceived as outmoded and a waste oftime for young children. Many theorists wrote about the utility of play for children'sdevelopmcnt. Piagel (1951), in particular, viewed playas an adaptive behaviorthat was instrumental in furthering children's thinking. Engaging in what Piagetcalled "functional assimilation," children might count sets of small objects overand over again, nOI because they were told 10 do so but because they apparentlygained pleasure from consolidating and practicing this burgeoning skill (see chapter8). For Piaget and VygolSky (see chapters 5 and 6), play was an opportunity forchildren to learn more about their world, to stretch to accommodate new ideas.and to foster their imaginations.

Despite extensive evidence on the value of play, some began to question itsutility when it appeared that Americans were faJling behind in education. Ziglerand Bishop-Josef (chapter 2) describe how the launching of the Soviet Sputnik inthe 19505 can be identified with the time when play began to be repudiated andcognitive skills overemphasized. When Head Start was conceived in 1965. it wasseen as a "whole child" program, supporting emotional. cognitive, and physicaldevelopment. among other areas. It. too, began to tip toward a concentration oncognitive achievement. As Zigler and Bishop-Josef point out, assuming that cog­nitive skills can be considered in isolation and not intertwined with the physical.socIal, nnd emotional systems "is shortsighted, ifnot futile" (p. 22). What it takesto achieve in school is bound up with a child's emotional and physical status. Ahungry child or a child suffering from cmOlional trauma is unlikely to be able toconcentrate on the three R's.

In today's world. the pressure on the educational establishment is intense.Teachers and administmtors know that children need to learn playfully and thatchildren learn best in meaningful contexts. Yet, many leachers feel compelled tohomogenize and narrow their offerings to be responsive to the testing movement(see chapter 4). Kagan and Lowenstein (2004) put it best when they wrote, "A5can of current literature might easily lead one to believe that lhe achievement ofschool readiness through children's play is an oxymoron" (p. 59).

WHAT DO THE DATA TELL US ABOUT THE ROLE OF PLAYIN CHILDREN'S LIVES?

The data are incontrovertible. They have been tclling the same story throughoutthe lasl 40 years of research. When children are in environments where learningis occurring in a meaningful context. where they have choices. and where theyare encouraged to follow their interests. learning takes place best (Hirsh-Pasek &Golinkoff, 2003). Ironically. as Hirsh·Pasek and Golinkoff argued. we haveadopted a metaphor of the child as "empty vessel": pour in the facts and the childwill passively absorb the material. However. the rcsearch tells us exactly the op­posite. In preschool. when children are pressured to learn in schools with "aca­demic" as opposed to developmentall"'appropriate curricula. thcy report beingmore nnxious and perfcctionistic (Rescorla. 1991) than their morc playful peers.They nre no more ahead in first gmde in academic achievement. Such programsalso have the effect of reducing children's motivation and making them have lowcrexpectations for their academic abilities. less pride in their achievements. and moredependency on adults (Stipek, Feiler. Daniels. & Milburn, I995)-regardless ofsocilll c1nss. Children who have been schooled to think that there is one right an­swer and thllliearning is mcmorization are also dependent on adults for their learn­ing. They hnve nOllearned how 10 IUIriI. Ironically, these are the children we hopewill join the creative class in the 21st century and kecp the United Stales at theforefronl of ingenuity nnd innovntion.

On the other hnnd. there is also evidence that children learn what they are taught.Children who experience "direclion instruction" (e.g.. Bereiter. 1986) with em­phllSis on drill and practice can learn lessons and cven achieve general cognitivegains (Bowman. Donovan. & Burns. 2001). Differences arise in variables thaImailer for socialization and for instilling II love of learning. Children in the directinstruction programs had higher rates of delinquency. were less willing to helpother children. and were more likely to experience emotional problcms (p. 139).Hart, Yang, Chllrlesworth. and Durts (2003) confirmcd these findings in a longi­tudinal study that directly compared children who received direct instruction withthose who received developmentally appropriate pedagogical practices. Rcsultsshowed that through the third grade. children receiving direct instruction experi­enced more stress than children receiving developmentally appropriate curricula.Furthermore, stress seemed to playa causal role in Hart et al.'s model. as it pre­dicted the appearance of hyperactive and distractible behaviors. as well as greaterhostility and aggression. Importantly. these findings emerged regardless of gen­der, race, and socioeconomic status. Being placcd in a direct instruction classroomalso hindered boys' achievement. mediated by lhe stress of being in such a class­room. These children grew more slowly in reading (vocabulary and comprehen.sion) and language expression than did their peers in more dcvelopmentallyappropriate classrooms.

Findings from the Cost Quality Study add to the power of developmentally ap­propriate pedagogy based in play over a "back to basics" pedagogy (Pcisner­Feinberg et a!.. 1999). With a large subject base of 812 children from kinder­garten 10 second grade, 1·lowes and Byler (2005) noted that children experiencing

10 Play· Learning: How Play Motivates Growth Why Play - learning: A Challenge II

developmentally appropriate pedagogy experienced higher levels of academicachievement. scoring higher on receptive language, mathematics, and reading insecond grade. Furthermore, these dala defied a common assumption about howpoor children learn best. There was no evidence that poor children did better inback-lo-basics programs (see also Pcisner-Feinberg cl aI., 1999).

In sum, treating children like empty vessels whose heads can be filled withknowledge because we select what they will learn and teach it directly leads toproblems in two domains, First, studies show that children in these programs oftenlearn less academically than their peers who are nOl being taught concepts directlybut in a more playful manner. Second, these programs hilve the unintended socialconsequences of creating students who are less likely to experience empathy withtheir peers, more likely to show evidence of stress-induced hyperaclivity, and morelikely to engage in delinquent acts.

CONCLUSIONS

Whal can we do to stem the tide of well-meaning parents who cart Iheir children toendless adult·structured activities in the belief that they are enabling their childrento achievc their fullest potcntial? What can we do to encourage debate on the learn­ing strategies thai really promote children's learning? We can call attention to thefaci that play::: ltaming. This prologue reviews just the tip of the iceberg of re­search on the importance of play to diverse areas of children's development. Thedata that speak to the value of play are presented in the chapters that follow. Thcevidence is compelling: play promotes learning, and guided play is a powerfultcach­ing 1001. It is imperative that we nOI only auend to this message but also take seri­ously Kagan and Lowenstein's (2004) call to action: 'The challenge ahead is not toblithely romanticize or to falsely criticize play; it is to discern the purposes for andthe conditions under which play is an oplimally useful pedagogical strategy. fullyrealizing the heterogeneous effects on children's development and their school readi­ness" (p. 59). It is in this spirit thai this book presents the next generation of find­ings about play across the spectrum of development.

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12 Play - Learning: How Play Motivates Growth

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PART I

Challenges to Play

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