Play vs Academic Based Program by Mariko

The Issues of Play vs Academic-based program

mkanata — 2015-05-23 05:10:09 UTC

There are many studies which show that play influences a child’s brain development, but also cognitive and social emotional development. (Weisberg, and et al, 2013: Grey,2015: Kohn, 2015)
Early academic training increases a child’s immediate scores on the specific tests that the training is aimed at, but these initial gains wash out within 1 to 3 years.(Grey,2015)
There is evidence that early academic training is effective in the short-term and instruction can produce long-term harm, especially in the realms of social and emotional development. (Grey,2015)
Here is a Ted Talk video from speaker Dr. Stuart Brown.
Brown (2008), said that “even if they're summa cum laude from Harvard or Cal Tech -- if they haven't fixed cars, haven't done stuff with their hands early in life, played with their hands, they can't problem-solve as well. So play is practical, and it's very important.”

Dedication _ Vivien Lee

mkanata — 2015-05-23 05:10:09 UTC

Bodrova, E. & Leong, D. J. (2005). Uniquely preschool: What research tells us about the ways young children learn. Educational Leadership, 63(1), 44-47.
Lester, S. & Russell, S. (2008). Play for a change. Play policy and practice: A review of contemporary perspectives. Play England. Retrieved 21.6.2010 from http://www.worldleisure. org/pdfs/Copy%20of%20book_rev_play_for_change.pdf
South Australian Curriculum Standards and Accountability Framework (2009) Learners and Learning in the Early Years. Retrieved 15.6.2010 from http://www.sacsa. sa.edu.au/content/doc_fsrc.asp?ID=%7BDCB8452E-3D30-40E7-9C3C- 570AE5168C17%7D&sec=%7B25AAFB50-4954-457F-9426-FDB72E5202EF%7D
Shipley, D. (2008). Empowering children. Play based curriculum for lifelong learning.(Fourth edn). USA: Nelson Education.
Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2008). Understanding the relationship between curriculum, pedagogy and progression in learning in early childhood. Hong Kong Journal of Early Childhood, 7 (2), 6-13.
Steglin, D. A. (2005). Making the case for play policy: Research-based reasons to support play-based environments. Young Children, 60(2), 76-86.
Peter Gray (2015). Freedom to learn. Early Academic Training Produces Long-Term Harm from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/201505/early-academic-training-produces-long-term-harm
Elizabeth Ann Wood (2013). Play, Learning the Early Childhood Curriculum. Developing Play in the Curriculum. (chapter 5, Third edn), 118-157.

Dedication - Mariko Kanata

mkanata — 2015-05-23 05:10:09 UTC

1) Declaring each student’s contribution to the presentation

For this assignment, I worked on: 1) making outline 2) editing and creating Padlet presentation, and 3) found a couple of videos which relate with this topic.

2) One key aspect of learning in the process of studying the issue.

I am from Japan and my entire school career focused heavily on academic skills. Education in Japan is stressed very highly to the point where if one doesn’t do well in elementary school they will not go to a good college. Therefore, I used to believe that early academic training was such an important part for child development until I started researching about this issue. I know that “play” is such a big part of early childhood education and it has a positive influence on children. However, I thought that teaching children academic skills as early as possible is also important part of development. I was shocked that I found early academic training can actually hurt children. This assignment was such an eye opening experience for me.

Anagnostou, E., Zwaigenbaum, L., Szatmari, P., Fombonne, E., Fernandez, B. A., Woodbury - Smith, M., Brian, J., Bryson, S., Smith, I. M., Drmic, I., Buchanan, J. A., Roberts, W., & Scherer, S. W.( 2014). Autism spectrum disorder: advances in evidence-based practice.(Report). CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association Journal, Vol.186(7), p.509(11)
Auger, A., Farkas, G., Burchinal, M. R., Duncan, G. J., & Vandell, D. L. (2014). Preschool center care quality effects on academic achievement: An instrumental variables analysis. Developmental Psychology, 50(12), 2559-2571. doi:10.1037/a0037995
Harkins, J. (April 1, 2015). Academic vs. play-based preschool debate fading in favor of intellectual discovery. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette [Pittsburgh, PA]. Retrieved May 10, 2015. from http://go.galegroup.com.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA407803874&v=2.1&u=s1185784&it=r&p=ITOF&sw=w&asid=b8cf653f63d1c5eda681cdb8ac153584
Kohn, D. (2015, May 16). Let the Kids Learn Through Play. The New York Times. Retirieved May 19, 2015 from: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/17/opinion/sunday/let-the-kids-learn-through-play.html?mwrsm=Email&_r=0
Mohammadzaheri, F., Koegel, L., Rezaee, M., & Rafiee, M.S. (2010). A Randomized Clinical Trial Comparison Between Pivotal Response Treatment (PRT) and Structured Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) Intervention for Children with Autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. 44(11) , 2769-2777. doi: 10.1007/s10803-014-2137-3
Weisberg, D. S., Hirsh-Pasek, K., & Golinkoff, R. M. (2013). Embracing complexity: Rethinking the relation between play and learning: Comment on lillard et al. (2013). Psychological Bulletin, 139(1), 35-39. doi:10.1037/a003007

How Can We Collaborate?

mkanata — 2015-05-23 05:10:09 UTC

Use Reggio Emilia Approach

Do lots of art project so children who are visual thinkers can participate well
Create Reggio influenced play and academic learning combination activities for children with challenges to make it easier to engage in play activities.

Communicate to others the importance and value of play for children from birth through third grade

Combining free play with intentional teaching, and promoting play with mathematical objects and mathematical ideas is pedagogically powerful.
Shift our focus to developing the intellectual abilities of young children

Advantages and Disadvantages of Academic Based Program

mkanata — 2015-05-23 05:10:09 UTC

Advantages:

For children with behavior challenges such as Autism and ADHD who learn more effectively with smaller steps in a structured setting with academic tools such as flashcards would help them understand the concept easier.
Structured setting of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) techniques improves cognitive and language skills. (Anagnostou, Zwaigenbaum, Szatmari, Fombonne,etl, 2014)

Disadvantages:

Activities may make students feel ignorant and incompetent, so that they learn to stop taking risks by guessing
Teaching right or wrong is narrows children’s imagination skills.
Have correct answers and rely heavily on memorization
Little practical value

Advantages and Disadvantages of Play Based Programs

mkanata — 2015-05-23 05:10:09 UTC

Advantages:

Play contributes to school success
Develop their oral language skills and capacity for narrative, or “thinking in stories.”
Learning is enjoyable because it is based on their own curiosity
Inventing strategies for solving problems
Develop self-regulation and social negotiation

Disadvantage:

Children who have challenges in social skills have a harder time to engage in play activities with their peers. (Mohammadzaheri and et al, 2010)
Percentage of adult direction

Key Aspect of Play vs Academic

mkanata — 2015-05-23 05:10:09 UTC

Restore child-initiated play and experiential learning with the active support of teachers to their rightful place at the heart of early childhood education. A healthy program needs a balance of child initiated play in the presence of engaged teachers and more focused experiential learning guided by teachers.

What is an Academic Based Program?

mkanata — 2015-05-23 05:10:09 UTC

Emphasizes academics, including the rote memorization of the alphabet, numbers. etc
A teacher provides a sole correct answer
Teaches one-by-one steps
Comprises the core, required and elective courses that lead to a degree or certificate
Mainly, it gets focus on the skills needed to perform a certain task

What is a Play Based Program?

mkanata — 2015-05-23 05:10:09 UTC

Use play as a tool to maximize child development
Use Play to implement the curriculum
Teachers use observation to assess and support children’s development and learning
Language rich environment and children develop their own ideas and rules to have free play with peers or solo.

Here is a video about teaching children how to live in this world by learning on their own. This architecture is one attempt to let children learn and feel for themselves.

References

mkanata — 2015-05-23 05:10:09 UTC