The Benefits Of Play In Kindergarten
From an education-oriented perspective, the use of play for learning purposes is popularly discussed in early childhood research, with many advocating for its inclusion in classrooms. Some advocate for play in the classroom simply for its ability to make tasks fun for students, translating to increased engagement, while others emphasize the benefits of play for academic learning. For instance, research has demonstrated that sociodramatic play that occurs in constructed contexts (e.g., doctor’s office) can improve vocabulary development. Further, when these play environments are rich in relevant print, children’s recognition of high frequency words improves (Vukelich 1993) and the duration and complexity of play increases. The results of research exploring the benefits of play to the development of literacy skills are mirrored by the results in other curricular areas. For example, the provision of teacher support and guidance during children’s play enhances students’ acquisition of mathematical skills.
There are also those that argue that play sits separate from “work”, making the distinction between play and what they would call ‘non-play’. Jenvey and Jenvey (2002) define “non-play” by identifying what play is not, such as work or organised activities. Pellgrini and Smith (1998) have alluded to a more socio-cultural perspective, noting the apparent purposelessness of play, thereby contradicting the perspective of play as a vehicle for learning.
Wood (2004) defines play-based pedagogy as “the ways in which early childhood professionals make provisions for play and playful approaches to learning and teaching, how they design play-based learning environments, and all the pedagogical decisions, techniques and strategies they use to support or enhance learning and teaching through play.” Common to this pedagogy is the understanding of it as a developmentally appropriate practice that is child-centered, with teachers acting as guides through students’ learning experiences. Somewhat to the contrary of this understanding of play-based learning, some researchers believe that while it is a developmentally appropriate practice that is beneficial, play should only be the work of children (Taylor et al. 2004).
A further body of research concerning play addresses the connection between play and the development of social and emotional skills. Play, in this research, is often described as child-directed with contexts and characteristics of play based on children’s interests, knowledge, and skills (Wood 2010). This open-ended style of play has been found to support the development of children’s creativity, problem solving, and self-regulation. Elias and Berk (2002) found that children’s participation in complex sociodramatic play had a positive effect on the development of self-regulation. Stipek, Feiler, Daniels and Milburn (1995) found that students in child-centred classrooms , their abilities were rated higher, had higher expectations for success, chose more difficult problems, were less likely to depend on adults for permission or approval, were less likely to wait to be told to begin a task, smiled more spontaneously, were more likely to call on the adult after completing a task, and were less likely to express worry about school. While play assists in promoting healthy brain development, it also provides students with opportunities to use creative and imaginative skills, to enhance social skills, and develop competencies that will prepare them for the future. It also provides opportunities for students to practice leadership and collaboration skills, build self-confidence and resiliency, and problem solving and sharing.
Despite these findings, opposing views on play does exist. Lillard et al. (2013), have taken an opposing view on play that exists within a more psychological perspective. In their investigation of the influence of play on aspects of child development including language, reasoning, problem-solving, and Theory of Mind. Lillard et al. (2013) concluded that the current play literature leaves us wanting, citing issues such as a lack of replication of results, or bias on the part of the investigator. These conflicting findings suggest that the use of play may be beneficial when targeting a specific aspect of development, when used in a particular environment, or when not used for learning at all.
Further to this challenge is a lack of consensus on the concept of play-based learning as pedagogy. For example, Howard (2010) has stated, the use of multiple theoretical perspectives can present potential issues for those attempting to gain insight into the use of play-based learning in the classroom context. From the socio-cultural perspective, researchers focus their arguments on the classroom environment and how students interact with that environment through the use of play-based pedagogy. This perspective removes accountability from the teacher and curriculum, as is the focus in the popularly discussed education perspective. From an education perspective, play-based pedagogy is discussed within the context of academic content and for its ability to extend the learning of subjects taught in the classroom. A psychological perspective of play-based learning, however, removes the impact of any external influencers (e.g. the socio-cultural classroom environment, or education-oriented academic subjects), and explores the benefits/pitfalls of play-based learning within the context of human behaviour and mental processes.
Considering the very different foundations that each of these theoretical perspectives are built off of, exploring the conceptualisation of play-based learning in the current kindergarten climate is bound to result in confusion for those attempting to effectively implement the pedagogy.
Challenges of Implementing Playbased Pedagogy
In the midst of these many opinions concerning the best practices and potential shortcomings of using play-based pedagogical approaches, teachers continue to face implementation challenges. For example, kindergarten teachers face the challenge of balancing traditional developmental programming and contemporary academic standards. In classrooms following a play-based learning framework, academic content such as literacy is to be taught within children’s play. However, educators have reported conceptual and practical challenges with integrating play and literacy. Although the educative contexts of direct instruction, teacher-guided play, and child-directed free play have been individually examined and endorsed for promoting early literacy, the enactment of literacy behaviors across these contexts in kindergarten is still challenging.
A study done by Pyle (2017), suggested three common challenges with integrating play and literacy learning: direct instruction plays a key instructional role, play is less structured and difficult to plan, and feeling uncertain how to implement guided play. These challenges were reflected in the differing frequencies of literacy behaviors observed across contexts. These results point to the need for additional research and teacher training with respect to implementing guided play for literacy learning, as well as strategies for balancing direct instruction with play-based approaches.
Similar to these findings, Miller and Almon (2009) have identified many challenges described in play literature that lead to activities being categorised as play that are actually teacher-directed. To further gain insight into these barriers, Lynch (2015) analysed online discussion board messages of kindergarten teachers and found that teachers felt the pressures of academic expectations from a variety of sources, including other teachers, administration, and parents. These pressures resulted in limitations in the integration of play opportunities in their classrooms. Even when teachers were able to overcome the many challenges and implement more child-centered practices into their pedagogy, they continued to express feeling pressure from their colleagues such as in the higher primary grades. With pressures being placed on educators from a range of sources, it seems only likely that the result is a lack of consistency in when, how, and to what extent play-based learning is being used in kindergarten classroom.
Gaps in Research
There are many gaps when looking at the play-based learning. Play has long been researched and, while it has varying definitions, child-directedness and enjoyment are common elements of most definitions. However, since there are varied definitions of play, what one educator refers to play can differ from that of another. For instance, while research indicates that free play provides the opportunity for students to develop personal and social skills such as self-regulation and effective peer communication, research findings demonstrate that for academic learning to occur in the context of play teachers must be involved in the creation of a purposeful environment and in actively extending children’s play. Only then does this play become play-based learning where academic skills development is the result.
Further to this point, the shortcomings that currently exist in the implementation of play-based learning in Canadian kindergartens can to some extent also be explained by a deeper exploration of both the difference between play and play-based learning. Many educators and some researchers still have difficulty understanding, expressing, and implementing a pedagogy that is truly play-based. At present, there is limited discussion in the research and in policy concerning the differences between these two constructs and greater attention to this research on this issue should be a priority.
Secondly, further research has called for the examination of the benefits of particular types of play such as in developing skills that are not only academic in nature. This research would support educators as they negotiate a balance between academic learning and developmentally appropriate practices by empirically validating which play-based approach, or combination of approaches, support child development and the learning of targeted skills. Ultimately, the categorization of particular approaches to play-based learning will allow for more precise measurement of the impact of play on the development of social, emotional, and academic skills by allowing the measurement of growth continua of students who are learning within classrooms who adopt these categorized approaches.
Furthermore, many studies done are limited by sample size and the play profiles shared are contextually situated and temporally dependent. It is recommended to have continued research that expands upon and seeks to validate these approaches across differing kindergarten contexts.
Future Research
At present, there is existing research is available related to play-based learning has left teachers in the position of negotiating its implementation while being held accountable for students’ academic learning. More needs to be done in exploring this area where play-based learning and curriculum meet, and more specifically, how policy and curriculum shape teachers’ perspectives of the pedagogy, and how curriculum can be altered to better support a play structure to learning in the early years in mandated documents such as the Full Day Kindergarten Document in British Columbia.
Research indicates that the presence of a dichotomy in the understanding of a construct such as play-based learning is often the result of the abstract challenges in defining a concept with varying forms, functions, and contexts. The current lack of consistency in definitions of play-based learning is a major concern given that the implementation of play-based learning is dependent on the knowledge and understanding of the teacher (Howard 2010). As such, the development of a consistent definition of the construct of play-based learning through empirical research that can be translated into policy will provide teachers with a basis on which to construct their play-based pedagogy. This is essential to the successful implementation of the play-based Full-Day Kindergarten programme in British Columbia.
When combining play-based pedagogy with academics, the Ministry of Education needs to provide its educators with the support necessary to navigate the realm wherein play-based learning meets curriculum and policy. Further research should be conducted to explore what elements in British Columbia's early years policy and its conceptualization of play-based learning is interrupting teachers’ successful implementation of the pedagogy.
In further exploring where play and policy meet, Pyle and Luce (2014) explored how teachers’ assessment practices differ based on their conceptualizations of play-based pedagogy for student learning. Their results revealed that how, when, and to what extent teachers were using assessment in their practice was heavily dependent on their beliefs about play-based learning. For example, teachers who held perspectives that were primarily geared towards social/personal development more infrequently enacted assessment to measure such development. Comparatively, those who expressed perspectives that included academic development through play-based pedagogy more frequently enacted assessment to measure their academic progress. These results further support the exploration of teacher perspectives for their effect on the enactment of policy-mandated expectations. As teachers navigate this meeting of two sometimes dichotomously thought of constructs, they are left having to mitigate the competition present between the developmentally appropriate play-based learning, and the heavy expectations placed on them by policy.
Research also suggests that there is a need for teachers to negotiate a balance between the constructs of academic learning and play. Concrete descriptions continue to elude both teachers and researchers. The challenges presented in the absence of a clear play pedagogy are common to curriculum design, and often leave it with less consistent outcomes (Wood 2004, 2008). Research and policy need to present clearer and more consistent conceptualisations of play-based learning and clearer evidence concerning the connection between academic learning and play. Further to this point is the need for additional research and teacher training with respect to implementing guided play for literacy learning, as well as strategies for balancing direct instruction with play-based approaches.
Finally, clearer information concerning the integration of both academics and social development in play-based pedagogy is needed. Bodrova et al (2013) emphasize the methodological importance of exploring particular types of play and their potential benefits to child development. This evidence and information could provide greater support for how to transition from the traditional perspective of play to the contemporary construct of play-based learning as pedagogy. This shift is crucial to the successful implementation of the current kindergarten program, and will thereby aid in the better conceptualisation of play-based learning as it differs from play.
Conclusion
While many would agree that early childhood programs in which teachers encourage children to initiate and activate their own learning activities are more beneficial than didactic teacher-directed programs in regards to academic, cognitive, and social-emotional development, it is a teacher’s beliefs about educational purpose (i.e., the learning objectives for students) that will often inform their instructional practice, including if and how teachers integrate play-based pedagogies. Even though prior research demonstrates that teachers do not always strictly align themselves with a singular logic, pedagogical decisions are, in part, informed by a teacher’s alignment with an academic and/or developmental logic (Stipek 2004). That is, a teacher’s beliefs about educational purpose (i.e., the learning objectives for students) often inform their instructional practice, including if and how teachers integrate play-based pedagogies.
This literature review offered a look at the how current research has problematized the role of play in learning largely due to the challenges associated with researching this construct (Lillard et al. 2013). While researchers continue to debate the contributions that play can make to child development and student learning, and the role of the teacher during play-based learning, policy makers have forged ahead mandating play-based pedagogies. These mandates task practitioners with determining how, and to what extent, they should integrate play in a classroom environment. The Full Day Kindergarten document in British Columbia is one example that emphasises the tension between the use of play-based pedagogies and the obligation to teach mandated academic standards. This program emphasizes the learning of academic standards while mandating a play-based approach to learning. This current curricular context makes British Columbia the ideal research setting to explore how teachers’ perspectives of educational purpose inform the enactment of play-based pedagogies in kindergarten classrooms, including the particular types of play teachers perceive to be beneficial and their roles in these playful contexts.
