instruction up to at least age eight
Play-based learning may also have a more positive effect on younger
children's acquisition of important early maths skills compared with traditional, direct instruction

Date:
January 12, 2022
Source:
University of Cambridge
Summary:
Teaching younger children through 'guided' play supports key
aspects of their learning and development at least as well -
and sometimes better - than the traditional direct instruction
they usually receive at school, a new analysis finds. Guided play
broadly refers to playful educational activities which, although
gently steered by an adult using open-ended questions and prompts,
give children the freedom to explore a learning goal in their own
way. The new study gathered data about the impact of this approach
on 3,800 children aged three to eight. It found that guided play
can be just as effective as more traditional methods of classroom
instruction in the development of key literacy, numeracy and
social skills - as well as the acquisition of executive functions
(a cluster of essential thinking skills). The findings also suggest
that children may master some skills - notably in maths - more
effectively through guided play than via other methods.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Teaching younger children through 'guided' play can support key aspects
of their learning and development at least as well, and sometimes better,
than traditional, direct instruction, according to a new analysis.


==========================================================================
The research, by academics at the University of Cambridge gathered and
assessed data from numerous, widespread studies and information sources,
which collectively documented guided play's impact on the learning of
around 3,800 children aged three to eight. Guided play broadly refers to playful educational activities which, although gently steered by an adult,
give children the freedom to explore a learning goal in their own way.

Overall, the study found that this playful approach to learning
can be just as effective as more traditional, teacher-led methods in
developing key skills: including literacy, numeracy, social skills and essential thinking skills known as executive functions. The findings
also suggest that children may master some skills -- notably in maths --
more effectively through guided play than other methods.

The relative merits of play-based learning compared with more formal
styles of instruction is a long-standing debate in education, but most
of that discussion has focused on 'free' open-ended play.

The new study is the first systematic attempt to examine the effects of
guided play specifically, which is distinctive because it uses games or
playful techniques to steer children towards specific learning goals,
with support from a teacher or another adult using open-ended questions
and prompts.

This may, for example, involve creating imagination-based games which
require children to read, write or use maths; or incorporating simple
early learning skills -- such as counting -- into play. Such methods are
common in pre-school education, but are used less in primary teaching --
a deficit which has been criticised by some researchers.



==========================================================================
The analysis was carried out by academics from the Play in Education, Development and Learning (PEDAL) Centre at the Faculty of Education,
University of Cambridge.

Dr Elizabeth Byrne, a co-author, said: "It's only recently that
researchers have started to conceptualise learning through play as
something that exists on a spectrum. At one end you have free play, where children decide what to do with minimal adult involvement; at the other
is traditional, direct instruction, where an adult tells a child what
to do and controls the learning activity." "Guided play falls somewhere
in between. It describes playful activities which are scaffolded around
a learning goal, but allow children to try things out for themselves. If children are given the freedom to explore, but with some gentle guidance,
it can be very good for their education -- perhaps in some cases
better than direct instruction." Paul Ramchandani, Professor of Play
in Education, Development and Learning at the University of Cambridge,
said: "The argument is sometimes made that play, while beneficial, adds
little to children's education. In fact, although there are still some
big questions about how we should use guided play in classrooms, there is promising evidence that it actively enhances learning and development."
Guided play has rarely been systematically studied in its own right,
but the team found 39 studies, undertaken between 1977 and 2020, which
had captured some information about its value compared either with free
play or direct instruction, usually in the course of wider research.



==========================================================================
By combining the results of studies which looked at similar types of
learning outcome, the researchers were able to calculate how much of an
overall positive or negative effect guided play has on different aspects
of numeracy, literacy, executive functions or socioemotional skills,
compared with other approaches.

These effect sizes were measured using Hedge's g; a widely-used
statistical system in which a result of 0 represents no comparative
gain, and 0.2, 0.5 and 0.8 represent small, medium and large effects respectively.

The results offer significant evidence that guided play has a greater
positive impact on some areas of children's numeracy than direct
instruction. For example, guided play's comparative effect size on
early maths skills was 0.24, and 0.63 on shape knowledge. There was also evidence that guided play better supports the development of children's cognitive ability to switch between tasks.

Alongside other positive findings, there was also no statistically
significant evidence that guided play is less effective than direct
instruction on any of the learning outcomes studied. In short, guided
playful activities tend at the very least to produce roughly the same
learning benefits as more traditional, teacher-led approaches.

The researchers offer various possible explanations about why guided play
may improve numeracy in particular. One possibility is that the gentle prompting that guided play entails may be a particularly effective way
of teaching children to work through the logical steps that maths-based
tasks often involve.

Equally, the fact that guided play often involves hands-on learning may
be important. "Children often struggle with mathematical concepts because
they are abstract," Byrne said. "They become easier to understand if you
are actually using them in an imaginary game or playful context. One
reason play matters may be because it supports mental visualisation."
More broadly, the authors suggest that guided play may influence other characteristics which have a positive, knock-on effect on educational
progress -- enhancing, for example, children's motivation, persistence, creativity and confidence.

Dr Christine O'Farrelly, a Senior Research Associate at the Faculty of Education, said: "It's likely that playful activities have the sort of
positive impact we saw in our analysis partly because they are acting on
other skills and processes which underpin learning. If we can understand
more about how guided play shapes learning in this way, we will be
able to identify more precisely how it could be used to make a really meaningful difference in schools." special promotion Get a free digital "Metabolism Myths" issue of New Scientist and discover the 7 things
we always get wrong about diet and exercise. Claim_yours_now_>>> landing.newscientist.com/what-is-new-scientist-sd/ ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Cambridge. The original
text of this story is licensed under a Creative_Commons_License. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Kayleigh Skene, Christine M. O'Farrelly, Elizabeth M. Byrne, Natalie
Kirby, Eloise C. Stevens, Paul G. Ramchandani. Can guidance during
play enhance children's learning and development in educational
contexts? A systematic review and meta‐analysis. Child
Development, 2022; DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13730 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/01/220112094006.htm
--- up 5 weeks, 4 days, 7 hours, 13 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)