Special Section: Educating to Build Bridges
Guided Play: Where Curricular Goals Meet a Playful Pedagogy
ABSTRACT
Decades of research demonstrate that a strong curricular approach to preschool education is important for later developmental outcomes. Although these findings have often been used to support the implementation of educational programs based on direct instruction, we argue that guided play approaches can be equally effective at delivering content and are more developmentally appropriate in their focus on child‐centered exploration. Guided play lies midway between direct instruction and free play, presenting a learning goal, and scaffolding the environment while allowing children to maintain a large degree of control over their learning. The evidence suggests that such approaches often outperform direct‐instruction approaches in encouraging a variety of positive academic outcomes. We argue that guided play approaches are effective because they create learning situations that encourage children to become active and engaged partners in the learning process.
Citing Literature
Number of times cited: 46
- Megan M. McClelland and Claire E. Cameron, Developing together: The role of executive function and motor skills in children’s early academic lives, Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 10.1016/j.ecresq.2018.03.014, 46, (142-151), (2019).
- Asil Ali Özdoğru, Cross-Cultural Psychology of Play and Early Childhood Education, Early Childhood Development, 10.4018/978-1-5225-7507-8.ch001, (1-19), (2019).
- Miriam Leuchter and Britta Naber, Studying children's knowledge base of one‐sided levers as force amplifiers, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 56, 1, (91-112), (2018).
- Tamara Spiewak Toub, Brenna Hassinger-Das, Kimberly Turner Nesbitt, Hande Ilgaz, Deena Skolnick Weisberg, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Ageliki Nicolopoulou and David K. Dickinson, The language of play: Developing preschool vocabulary through play following shared book-reading, Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 10.1016/j.ecresq.2018.01.010, 45, (1-17), (2018).
- Brittany Huber, Kate Highfield and Jordy Kaufman, Detailing the digital experience: Parent reports of children's media use in the home learning environment, British Journal of Educational Technology, 49, 5, (821-833), (2018).
- Amy Susman-Stillman, Michelle Englund, Chloe Webb and Amanda Grenell, Reliability and validity of a measure of preschool children’s theatre arts skills: The Preschool Theatre Arts Rubric, Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 10.1016/j.ecresq.2017.12.001, 45, (249-262), (2018).
- Nicole R. Scalise, Emily N. Daubert and Geetha B. Ramani, Narrowing the early mathematics gap: A play-based intervention to promote low-income preschoolers’ number skills, Journal of Numerical Cognition, 3, 3, (559), (2018).
- Angela Pyle, Jessica Prioletta and Daniel Poliszczuk, The Play-Literacy Interface in Full-day Kindergarten Classrooms, Early Childhood Education Journal, 46, 1, (117), (2018).
- Tang Wee Teo, Yaw Kai Yan, Woei Ling Monica Ong and Mei Ting Goh, Affordances of Purposeful Play, Science Education Research and Practice in Asia-Pacific and Beyond, 10.1007/978-981-10-5149-4_9, (119-132), (2017).
- Joakim Evensen Hansen and Marit Alvestad, Educational language practices described by preschool teachers in Norwegian kindergartens, European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 26, 1, (128), (2018).
- G.E. Baykal, I. Veryeri Alaca, A.E. Yantaç and T. Göksun, A review on complementary natures of tangible user interfaces (TUIs) and early spatial learning, International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction, (2018).
- Stefanie Dominguez and Jeffrey Trawick-Smith, A Qualitative Study of the Play of Dual Language Learners in an English-Speaking Preschool, Early Childhood Education Journal, 10.1007/s10643-018-0889-7, 46, 6, (577-586), (2018).
- Asil Ali Özdoğru, Cross-Cultural Psychology of Play and Early Childhood Education, Early Childhood Education From an Intercultural and Bilingual Perspective, 10.4018/978-1-5225-5167-6.ch012, (184-201)
- Alexandra S. Youmans, John R. Kirby and John G. Freeman, How effectively does the full-day, play-based kindergarten programme in Ontario promote self-regulation, literacy, and numeracy?, Early Child Development and Care, 10.1080/03004430.2017.1287177, 188, 12, (1786-1798), (2017).
- Naja Ferjan Ramirez and Patricia Kuhl, Bilingual Baby: Foreign Language Intervention in Madrid's Infant Education Centers, Mind, Brain, and Education, 11, 3, (133-143), (2017).
- Naomi Polinsky, Jasmin Perez, Mora Grehl and Koleen McCrink, Encouraging Spatial Talk: Using Children's Museums to Bolster Spatial Reasoning, Mind, Brain, and Education, 11, 3, (144-152), (2017).
- Brenna Hassinger-Das, Tamara S. Toub, Jennifer M. Zosh, Jessica Michnick, Roberta Golinkoff and Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, More than just fun: a place for games in playful learning / Más que diversión: el lugar de los juegos reglados en el aprendizaje lúdico, Infancia y Aprendizaje, 40, 2, (191), (2017).
- Cristina de Andrade Varanda and Fernanda Dreux Miranda Fernandes, Cognitive flexibility training intervention among children with autism: a longitudinal study, Psicologia: Reflexão e Crítica, 10.1186/s41155-017-0069-5, 30, 1, (2017).
- Dena M. Cavanaugh, Kimberly J. Clemence, Mikaila M. Teale, Audrey C. Rule and Sarah E. Montgomery, Kindergarten Scores, Storytelling, Executive Function, and Motivation Improved through Literacy-Rich Guided Play, Early Childhood Education Journal, 45, 6, (831), (2017).
- Jennifer M. Zosh, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Roberta Michnick Golinkoff and Rebecca A. Dore, Where Learning Meets Creativity: The Promise of Guided Play, Creative Contradictions in Education, 10.1007/978-3-319-21924-0_10, (165-180), (2016). Extended Abstracts Publication of the Annual Symposium CHI PLAY '17 Extended Abstracts Amsterdam, The Netherlands Extended Abstracts Publication of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play - CHI PLAY '17 Extended Abstracts Computer-Human Interaction in Play ACM Press New York, New York, USA , (2017). 9781450351119 , 10.1145/3130859 20171016081955 http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=3130859 Aishat Aloba, Gabriel Coleman, Triton Ong, Shan Yan, Dehlia Albrecht, Marko Suvajdzic and Lisa Anthony From Board Game to Digital Game Designing a Mobile Game for Children to Learn About Invasive Species , (2017). 375 382 , 10.1145/3130859.3131326 20171016081956 http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=3130859.3131326
- Dee O’Connor, Loving Learning: The Value of Play Within Contemporary Primary School Pedagogy, Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Play from Birth and Beyond, 10.1007/978-981-10-2643-0_6, (93-107), (2017).
- Lynn E. Cohen and Janet Emmons, Block play: spatial language with preschool and school-aged children, Early Child Development and Care, 187, 5-6, (967), (2017). the 2017 Conference IDC '17 Stanford, California, USA Proceedings of the 2017 Conference on Interaction Design and Children - IDC '17 Interaction Design and Children ACM Press New York, New York, USA , (2017). 9781450349215 , 10.1145/3078072 20170626080710 http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=3078072 James H. Gray, Emily Reardon and Jennifer A. Kotler Designing for Parasocial Relationships and Learning Linear Video, Interactive Media, and Artificial Intelligence , (2017). 227 237 , 10.1145/3078072.3079736 20170626080713 http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=3078072.3079736
- Angela Pyle, Christopher DeLuca and Erica Danniels, A scoping review of research on play‐based pedagogies in kindergarten education, Review of Education, 5, 3, (311-351), (2017).
- Cristine H. Legare, David M. Sobel and Maureen Callanan, Causal learning is collaborative: Examining explanation and exploration in social contexts, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 10.3758/s13423-017-1351-3, 24, 5, (1548-1554), (2017).
- Susan M. Letourneau, Robin Meisner, Jessica L. Neuwirth and David M. Sobel, What Do Caregivers Notice and Value About How Children Learn Through Play In a Children's Museum?, Journal of Museum Education, 42, 1, (87), (2017).
- Nóirín Hayes and Katarina Filipović, Nurturing ‘buds of development’: from outcomes to opportunities in early childhood practice, International Journal of Early Years Education, (1), (2017).
- Angela Pyle and Betül Alaca, Kindergarten children's perspectives on play and learning, Early Child Development and Care, (1), (2016).
- Tamara Spiewak Toub, Vinaya Rajan, Roberta Michnick Golinkoff and Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Guided Play: A Solution to the Play Versus Learning Dichotomy, Evolutionary Perspectives on Child Development and Education, 10.1007/978-3-319-29986-0_5, (117-141), (2016).
- Deena Skolnick Weisberg, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Audrey K. Kittredge and David Klahr, Guided Play, Current Directions in Psychological Science, 25, 3, (177), (2016).
- Ilyse Resnick, Brian N. Verdine, Roberta Golinkoff and Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Geometric toys in the attic? A corpus analysis of early exposure to geometric shapes, Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 36, (358), (2016).
- Brenna Hassinger‐Das, Katherine Ridge, Amira Parker, Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Kathy Hirsh‐Pasek and David K. Dickinson, Building Vocabulary Knowledge in Preschoolers Through Shared Book Reading and Gameplay, "Mind, Brain, and Education", 10, 2, (71-80), (2016).
- Deena Skolnick Weisberg, Hande Ilgaz, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Roberta Golinkoff, Ageliki Nicolopoulou and David K. Dickinson, Shovels and swords: How realistic and fantastical themes affect children's word learning, Cognitive Development, 35, (1), (2015).
- Deena Skolnick Weisberg, Audrey K. Kittredge, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Roberta Michnick Golinkoff and David Klahr, Making play work for education, Phi Delta Kappan, 96, 8, (8), (2015).
- Jessica L. Degol and Heather J. Bachman, Preschool teachers’ classroom behavioral socialization practices and low-income children's self-regulation skills, Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 31, (89), (2015).
- Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Jennifer M. Zosh, Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, James H. Gray, Michael B. Robb and Jordy Kaufman, Putting Education in “Educational” Apps, Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 16, 1, (3), (2015).
- Geetha B. Ramani and Sarah H. Eason, It all adds up, Phi Delta Kappan, 96, 8, (27), (2015).
- Jill Bowdon, The Common Core’s first casualty, Phi Delta Kappan, 96, 8, (33), (2015).
- Herbert P. Ginsburg and Barbrina B. Ertle, Giving Away Early Mathematics, The Wiley Handbook of Developmental Psychology in Practice, (222-263), (2015).
- Caren M. Walker, Alison Gopnik and Patricia A. Ganea, Learning to Learn From Stories: Children's Developing Sensitivity to the Causal Structure of Fictional Worlds, Child Development, 86, 1, (310), (2015).
- Deena Skolnick Weisberg, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Roberta Michnick Golinkoff and Bruce D. McCandliss, Mise en place: setting the stage for thought and action, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 18, 6, (276), (2014).
- Andrea Paula Goldin, Cecilia Inés Calero, Marcela Peña, Sidarta Ribeiro and Mariano Sigman, Educating to Build Bridges, "Mind, Brain, and Education", 7, 2, (101-103), (2013).
- Ngan Kuen Lai, Tan Fong Ang, Lip Yee Por and Chee Sun Liew, The impact of play on child development - a literature review, European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 10.1080/1350293X.2018.1522479, (1-19), (2018).
- Christopher P. Brown, Joanna Englehardt, David P. Barry and Da Hei Ku, Examining How Stakeholders at the Local, State, and National Levels Made Sense of the Changed Kindergarten, American Educational Research Journal, 10.3102/0002831218804152, (000283121880415), (2018).
- Sarah H. Eason and Geetha B. Ramani, Parent–Child Math Talk About Fractions During Formal Learning and Guided Play Activities, Child Development, , (2018).
