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More play needed in school. Do you agree?
I got this press release in my e-mail today. What are your thoughts about children needing more time to play in kindergarten?
Kindergarten Playtime Disappears, Raising Alarm on Children’s Learning and Health New studies show play losing out to formal lessons and tests, even though multiple benefits of imaginative play are well documented
College Park, MD, March 20, 2009;Time for play in most public kindergartens has dwindled to the vanishing point, replaced by lengthy lessons and standardized testing, according to three new studies released today by the Alliance for Childhood. Classic play materials like blocks, sand and water tables, and props for dramatic play have largely disappeared from the 268 full-day kindergarten classrooms studied.
The studies were conducted by researchers from U.C.L.A., Long Island University, and Sarah Lawrence College in New York. Their findings are documented in Crisis in the Kindergarten: Why Children Need to Play in School (at www.allianceforchildhood.org http://www.allianceforchildhood.org/ ).
The researchers found that On a typical day, kindergartners in Los Angeles and New York City spend four to six times as long being instructed and tested in literacy and math (two to three hours per day) as in free play or “choice time&” (30 minutes or less). Standardized testing and preparation for tests are now a daily activity in most of the kindergartens studied, despite the fact that the use of most such tests with children under age eight is scientifically invalid and leads to harmful labeling. In many kindergarten classrooms there is no playtime at all. Teachers say the curriculum does not incorporate play, there isn’t time for it, and many school administrators do not value it.
Child development experts have been raising alarms about the increasingly didactic, test-driven, and joyless course of early childhood education. “These practices, which are not well grounded in research, violate long-established principles of child development and good teaching,” states the Alliance’s report. “It is increasingly clear that they are compromising both children’s health and their long-term prospects for success in school.”
The three studies break new ground by examining the use of time and materials in public kindergarten classrooms and the factors that affect children’s access to play. Independent research teams received funding from the nonprofit Maryland-based Alliance.
Numerous studies have shown that children who engage in complex socio-dramatic play develop higher levels of thinking, stronger language skills, better social skills, more empathy, and more imagination than children who do not play in this way. They are also less aggressive and show more self-control. Play also lowers stress levels in children.
Nevertheless, child-driven play has fallen out of favor in the U.S. Many people believe that kindergartners need to settle down and engage in serious learning. They see play as a waste of time, or worse, a descent into chaos.
Crisis in the Kindergarten argues that the superficial, chaotic play in anything-goes, laissez-faire kindergartens is as unacceptable as the highly regimented, didactic classroom that is devoid of play. The report also describes scripted teaching, which has gained momentum in schools across the country in the past decade, as a vast experiment with virtually no basis in valid research.
Psychologist David Elkind, author of The Hurried Child and The Power of Play, calls the new research findings heartbreaking. In a foreword, he writes, “We have had a politically and commercially driven effort to make kindergarten a one-size-smaller first grade. Why in the world are we trying to teach the elementary curriculum at the early childhood level?”
The authors of Crisis in the Kindergarten, Alliance directors Edward Miller and Joan Almon, argue that the disappearance of kindergarten play is part of a larger societal problem. “Play is one of the vital signs of health in children,” they write. “We do not know the long-term consequences of the loss of play in early childhood, but this has become a concern for pediatricians and psychologists.”
They report evidence of significant increases in behavioral problems and school failure among kindergartners. They question unrealistic standards that are developmentally beyond many young children, forcing teachers to spend long hours trying to meet them, and leading to the wrongful labeling of normal child behavior and learning patterns as misbehavior, attention disorders, or learning disabilities.
The authors note that children in China and Japan, which are envied for their success in teaching science, technology, engineering, and math, enjoy a play-based, experiential approach to schooling until second grade. Finnish children similarly have a lengthy and playful childhood, not beginning formal schooling until age 7. Yet Finland consistently gets the highest scores on international exams.
Synthesizing a range of recent national and international research, including the three studies reported here for the first time, Crisis in the Kindergarten describes the current state of public kindergartens in the U.S. as a national disgrace.It calls for a refocusing of early education on well-designed play-based approaches, warning that the nation is blindly pursuing educational policies that could well damage the intellectual, social, and physical development of an entire generation.
Crisis in the Kindergarten makes six recommendations for education policymakers, school administrators, teachers, and parents. For more details see Chapter 8 of the report at www.allianceforchildhood.org http://www.allianceforchildhood.org/ :
Restore child-initiated play and experiential learning with the active support of teachers to their rightful place at the heart of kindergarten education.
Reassess kindergarten standards to ensure that they promote developmentally appropriate practices, and eliminate those that do not.
End the inappropriate use in kindergarten of standardized tests, which are prone to serious error especially when given to children under age eight.
Expand the early childhood research agenda to examine the long-term impact of current preschool and kindergarten practices on the development of children from diverse backgrounds.
Give teachers of young children first-rate preparation that emphasizes the full development of the child and the importance of play, nurtures children’s innate love of learning, and supports teachers own capacities for creativity, autonomy, and integrity.
Use the crisis of play’s disappearance from kindergarten to rally organizations and individuals to create a national movement for play in schools and communities.
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By Terri
March 21, 2009 2:01 PM | Link to this
I have taught kindergarten for 14 years. In that short amount of time it has changes drastically. As have all the other elementary grade levels. I have been saying that we are thieves, and all we are doing is stealing childhood from innocent children. Shame on our government for making us be thieves. SHame on them for not listening to what children really need. This article backs up my feelings of feeling like a thief. I will be forwarding this to all of my coworkers. Terri Zanesville, Oh.
By null
March 25, 2009 9:16 AM | Link to this
Whatever happened to “unstructured” play. Parents plan and organize ALL of the play for their kids including “play dates,” tumbling classes, science camp, etc.. Let the kids go out and play with other kids without structure. This will actually INCREASE their fondness of math and sciene. Try reading the book, “Last Child in the Woods.”