Preescolar-Educacion

PRESCHOOL PLAY

Playing Against Learning, or Learning While Playing?:

A Literature Review In Defense of Play in the Preschool Years

OLGA CAMPOS

MASTERS PROJECT
Buffalo State, SUNY
Henry Nichols
May, 2012

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PRESCHOOL PLAY

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Abstract
This paper reviews different studies done on the topic of play in the preschool
years.

Comparative studies are included showing thedifferences in the

outcomes between play-based learning and direct instruction education.
Studies reveal the positive and negative consequences of the inclusion of play
and the lack of it in the preschoolers’ education. The paper includes surveys
done with teachers and parents in intent to point out where the
disconnection is between the research-based strong evidence of the
importance ofplay in the preschool years, and what kids are actually
experiencing

in

the

classrooms.

Conclusions

are

drawn

and

recommendations are given to educators and parents in order to restore and
become advocates of the cause of defending play in the preschool years.

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1. Introduction
For several years now, studies have been done on the subject of play andthe conclusion has been the same:

playing is important for children’s

comprehensive development. Even as early as in the 60´s, psychologists like
Piaget (cited in StrategyOne n.d) conducted studies and several researches
into unstructured activities with children in their early childhood and
concluded that they were necessary for the normal development of a child.
Why is it then, thatin the classrooms in so many kindergartens and even
day care centers, this belief doesn´t seem to be ruling the kids´ activities,
reflected in the short amount of time that is given to children to freely play ?
Instead, we see as young as three-year-old kids spending most of their time
at school trying to master the alphabet, the numbers, and such things that in
previous years we sawseven-year-old kids do?
The revival of highly didactic academic programs for three to six-year
old has been encouraged by the priority that is being given to standards,
assessment, and accountability in preschool education. This trend, not new in
preschool education as Bereiter & Engelmann (cited in Trawick-Smith 2009)
noted, gained more strength in the USA after the establishment of the ´No
ChildLeft Behind´ Act in 2001 (US Department of Education, 2003) that
sought to improve the educational opportunities of disadvantaged students
such as children that came from families of low socioeconomic status that are
believed to be in disadvantage over children that haven’t grown up in such an

PRESCHOOL PLAY
environment.

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After the signing of the Act by President Bush in 2002,programs were designed to ¨guarantee¨ more gains in student achievement
and to hold states and schools more accountable for student progress.
Consequently, in the intent to attain such goals, more emphasis on the
academic was given, more direct instruction was encouraged and expected
from the teachers (including the preschool ones) and play was relegated to a
reward for high performance in whatwas considered more ¨serious business¨.
In the second section of the paper, a comparison of the results of both
approaches will be given showing how a play-based approach to education in
preschool has proven to be the best way to reach that desirable readiness for
school in the preschoolers and the various benefits that derive from such
approach.
In the third section, the teachers´ stand onthe issue of play based
learning will be stated.

A survey done in Bogota with 20 preschool and

elementary teachers is included.
In the fourth section, the parents` perspective will be shown, including
a survey done with 32 preschoolers parents in Colombia.
In the fifth section it will be shown how children are spending their
time out of school.
Recommendations will be given in the...