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Golinkoff co-edits new book ’Play = Learning’
3:17 p.m., Oct. 30, 2006-- With the demands on preschoolers and school age children growing, children are in need of play more than ever to maintain America's economic preeminence, according to Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, H. Rodney Sharp Chair in Human Services, Education and Public Policy at the University of Delaware. Golinkoff is co-editor of a new book titled Play = Learning: How Play Motivates and Enhances Children's Cognitive and Social-Emotional Growth published in September by the Oxford University Press. The other co-editors are Golinkoff's colleagues, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, the Stanley and Debra Lefkowitz Professor at Temple University, where she serves as director of the Infant Language Laboratory, and Dorothy Singer, co-director of the Yale University Family Television Research and Consultation Center. Golinkoff said “the good old days” when children would return home from school and play outdoors for hours, pulling together pickup sports games or creating fantasy worlds of monsters and fairies, are fading. Those days, she said, have been lost to piles of homework, television and adult-run activities, and the change has not been beneficial to children. As playtime for children decreases, they have little outlet for their feelings and little opportunity to engage in the kinds of informal learning that fuel creative thinking, Golinkoff said, adding that the kinds of experiences children have in play promote their academic achievement and their development as decent people.
“The title Play = Learning was meant to suggest that learning takes place best in a meaningful and playful context,” Golinkoff said of the book. Singer said the book “can help parents, teachers and policymakers trust their instincts about the importance of play in children's lives,” and that it “illustrates the benefits of play in a variety of academic and social realms.” Hirsh-Pasek added that play is vital to America's economic future in another way. By giving children “an opportunity to learn how to get along with others, they acquire a skill that will be key to their success in the workforce of tomorrow,” she said. The ideas and research reviewed in the book were well received by other developmental scientists. "This is a stunning and important book,” Andrew N. Meltzoff, co-author of The Scientist in the Crib: What Early Learning Tells Us About the Mind, said of the work. “In the earliest years, play lays the groundwork for imitative learning, simulation, and contributes to socio-emotional growth. By the third and fourth years, play becomes a critical avenue by which the child experiments with virtual realities and explores future possibilities. Play is sometimes undervalued in the increasingly high-pressured world of child rearing. This volume transforms how we think about play and is essential reading for developmental psychologists, practitioners, policymakers, and all those who wish to enhance the lives of children.” "In the current era of scientifically-based education and accountability, this book fills a critical gap in the knowledge base, providing an extensive research review of all the ways play enhances learning and development for all children, including those with special needs, “ Sue Bredekamp, director of research for the Council for Professional Recognition in Washington, D.C., said. “This book should help teachers, administrators, teacher educators, and policy makers go beyond the either/or debates of the past. The evidence is clear-children need both hands-on, educationally enriching play experiences and teacher instruction.” Article by Neil Thomas
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