Child-Centered Learning and Play for Every Child

In Week 4, you wrote a letter to the editor designed to educate members of your community about the critical role of child-centered curriculum and play in children’s development and learning.

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For this week’s Discussion, review at least three of your colleagues’ letters to the editor posted in the Doc Sharing area. Focus on the ways their arguments complemented and differed from your own and each others’ and served as strong advocacy efforts.

In addition, review this week’s media segments and carefully consider how child-centered practices may differ and need to be adapted based on the developmental continuum. Based on your review, you will analyze the ways in which effective child-centered practices including play support positive learning outcomes in children from infants through primary ages.

BY DAY 3

Post:

A brief summary of the ways in which the letters to the editor you reviewed brought up similar and differing arguments, and why you felt certain reasoning was most effective as an advocacy effort
An explanation, based on the media segments and citing examples, of the benefits of child-centered, play-based, and discovery learning for each age/development level—infants/toddlers, preschoolers, and primary-age children

Play in Curriculum

Play is a crucial a part of childhood that is increasingly be decreased in educational settings. “As we push more academics and computer instruction on young children; as we observe many of our children’s homes become dominated by passive TV watching and computer games; and as we see many of our publicly funded early childhood programs become downward extensions of public schools” (Almon, 2002). We are starting to push the rigor and testing aspects of school down lower in grades year by year. Students are being introduced to a more formal learning environment and are given less time for exploration years.

Depending on the form of play being used various lessons can be taught in those moments such as; Motor play provides critical opportunities for children to develop both individual gross and fine muscle strength and an overall integration of muscles, nerves, and brain functions (Almon, 2002). In another play form like social play children learn “by interacting with others in play settings, children learn social rules such as, give and take, reciprocity, cooperation, and sharing” (Almon, 2002). Developmentally, most children progress from an egocentric view of the world to an understanding of the importance of social contracts and rules (Almon, 2002). When paying games with rules students develop this understanding, and are able to function and learn social rules and interactions.

Play is, in fact, the most efficient, powerful, and productive way to learn the information young children need (Almon, 2002), and provides the ultimate curriculum for social, physical, and cognitive advancement. With that, we should be looking to increase the time for natural learning like what accrues through play, while continuing to guide and provide to the children the support they need.

References

Almon, J. (2002). The Vital Role of Play in Early Childhood Education. Retrieved from Gateways : http://www.waldorfresearchinstitute.org/pdf/BAPlayAlmon.pdf