My child's better future: Initial school years (at least preschool) should have more play, fun and practical activities:
Many preschool and kindergarten teachers, parents have at least some point of time extremely upset— by the increased pressure on them to teach academic skills to little children and regularly test them on such skills.
Parents are facing difficulty at home in completing their child's homework.
As we ourselves as children in our good old days, have experienced, that the early years of childhood always demands - Play, Play, and only Play.
How about the idea of using this instinct urge of play to teach academic skills, where concepts are taught through play.
In current academic focused preschools, we can see firsthand the unhappiness generated by children in order to learn academics through direct instruction.
Few researches have now proved that children would be learning much more useful lessons through playing, exploring, and socializing, as they did in traditional nursery schools.
Early academic training somewhat increases children’s immediate scores on the specific tests that the training is aimed at (no surprise), but these initial gains wash out within 1 to 3 years and, at least in some studies, are eventually reversed.
In a study conducted at US, children who attended preschools centered on academic training showed initial academic advantages over those who attended play-based preschools; but, by the end of fourth grade, these initial advantages were reversed: The children from the play-based preschools were now performing better, getting significantly higher school grades, than were those from the academic preschools.
Perhaps more tragic than the lack of long-term academic advantage of early academic instruction is evidence that such instruction can produce long-term harm, especially in the realms of social and emotional development (Friendship, trust, bonding, commitment etc).
In US another study was undertaken by selecting children from 3 kinds of schools.
1. Traditional (play-based),
2. High/Scope (which was like the traditional but involved more adult guidance), and
3. Direct Instruction (where the focus was on teaching reading, writing, and math, using worksheets and tests).
This long term study followed preschool children till they attended 23 years age. Those children in the Direct Instruction group (non play based preschools) had more instances of friction with other people, were more likely to have shown evidence of emotional impairment, were less likely to be married and living with their spouse, and were far more likely to have committed a crime than were those in the other two groups.
Peter Gray writes in an article,
"What might account for such dramatic long-term effects of type of preschool attended? One possibility is that the initial school experience sets the stage for later behavior. Those in classrooms where they learned to plan their own activities, to play with others, and to negotiate differences may have developed lifelong patterns of personal responsibility and pro-social behavior that served them well throughout their childhood and early adulthood. Those in classrooms that emphasized academic performance may have developed lifelong patterns aimed at achievement, and getting ahead, which—especially in the context of poverty—could lead to friction with others and even to crime (as a misguided means of getting ahead)".
Click to read Peter Gray's full article explaining research focus and statistics
This is a reflection of Peter Gray's article by:
Maaz Mohammed A.Q
Learning Strategist
Credence Learning Foundation (CLF)
This is an initiative of CLF to bring research output/results in lay man's words.