let the kids learn through play.pdf

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Let the

Kids

LearnThrough

Play

-

NYTimes.com

Paee of4

Let

he

Kids

LearnThroughPlay

BJORN

IE

ByDAVIDKOHN

MAY16,2015

12861

L...-.- -l

\

TWENTY

ears

ago,

kids

n

preschool,

indergarten nd even

irst

and second

grade

spentmuch of their time

playing:

building

withblocks,

drawing

or creating

imaginary

worlds,

n

their own

headsor with classmates.

ut ncreasingly,hese

activities

are

being

abandoned

or

the teacher-led, idactic

nstruction ypically

used

n higher

grades.

n

manyschools,

ormal education

ow

startsat age

4

or

S.

Without this earlystart, he thinking

goes,

ids risk

falling

behind

n crucial

subjects

uchas

eading

and

math,

and may

nevercatch

up.

The deaseems bvious:Startingsoonermeansearningmore; he earlybird

catcheshe

worm.

But

a

growinggroup

of scientists, ducation

esearchers nd educators

ay

here

s

little

evidence

hat this approach

mprovesong-termachievement;

n fact,

t may

have

he

opposite ffect,

potentially

slowingemotional

and

cognitivedevelopment,

causing

nnecessarytress

and

perhaps

ven

souring

kids' desire o

iearn.

http:i/mobile.nytimes.

oml2Alsl05llTlopinion/sunday/let-the-kids-learn-through-play.htm...

127/2015



Let

the

Kids

Learn

Throueh

Play

-

NYTimes.com Page

of4

One

expert

talked o

recently,

Nanry

Carlsson-Paige,

professor

meritaof

education t LesleyUniversityin

Cambridge,Mass.,

escribeshis trend asa

profound

misunderstanding

f howchildrenleam..

She

egularlytours

schools,

and sees

ounger

students loundering

o comprehend

nstruction:

I've

seen

t

many,manytimes n many

manyclassrooms kidsbeing

old to sit at

a

table

and

just

copyletters.They

dont knowwhat

they'redoing.

t's heartbreaking.

The stakesn this

debate

reconsiderable.

s the

skeptics f

teacher-led arly

learning

see t,

that

kind

of education

will

fail

to

producepeople

who

candiscover

and

nnovate,

and

will

merely

produce

people

who

are

ikely

to be

passive

consumers f

information,

ollowers

ather

han

nventors.Which kind

of citizen

do

we want or

the

2$t

century?

In

the United States,more

academic

arlyeducation

as

spread

apidly

n

the

past

decade.

rograms

ike No

Child Left Behind

and

Race

o the

Top

havecontributed

to moretesting and moreteacher-directednstruction.

Another

eason:

he CommonCoreState

Standards,

detailed etof educational

guidelines

meant

o ensure hat

students

each

certainbenchmarks

etween

kindergarten

nd

rzth

grade.

Currently,4g

states

and he

Distriet

of

Colurnbia

ave

adopted oth the

math

and

anguage

tandards.

The

shift toward didactic

approaehes

s

an attempt

to solve wo

pressingproblems.

By

many

measures, merican

educational

chievement

agsbehind hat of other

countries;

at

the

same ime, millions

of American

students,many of them

poor

and

from minoritybackgrounds,emain ar

below

nationalnorrns.

Advocates

aythat

starting

ormal

education

arlier

will help

close

hese

dual

gaps.

ADVERTISEMENT

w*ro 16d{#r$dffia

http:/lmobile.nytimes.

oml20l5l05ll7/opinanlsundayAetthe-kidslearn-through-play.htm...

127/2015



Let

the

Kids Leam ThroughPlay

-

NYTimes.com Page of4

But thesemoves,while well

ntentioned,

are

misguided.Several ountries,

including

Finland

and

Estonia,

don't start

compulsory

ducation ntil

the

ageof

7.

In the

most recent

comparison

f national

educational

evels,

he

Program or

International

Student

Assessment,

oth countries

anked

significantly

higher

han

the

United

States n math,

science nd

reading.

Of cowse, hesecountriesare smaller,essunequaland essdiverse han he

United States.

n

suchcircumstances,

ducation

oses

ewer

challenges.

t's

unlikely hat startingschool

at

7

wouldwork here:

oo

many

young

kids,

disadvantagedr otherwise,

would

probably

endup

watchinghoursof

TV

a day,

not an activity hat

promotes

uture

educational chievement.

ut the complexities

of the

task

n

this country

don't erase

fundamental

act

hat overlystructured

classrooms o

not

bene{it

manyyoung

children.

Some

esearchndicates

hat earlyinstruction n readingand other areas

mayhelp

somestudents, ut theseboostsappearo betemporary.A zoog studyby

Sebastian

.

Suggate, n education

esearcher

t

Alanus

University

n Germany,

looked

at about

4oo,ooo

r5-year-oldsn more

han

5o

countriesand

orrnd

hat

earlyschoolentry

provided

no

advantage. notherstudyby

Dr.

Suggate,

ublished

in

zotz, looked

at

a

group

of 83 students

over

several

ears

and

ound

hat those

who startedat age

5

had

ower reading

comprehension

han those

who

began

learning

ater.

Other

esearch as ound

hat earlydidactic

nstruction

might actuallyworsen

academic

erformance.

ebecca . Marcon,a

psychologyprofessor

t the

University

of

North Florida,

studied

S+g

children

vhohad

attended

a

preschool

class hat

was

academically

riented, one hat

encouraged

child

nitiated

learning,or one

n

between.

She ooked

at the

students'performance

everal

ears

later, n

third

and ourth

grade,

and

ound

hat bythe

end of the

fourth

grade

hose

who

had receivedmore

didactic

nstruction

earned

ignificantlylower

grades

han

those

who had

been

allowed

more

opportunities

o

learn

hrough

play.

Children's

progress

may

have

beenslowed

y

overly

academic

reschool

xperiences

hat

introduced

ormalized earning

experiencesoo

early

or most children's

developmentaltatus, Dr. Marconwrote.

Nevertheless,

any

educators

want

to

curtail

play

during school.

Play

s

often

perceived

s

mmature

behavior

hat doesn'taehieve

nything,

says

David

Whitebread,

psychologist

t CambridgeUniversity

who has

studied he topic

or

decades.

But

it's

essentialo their development.

heyneed

o

learn

o

persevere,

to

control attention, o

controlemotions.

Kids

earn

hese

hings hrough

playtng.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/05llT

opinronlsunday/let-the-kids-learn-through-play.htm...

/27/2A15



Lgt the

Kids

Learn

ThroughPlay

-

NYTimes.com

Page

4

of

4

Over he

past

20

years,

scientists

avecome o understand

much

more

about

how

children

earn.

Jay Giedd,a neuroscientist

at

the

University of

California,San

Diego,

has

spent

his

career tudyinghow he

human

brain

develops

rom

birth

through

adolescence;

e

says

mostkids

younger

han

7

or 8 are

better

suited

or

active

exploration han didacticexplanation.

oThe

trouble

with over-structuring

s

that

t discouragesxploration,'oe says.

Reading,

n

particular,

can't

be

rushed.

t has

been

around

or

only about

6,0oo

years,

o he abilityto transform

marks

on

paper

nto

complex

meaning

s not

pre-

wired nto the

brain.

It

doesn'tdevelop

naturally,

asdo other

complex kills

such

as

walking;

t

can

be

ostered,

ut

not forced.Too often hat's

what

schools re

tryrng

o do

now.This

s not

to

suggesthat

we

shouldn't

ncrease ccesso

preschool,

nd

mprove

earlyeducation

or

disadvantaged

hildren.

But

the early

education

hat

kids

get

-

whatever heir

socioeconomicbackground

should

ruly

he$ their development.

We must hope

hat those

who make

education

olicywill

startpayingattention o this science.

DavidKohn s

a

freelance

ciencewriterbased n Baltimore.

Follow

The NewYorkTimesOpinion ection

on_Facebooknd

Twitter,

nd signup for

the

Opinion qdav ewsletter.

Comments

>

l;;I

--.rf-

5/27/2015

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