This link has been bookmarked by 7 people . It was first bookmarked on 22 May 2009, by Clay Burell.
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28 May 09
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Steve RansomNew studies show play losing out to formal lessons and tests, even though multiple benefits of imaginative play are well documented
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In many kindergarten classrooms there is no playtime at all. Teachers say the curriculum does not incorporate play, there isn’t time for it, and many school administrators do not value it.
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“We have had a politically and commercially driven effort to make kindergarten a one-size-smaller first grade. Why in the world are we trying to teach the elementary curriculum at the early childhood level?”
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Finnish children similarly have a lengthy and playful childhood, not beginning formal schooling until age 7. Yet Finland consistently gets the highest scores on international exams.
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Crisis in the Kindergarten describes the current state of public kindergartens in the U.S. as “a national disgrace.”
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27 May 09
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the use of most such tests with children under age eight is scientifically invalid
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the curriculum does not incorporate play, there isn’t time for it, and many school administrators do not value it
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“These practices, which are not well grounded in research, violate long-established principles of child development and good teaching,”
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six recommendations for education policymakers, school administrators, teachers, and parents
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26 May 09
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“It is increasingly clear that they are compromising both children’s health and their long-term prospects for success in school.”
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children who engage in complex socio-dramatic play develop higher levels of thinking, stronger language skills, better social skills, more empathy, and more imagination than children who do not play in this way.
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25 May 09
Will RichardsonTime for play in most public kindergartens has dwindled to the vanishing point, replaced by lengthy lessons and standardized testing, according to three new studies released today by the Alliance for Childhood. Classic play materials like blocks, sand and
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The authors of Crisis in the Kindergarten, Alliance directors Edward Miller and Joan Almon, argue that the disappearance of kindergarten play is part of a larger societal problem. “Play is one of the vital signs of health in children,” they write. “We do not know the long-term consequences of the loss of play in early childhood, but this has become a concern for pediatricians and psychologists.”
They report evidence of significant increases in behavioral problems and school failure among kindergartners. They question unrealistic standards that are developmentally beyond many young children, forcing teachers to spend long hours trying to meet them, and leading to the wrongful labeling of normal child behavior and learning patterns as “misbehavior, attention disorders, or learning disabilities.”
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22 May 09
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