Developing Life Skills Through Play
Developinglife skillsthrough playPart of the Cambridge Papers in ELT seriesMarch 2019CONTENTS2Executive Summary4Introduction7Creative Thinking10Critical Thinking13Learning to Learn15Communication17Practical Examples19Suggestions for further reading20Bibliography22Appendix
Executive Summary Child centred activities versus child led activitiesWhen an activity is child centred that means ittakes into consideration the abilities, developmentand interests of children (Pyle & Danniels, 2017).Child led on the other hand refers to activitieswhere children have choices and where theyexperience themselves as autonomous learners. Direct instruction versus guided play activitiesIn direct instruction the teacher is initiating andleading the activity; in guided play, in turn, theautonomy stays with the child and the teacheris scaffolding children’s learning. There is someevidence that guided play is more beneficial forchildren’s learning compared to direct instruction(Fisher, Hirsh-Pasek, Newcombe, & Golinkoff, 2013). Engaging children in meaningful, challenging taskswith choices Children show more self-regulatedbehaviour if they engage in tasks that are meaningfulto them, where they have the opportunity to leadtheir own learning, and where they can adjust thelevel of difficulty to their own ability (Perry, 2013). Providing children with a variety of playopportunities Given that different types of playpromote different developmental and educationaloutcomes, children would benefit from an arrayof play materials (Zosh et al., 2018). Materials that2capture children’s play and encourage play-basedbehaviours tend to be visually appealing, easy tomanipulate, provide immediate feedback, can grow incomplexity as the children become more experiencedwith the object and can be used in multiple playscenarios depending on the children’s imagination. Participating in the play Children are more likelyto engage in more complex forms of play that havedevelopmental and educational benefits whenthey feel emotionally secure (Ackermann, Gauntlett,Whitebread, Wolbers, & Weckström, no date). Ateacher can promote children’s learning throughplay when they themselves take part in the activityalongside the children, which further emphasises thatplay is important (Pramling Samuelsson & Johansson,2006). There is always a give and take in the teacherstudent interaction and the teacher can enrich theplay experience by assisting children with materials,ideas, and the development of their thoughts. Scaffolding the play Scaffolding involves an adultmonitoring the elements of the activity that arebeyond the child’s learning capacity at the firstinstance, thereby allowing the child to focus onthe aspects of the task that are within his or hercapability (Wood, Bruner, & Ross, 1976). In order forthe scaffolding approach to be effective, the strategyneeds to be catered to the appropriate level of the
Executive Summarychild. Six strategies that were found to be effectiveinclude co-participating, reducing choices, eliciting,generalizing, reasoning, and predicting (Pentimonti& Justice, 2010). These strategies can be used tohelp children make connections between areas oflearning and experience, thereby supporting theirlearning (Pramling Samuelsson & Johansson, 2006). Offering positive reinforcement Providing thechildren with positive reinforcement, such as praisingthem for participating in higher levels of play, isan effective technique for engaging children insociodramatic play activities without the use ofdirect imitation (Collins, 2010; Pea, 2015; Schunk &Zimmerman, 1997). The repeated use of scaffoldingand reinforcement also allows for the development ofchildren’s self-regulation skills because the childrenare able to utilize all their skills independentlyand adapt them as the contextual and personalconditions change (Schunk, 1999). As the childrendevelop their skills and become more independent,support provided to the children can be graduallywithdrawn (Pyle, Poliszczuk & Danniels, 2018).3
IntroductionThe concept of play is difficult to define and there is noconsensus on one definition. Play is typically intrinsicallymotivated, and it is an activity that is done for its ownsake and not for its outcome. Children usually express joyduring play and immerse themselves in the activity whichis usually sustained over some time (Ackermann et al., nodate; Lillard et al., 2013). Play is often considered in societyas the opposite of learning. This dichotomy between playand learning is even represented in our spoken languagewhen we use phrases such as ‘Don’t play with your pen,’which indicates that play is something negative andunnecessary; or, ‘If you finish this task, you can go andplay,’ which implies that the less important play can onlybe done if the important work has been completed.policy target asks education to focus on academic skillssuch as mathematics and literacy. There is a current trendto emphasise cognitive development and, consequently,the whole child approach that also acknowledges socialand emotional development gets less attention (HirshPasek, Golinkoff, Berk, & Singer, 2009). Nevertheless,the research community highlights the importance ofplay and children’s learning outcomes. It may be betterto redefine play as a spectrum that ranges from freeplay, child self-directed joyful activities, to guided play,which involves an activity structured by an adult that isfocused on a learning goal (see Figure 1). Reconceivingplay as a range would provide opportunities to specifythe type of play the child engages in and link this tothe outcomes (Fisher et al., 2013; Zosh et al., 2018).Given that play is often not considered as somethingvaluable, it is playtime that is cut first when yet anotherFREE PLAYFigure 1: play as a spectrum that ranges from free play to guided play4GUIDED PLAY
IntroductionPlay has a role in developing life competencies. Throughplay, children can experience and craft a world with itsown conditions and values that differ from reality. Childrenthen have the opportunity to utilize their creative thinkingskills and share this world they have created with theirpeers. Children are also able to practice their negotiationskills during play activities, as the interplay of children iscomplex. Children are able to learn from their peers whomay be of a different age or have different experiences,and thus children’s learning will be challenged in play. Itis during these challenging experiences brought aboutby play that children have a chance to experiment with,expand and alter the play world they have created.A child’s learning is not solely dependent upon theindividual but is also influenced by the environment andthe relationships they form. Children are best able to learnwhen their full attention is captured, which often occursduring play. Hence, play becomes a source of learningthat is especially inseparable during pre-school. It isimportant to differentiate between play-based learning andplay. Play-based learning, as the name suggests, involveslearning while playing where the pleasurable activitycaters to a goal (Pyle & Danniels, 2017). Play, on the otherhand, is more open-ended and is a pleasurable activitythat is primarily concerned with the process not outcome.Hence, when children are playing it may not necessarilyinclude a learning component unless they are engaging ina play-based learning activity. This paper will explore theuse of various types of play, including pretend, social, freeplay, and guided play in the primary classroom setting.Children are best able to learnwhen their full attention is captured,which often occurs during play.It is important to recognise that the evidence to supportthe benefit of play-based learning is weak and inconsistent.That being said, the evidence suggests that there is apositive relationship between play and children’s earlylearning outcomes, with play-based learning approachesimproving early learning outcomes by approximatelyfive added months on average (Education EndowmentFoundation, 2018). These positive outcomes have beenseen in connection with developing competencies suchas children’s early numeracy, reasoning and vocabularyskills. However, the results in terms of children’s earlylanguage and problem-solving skills are mixed.There has also been considerable debate over the benefitsof children’s engagement in free play versus guided play.Free play includes child self-directed joyful activities, ofteninvolving an imaginative component, without an externalgoal (Fisher et al., 2013). There are two main differencesas to how guided play differs from free play: (i) The adultsupports and structures the activity; and (ii) The activityis focussed on a learning goal (Zosh et al., 2018). Guidedplay acts as an intermediate learning approach betweenfree play and direct instruction where the child still has theability to direct the activity. Guided play can take manyforms, including an adult scaffolding or monitoring theactivity and offering guidance while participating in theactivity with the child. Alternatively, the adult can design thespace or activity in a way that supports the child but allowsthe child to play independently. This often occurs whenthe child engages with games. Guided play is particularlybeneficial to support children’s meaning-making as youngchildren especially may find it difficult to understandthe meaning of the activity by themselves. For example,children are able to learn more when they read a bookwith an adult rather than reading a book by themselves,as the adults can pose questions which encourage thechild to connect the story to their existing knowledge.Research suggests that children learn best when they areactively engaged in the process, can make connections toprevious knowledge, and when the learning takes placein a socially-interactive environment (Zosh et al., 2018).Research suggests that play contributes to the developmentof children’s academic outcomes as well as essential skillsincluding collaboration, communication, confidence,content, creative innovation and creative thinking (Golinkoff& Hirsh-Pasek, 2016; Zosh et al., 2018). The CambridgeLife Competencies Framework was created in responseto requests from educators about how all the various5
Introductionskills and competencies that students require in the 21stcentury relate to English language programmes. TheCambridge Life Competencies Framework includesthe areas of creative thinking, collaboration, criticalthinking, learning to learn, communication, and socialresponsibilities. All the competencies have breadthand depth and outline how the learning outcomescan be further developed in the long-term.Research suggests that playcontributes to the developmentof children’s academic outcomesas well as essential skills includingcollaboration, communication,confidence, content, creativeinnovation and creative thinkingThe following sections will explain the role of play-basedlearning in connection with the development of children’screative thinking, critical thinking, learning to learnand communication skills. The report will conclude bypresenting the underlying principles when using theplay-based learning in the classroom and will providepractical examples of how play can be incorporatedtowards enhancing children’s competencies.6
Creative ThinkingCreativity can be defined as the manner of quickly andcomprehensively thinking of many original ideas andpossibilities that would also be of value to others. Thereare many aspects of creativity including cognitive flexibility,divergent thinking, imagination, intrinsic motivation, openmindedness when faced with uncertainty or change,and enjoyment of new things and experiences. TheCambridge Life Competencies Framework identifies threecompetencies of creativity within an educational setting:Participating in creative activitiesCreating new content from one’s own ideas orother resourcesUsing newly created content to solveproblems and make decisionsThe following sub-sections will outline the contributionof play towards children’s problem-solving skills.Additionally, the role of pretence in different aspectsof creativity will be highlighted while also noting thebenefits of children collaborating with their peers.Creativity when usingproblem-solving skillsPlay contributes to the development of children’s thinkingand problem-solving skills which is aligned with TheCambridge Life Competencies Framework, that notesthat creating new content from one’s own ideas or otherresources requires divergent thinking including flexibility,elaborating, fluency, and originality. Play frequently provideschildren with opportunities to develop their creative thinkingskills, such as allowing them to view situations from differentperspectives, thinking of alternate strategies to resolvea problem, and practicing thinking in different ways, allwithout punitive consequences (Ackermann et al., no date).In order to examine the role of play in the development ofchildren’s problem-solving skills, Ramani and Brownell (2014)reviewed articles that examined pre-schoolers' cooperativeproblem-solving in social play contexts. Children areable to establish joint goals in social play contexts whichinclude early childhood classroom activities, such asconstruction and sociodramatic play that involve actingout specific roles or characters (Mussen, Carmichael, &Hetherington, 1983). This occurs as children must workwith their peers to create the goals of the activity, and bydoing so pre-schoolers practise using their elaborationand flexibility skills which are aspects of divergent thinking.Additionally, participating in social play enables childrento develop their negotiation and conflict resolutionskills, as they must identify the problem and discuss it inorder to reach a solution that is agreeable by all (Ramani& Brownell, 2014). Since the goals in a play activity aredetermined by the child and change throughout the child’splay, the children are continually utilizing their creativethinking skills, which allow for development in this area.Pretence and differentaspects of creativityIn addition to developing problem-solving skills, anothercompetency of creative thinking highlighted in theCambridge Life Competencies Framework is developing7
Creative Thinkingthe skills necessary to participate in creative activitiesincluding divergent thinking, imagination, cognitiveflexibility, and tolerance or enjoyment of ambiguity orunpredictability. Russ (2016) noted that the cognitiveand emotional processes involved in pretend play andcreativity are similar. Sociodramatic play provides childrenwith a chance to develop their creative thinking skills, asthey can use objects to symbolise other objects (a stickmay turn into a wand), invent stories, use role-playingactivities to enact various themes such as eating, monsters,and games with their peers. Since the conditions ofthe children’s play worlds are typically changing, thechildren must continually revise the rules of the activity,thereby allowing for the development of their creativityskills (Pramling Samuelsson & Johansson, 2006).Moore and Russ (2008) conducted a study to examine theeffects of a pretend play intervention on the play, creativityand emotional processes of six- to eight-year-olds. Theresults were assessed immediately post-intervention andagain two to eight months post-intervention to see if theeffects of the intervention were sustained. The children inthe study were divided into three groups: (i) imaginationgroup; (ii) emotive group; and (iii) control group (Figure 2).I M A G I N AT I O NEMOTIVECONTROLChildren were askedto enact storieswith high fantasycontent and storyorganisation.Children weregiven toys and wereurged to expresstheir feelings andenact stories withaffective content.Children wereprovided withpuzzles andcolouring books.Child enacted aboutfour stories andmade up one story.Child enacted aboutfour stories andmade up one story.Figure 2: The design of the pretend playintervention in Moore and Russ’ (2008) studyThe results of the study two to eight months postintervention demonstrated that the children in theimagination group engaged more in playful activities(Moore & Russ, 2008). Additionally, the children weremore expressive and imaginative while enacting the8stories in the imagination group compared to before theintervention was administered. These results indicate thatchildren’s play, imagination, and expression of emotioncould be improved through the use of a systematicintervention and that possibly an intervention can be usedto improve children’s long-term cognitive play processes.To summarize the creative thinking section,children’s engagement in play activitiesallows for the advancement of their problemsolving, imagination, and cognitive flexibility skills.Research in this area also suggests that play haspositive long-term benefits in children’s cognitivedevelopment. These results should be viewed inlight of the evidence that play-based learningdemonstrates moderate impact, but this is basedon limited studies in this area (EducationEndowment Foundation, 2018). That being said,the costs associated with play-based learning areextremely low as early year settings are alreadyequipped with play facilities. Additional resourcesmay be needed to support children’sengagement in sociodramatic play, but thesetend to be minimal. It would be a good idea toconsider how the equipment in the learningenvironment supports the development ofchildren’s creative thinking skills withoutnecessarily relying on the support from adults.Additionally, it would be helpful to consider howthe balance between free play and guided play inthe classroom allows for the development ofchildren’s creative thinking skills.
Critical ThinkingCritical thinking describes children’s ability to reflectcritically on what they are learning. It includes the skill toprocess information at a high level, extract and evaluateinformation, and to draw conclusions accordingly. Criticalthinking is important on an academic, behavioural, andsocial level. That is, when it comes to learning, youngchildren need to be not only reflective, but also consideratein interactions with other children or adults. For childrento become good citizens it is important for them to learnthat there are different ways to solve problems, thatpeople have different views and opinions and that it iskey to find compromises in social interactions. All thisrequires the skill to reflect critically on one’s learning andactions, to understand different views, and to flexiblyrevise one’s ideas, beliefs and course of action. TheCambridge Life Competencies Framework emphasizesthree key competencies within critical thinking:Understanding and analysing links betweenideasDirect instruction: Theadult is initiating and leadingthe activity. That is, theadult directs whereas thechild is in a passive role.DIRECT INSTRUCTIONFREE PLAYEvaluating ideas, arguments, and optionsSynthesising ideas and informationCritical thinking skills are typically applied in learningcontexts where the child has an active role and isencouraged to share ideas and thoughts. For youngchildren, these types of interactions often happenwithin guided play or discovery learning where childrenreflect on novel questions, synthesize information tocome to a conclusion, and gain hands on experiences.Weisberg, Kittredge, Hirsh-Pasek, Golinkoff, & Klahr(2015) differentiated interaction styles, emphasizingwho initiates and who leads the activity.GUIDED PLAYFree play: The child isinitiating and leadingthe activity. There is noinfluence from an adultand the child decides whathe/she wants to play, withwhom, and for how long.Guided play: The adultinitiates while the childleads the activity. Guidedplay includes an interactionbetween an adult whosupports children’s learningby asking questions andintroducing new concepts.However, the autonomystays with the child.Guided play or discov
Play has a role in developing life competencies. Through play, children can experience and craft a world with its own conditions and values that differ from reality. Children then have the opportunity to utilize their creative thinking skills and share this world they have created with their peers. Children are also able to practice their .
Play is learning. Remember that imaginative play or pretend play is thinking play. Pretend play is thinking play because children need to think of what to play, use an object or objects as play props (using the object as a symbol in play is higher level thinking), incorporate a character in the play (like a teddy or doll),
Play types: Play types can be described as the different behaviours we can see when children are playing and there have been numerous attempts to categorise different types of play. Play theorist Bob Hughes describes each play type (social play, rough and tumble play, deep play, role play etc.) as 'both distinctly and
The Association for Play Therapy (1997) defines play therapy as "the systematic use of a theoretical model to establish an interpersonal process wherein trained play therapists use the therapeutic powers of play to help clients prevent or resolve psychosocial difficulties and achieve op-timal growth and development" (p. 7). Through play .
promote play, exploration and hands-on learning are at the core of effective pre-primary programmes. The next section of this brief explains what is meant by play and play-based learning and gives examples of the many ways in which children learn through play. Play takes many forms Everyone knows ‘play’ when they see it – on
OECD Skills strategy – Diagnostic report 2017 9 challenges as regards adult skills in Slovenia Developing relevant skills 1. Equipping young people with skills for work and life 2. Improving the skills of low-skilled adults Activating the supply of skills 3. Boosting employment for all age groups 4. Attracting and retaining talent from Slovenia
Part I: Life Skills Reading Why is life skills reading important? Why is life skills reading and test taking difficult? Teaching strategies: 3 skills to teach before the test Test-taking strategies:4 skills for students to practice Part II: Narrative Reading Reading
For passing plays can use air yards to calculate airEPA and yacEPA (yards after catch EPA): airEPA play i EP in air play i EP start play i yacEPA play i EP play i 1 EP in air play i But how much credit does each player deserve? e.g. On a pass play, how much credit does a QB get vs the receiver? One player is not solely responsible for a .
GENERAL MARKING ADVICE: Accounting Higher Solutions. The marking schemes are written to assist in determining the “minimal acceptable answer” rather than listing every possible correct and incorrect answer. The following notes are offered to support Markers in making judgements on candidates’ evidence, and apply to marking both end of unit assessments and course assessments. Page 3 .
