This
blog has been started by five kindergarten teachers after we were awarded a grant
to study mature play. It’s not often
that we have the opportunity to get free money for doing research about a topic
we are already interested in.
The goal of our study is …
Play-based
learning is essential to early learners, particularly in kindergarten. Playing allows students to become independent
learners through play-based activities. Unfortunately
many students are not able to play in a mature way; that is they are not able
to create scenarios using substitution, often end up repeating the same actions
over and over again and/or resort to aggressive actions during their play. Children must develop a mature way of playing
and interacting with objects if they are going to develop cognitive tools which
allow them to develop higher levels of thinking.
Our
goal is to enable students to develop mature play so they can fully benefit
from play-based learning. The districts
strategic plan aims for students to be engaged in their learning. Kindergarten students will have an easier
time being engaged when they are able to progress in their learning as they
play. If children are playing in a
mature way they are able to plan their own activities, develop language skills,
solve problems and become self-motivated learners.
This
grant would enable us to develop strategies to help kindergarten children
become mature learners. These strategies
could be used by other teachers to help their students as well.
