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Web End = Early Childhood Educ J (2015) 43:385393 DOI 10.1007/s10643-014-0666-1
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Web End = Play in Kindergarten: An Interview and Observational Study in Three Canadian Classrooms
Angela Pyle Ashley Bigelow
Published online: 22 August 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014
Abstract The benets of play to childrens development and academic learning are often discussed in the research. However, inconsistencies in denitions of play and differing perspectives concerning the purpose of play in educational settings make it challenging for teachers to determine how to productively integrate play-based pedagogies into their classrooms. This challenge is compounded by the inclusion of increasingly academic standards in kindergarten curricula resulting in the need to determine if and how teachers can integrate play-based pedagogies and mandated academic standards. The purpose of this study was to examine three teachers approaches to integrating play-based learning in their kindergarten classrooms. Specically, teachers conceptions of the purpose of play and their role in structuring play-based learning were explicitly examined. This paper concludes with a discussion concerning the challenges teachers face in negotiating a balance between academic learning and the use of developmentally appropriate practices such as play, and the need for further research to determine if and how particular play-based approaches support the development of academic, social, and emotional skills.
Keywords Kindergarten Play-based learning
Academic learning Developmentally appropriate
practice Teacher practice Early years
Introduction
Play is often championed as benecial to childrens development (e.g., Myck-Wayne 2010; Wallerstedt and Pramling 2012). The benets have been explored in terms of childrens social and emotional development (e.g., Bodrova et al. 2013) and, more recently, in terms of their academic learning (e.g., Saracho and Spodek 2006; Van Oers and Duijkers 2013). While many researchers and policy makers alike agree that play is important to childrens development (e.g., Miller and Almon 2009; OME 2010), these claims are not without controversy. Lillard and colleagues challenge the role of pretend play in the development of both the social and emotional, and academic domains, stating: that existing evidence does not support strong causal claims about the unique importance...