The Sociocultural Context of Play as a Pedagogical Tool: Play Experiences of Indigenous Children of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia

• In Event: 54.018 - Promising Scholarship in Education: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research

Abstract

Early childhood researchers and educators have found that play can promote a variety of physical, cognitive, and social emotional developmental outcomes that are essential for early learning and school readiness (Singer, Golinkoff, & Hirsh-Pasek, 2006). However, research on the nature and benefits of play has been predominantly conducted using theoretical frameworks and tools that reflect the experiences of children from Western societies (Göncü, Tuermer, Jain, & Johnson, 1999). While this approach has been fruitful in demonstrating the role of play in development, it is limited in scope and may lead to misinterpretations of the everyday realities of children across the world. Understanding how children’s cultures and environments shape play is critical for designing developmentally appropriate, culturally sensitive, and effective early childhood educational interventions in diverse settings (Roopnarine, Patte, & Johnson, 2015). In the present ethnographic study, I seek to characterize and examine the influences that structure children’s play in Wiwa, Kogi, and Arhuaco indigenous communities of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia.

Author

• S. Lynneth Solis, Harvard University