Poster #37 - Children’s descriptions of playing and learning as related processes

• In Event: 1-005 - Poster Session 01
  In Poster Session: PS 01 Section - Cognitive Processes

Integrative Statement

Previous research suggests that children view playing and learning as opposites: play is freely-chosen, fun, and social, while learning is mandatory, serious, and overseen by adults (e.g., Howard, 2002; Karrby, 1990; Rothlein & Brett, 1987). With growing interest in play-based educational practices for early childhood, however, it is critical to examine children’s beliefs about how play and learning intersect. Given that children come to understand the processes involved in learning during the preschool and early elementary school years (Bemis, Leichtman, & Pillemer, 2013; Sobel & Letourneau, 2015; Tang & Bartsch, 2012), this study asked whether this metacognitive development relates to children’s understanding of whether play and learning can co-occur.

In this study, 92 children (ages 5-8) participated in a structured interview. First, children were asked to define play and learning, and their responses were coded based on whether they described each as a process, as based on content (what was played or learned), or offered no definition. Next, children were asked to give examples of times when they were playing and learning at the same time, and we coded the number of examples that children gave. Finally, children were divided into two groups: half were asked to give examples of playing that were fun, self-determined, and without adults, and examples of learning that were serious, determined by others, and with adults. The other half were asked to give examples of playing and learning with incongruous characteristics (e.g., examples of learning that were fun; examples of playing that were serious). We coded whether children generated examples that aligned with each attribute.

Older children were more likely to describe both playing and learning as metacognitive processes (Play: ⍴(90) = .24, p = .02; Learning: ⍴(90) = .40, p < .001), and children were more likely to give process definitions of play than learning (McNemar χ2(1, N=92) = 6.26, p = .011). Children who described both as processes gave more examples of playing and learning at the same time, controlling for age (⍴(89) = .27, p = .01), and a multinomial logistic regression revealed that process definitions of learning were most predictive (-2 log likelihood = 212.66, χ2(3) = 7.91, p = .048), rather than process definitions of play (-2 log likelihood = 210.20, χ2(3) = 5.44, p = .14). Finally, children who had generated process definitions of learning were also more likely to generate examples of playing with characteristics of learning, and vice versa (Wald χ2(1) = 6.48, p = .01).

These findings suggest that children’s understanding of the processes involved in playing and learning affect their views about how these activities relate to one another. More broadly, this study suggests that children do not view playing and learning as mutually exclusive. Instead, children who defined learning as a process were able to reflect on times when they were learning while playing, and when learning had characteristics of play. By better understanding children’s developing ideas about how learning occurs through play, educators and parents can integrate play more seamlessly into learning experiences for young children.

Authors

• Susan M Letourneau, New York Hall of Science
  Presenting Author

• David Sobel, Brown University
  Non-Presenting Author