Poster #165 - Gaming the curriculum: a pilot study of games for curriculum goals in large preschool classes

• In Event: 3-106 - Poster Session 11
  In Poster Session: PS 11 Section - Prevention and Interventions

Integrative Statement

Play has shown positive associations with child development. Free play has been linked to language development, as well as development of self-regulation and metacognition (Bornstein, 2006; Whitebread, 2010, 2011; Whitebread et al, 2007), while guided play is associated with conceptual knowledge such as math and language (Weisberg et al., 2015). Unfortunately, play is not frequent in Chilean preschools. In several studies in Chile, play that is used with teaching purposes was almost nonexistent (Strasser & Lissi, 2009). Surprisingly, the same teachers who implement play infrequently, report that play is one of the most important activities in the preschool age for wellbeing as well as for developing language, math, and self-regulation (Grau, Strasser, Preiss, & Jadue, 2017). However, they perceive a tension between playing and teaching the national curriculum (Grau et al, 2017). This suggests that it is challenging for teachers to plan play-based experiences as a means to target the curriculum. Other obstacles for play that were cited in that study included the large number of children per class, the large child-teacher ratio, and the small spaces. The present study sought to develop and pilot materials that support teachers’ use of guided play in their lesson plans and activities.

We designed and developed Curricular Games with two key characteristics. First, they were designed to adapt to the structural reality of Chilean classrooms (many children, large child-teacher ratio, small spaces without “centers”, predominance of whole-class teaching). Second, each game was explicitly linked to learning goals from the National Preschool Curriculum (Bases Curriculares para la Educación Parvularia).

Three games were designed, manufactured, and implemented in 6 classrooms (3 prek and 3 k). All classrooms belonged to public schools in Santiago de Chile. Number of children in the classrooms ranged from 25 to 40. Games were implemented by classroom teacher and aide, with support from a research assistant. Each game was implemented three times in each classroom. During the first visit, the research assistant modeled implementation for the classroom teacher and aide, and during the second and third visit, implementation was led by the classroom staff and videotaped. The videotapes were coded to identify the number of children actively engaged in the game, the type of behaviors of children, the type of vocalizations of children, and the type of adult-child interactions. Teachers were interviewed about the experience.

Preliminary results show that the games involved the majority of children, and that participants exhibited behaviors relevant for the curricular goals (e.g. if the game targeted reasoning, teachers asked why questions; if the game targeted writing, children did engage in emergent writing). Teachers and aides reported that they were likely to use the games in the future due to their explicit targeting of curriculum goals, and suggested that the games should also be linked to thematic units typical of the Chilean preschool classroom to increase their adoption.

Authors

• Katherine Strasser, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
  Presenting Author

• Valeska Grau, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jadue Daniela, Universidad de O'Higgins
  Non-Presenting Author

• Singer Vivian, Universidad Alberto Hurtado
  Non-Presenting Author