1-220 - Play Today: Investigating and Encouraging Play in the Contemporary Developmental Environment

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Research has continuously (if not unanimously) found that play is linked to cognitive, social, and developmental advances. Children’s play, however, is changing. Play-based Kindergarten strategies have given way to curricula seeking to prepare young children for standardized testing. Smartphones, tablets, and televisions are ubiquitous, potentially inspiring or interfering with play. Interactive technologies can simulate traditional play experiences and modern, innovative television shows model and encourage learning through play. Social context and the family environment shape play with family structure (including the presence of multiple generations) and cultural setting potentially being influential factors. The presentations in this symposium examine facets of the modern play experience and seek to understand (and potentially shape) their impact on the development of children.

The first study documents the potential impacts of different types of play (including traditional and digital) by using ecological momentary assessment and parental report to categorize and quantify play and link it to observed cognitive and social skills of children in US and Mexico. The second study examines the positive impact of intergenerational play and helps identify opportunities for grandparents and grandchildren to “play better” together. The third presentation reports on an experiment that compares child learning and parent-child interaction during play with either a set of shape toys or a shape app. Finally, the creators of a new television program designed to model learning through play will discuss the development of the show and report on their formative research.

Sub Unit

• Technology, Media & Child Development

Chair

• David Bickham, Boston Children's Hospital

Individual Presentations

• Measuring Children’s Modern Play Experiences: Examining Links between Play and Development in the Digital Age - Presenting Author: David Bickham, Boston Children's Hospital; Non-Presenting Author: Summer Moukalled, Boston Children's Hospital, Center on Media and Child Health; Non-Presenting Author: Michael Rich, Boston Children's Hospital, Center on Media and Child Health

• Enhancing Intergenerational Play - Presenting Author: Alison Bryant, AARP; Non-Presenting Author: Patty David, AARP; Non-Presenting Author: Brittne Nelson Kakulla, AARP

• Playing with Geometry: Toy Design Impacts Parent-Child Interactions and Spatial Language - Presenting Author: Laura Zimmermann, SRI International; Non-Presenting Author: Brian N. Verdine, University of Delaware; Non-Presenting Author: Lindsey Foster, University of Delaware; Non-Presenting Author: Maya Marzouk, Yeshiva University; Non-Presenting Author: Dunia Tonob, University of Oxford; Non-Presenting Author: Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Temple University; Non-Presenting Author: Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Univ of DE

• Modeling Learning Through Play to Inspire More Sophisticated Play Patterns - Presenting Author: Rosemarie T Truglio, Sesame Workshop; Non-Presenting Author: Courtney Wong, Sesame Workshop; Non-Presenting Author: Rebecca Seibert, Sesame Workshop; Non-Presenting Author: Jennifer Kotler Clarke, Sesame Workshop