Poster #27 - An International Study on Children’s and Adults’ Perceptions of Play

• In Event: Poster Session 07

Abstract

While play is ubiquitous and its importance in early childhood is recognized, it is notoriously difficult to define (Gordon, 2008). Researchers have investigated how parents and teachers across countries and educational levels think about play (e.g., Pozo et al., 2006) and its benefits for children’s language development, self-regulation (Whitebread, 2012), engagement and autonomy in learning, plus social integration and emotional well-being (Golinkoff & Hirsh-Pasek, 2016). However, much less research has been conducted on perceptions of play and learning, especially from the child’s perspective (Kirk, 2007; Stamatoglou, 2004).

Exploring children’s and adults’ views of what constitutes play is important for understanding what they think constitutes playful learning, which can help educational stakeholders make decisions about pedagogy and curriculum in schools as well as lifelong education. Thus, this project aims to achieve a deeper and more refined understanding of the ways in which young children and adults in different countries (i.e., Argentina, Denmark, China, the United Kingdom, and the United States) perceive play and its relationship with learning. The larger study builds on previous research (e.g., Howard, 2002) by using a card sorting methodology. Additionally, this study is one of the first to use the same methodology with children and adults across multiple countries to investigate perceptions of both play and learning.

Thirty-six cards depicting play activities (n=18) or everyday activities (n=18) were varied by 3 categories: 1) type of play (physical play, sociodramatic/symbolic, activities with rules); 2) the presence of peers or an adult; and 3) facial expressions. Children and adults were asked to sort cards into ‘play’ or ‘not play’ and ‘learn’ or ‘not learn’ buckets. A total of 400 5- to 7-year-old children and 200 adults were recruited in middle-income areas in all countries. We hypothesized that there would be differences between countries and between children’s and adults’ perceptions of what is considered play and learning.

Results supported our hypotheses. Logit models revealed a significant association between cards selected as ‘play’ and cards selected as ‘learn’, and that the association differed between ages and countries. For example, the relationship between ‘play’ and ‘learn’ in Hong Kong is significantly more negative. A card picked as ‘play’ in Hong Kong was 68% less likely to be picked as ‘learn’. In the UK, however, the relationship was significantly more positive than Hong Kong: A card picked as ‘play’ was 24% more likely to be also picked as ‘learn’. Moreover, 21% of cards were picked as both ‘play’ and ‘learn’ across all children while 54% of cards were picked as both ‘play’ and ‘learn’ across all adults, indicating that adults consider many more activities than children to involve both.

Findings suggest that adults and children differ in what they consider to be ‘play’ and ‘learn’ and there are differences between countries as well. These results suggest that culture influences one’s perception of play and learning. Future research should examine how activities that are perceived as both 'play’ and ‘learn’ can be incorporated in educational settings to promote playful learning.

Authors

• Lien Vu, University of Delaware
  Presenting Author

• Marcia Preston, University of Delaware

• Amanda Delgado, University of Delaware

• Raymond Patt, University of Delaware

• Roberta M Golinkoff, University of Delaware