As I stood atop of the playground at recess duty, I scanned
the many children hard at work. They were chasing each other, climbing and
sliding, and bouncing balls; activities you see on most playgrounds. On further
investigation, they were collecting
leaves and sticks in the ‘woods’ to make “stew”, digging for “gold” in the
sandbox, and hiding behind the Trinity Tree from the “dinosaur”. Children at play. They
have such great imaginations. Unfortunately, many experts have been trying for
years to keep those imaginations out of the classrooms and studies are showing
the impact this has on academic development.
In a recent article from the New York Times titled Let the Kids Learn Through Play (Kohn,
May 16, 2015) research on “child initiated” learning was discussed. The article
sites research, done at the University of North Florida by Dr. Rebecca A.
Macron, following children from preschool age to third and fourth grades. The
research compared preschool programs that were more academically oriented, to
child initiated, to those in between. Her research showed that children in the
more child directed programs showed higher grades by fourth grade than those in
a more academic structured program. Similar recent studies at Cambridge
University and University of California also show results pointing toward child
driven exploration as better for emotional and academic growth.
Upon visiting Trinity’s early childhood classrooms, enjoy
the experience of children hard at work. The centers to mimic real life,
blocks, and painting may be our future chefs, architects, and artists. Or, our
future neurosurgeons and engineers may be trying to figure out how to keep the
block tower from falling or how to share the blocks evenly with friends. The
skills they are learning in child directed ‘play’ will serve them well in
future academic learning, social and emotional development, and the knowledge
that learning is fun.
-Mrs.
Heather Schell, M.Ed.
Trinity School Second grade teacher
