UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Incorporating play into early childhood education can lead to better schoolwork among preschool and primary-level students, research by a pair of Penn State professors has shown, and instructing prospective teaching candidates to follow that path should be a constant.
Play has been an important part of teacher preparation in early childhood education because preschool and primary children learn through play and it is necessary for their development, according to Jim Johnson, professor of education in curriculum and instruction and program director for early childhood education in the College of Education.
Johnson and recent doctoral graduate Viana Wu presented “Teacher Education for Using Play with Children: What is Valued and Learned by Teacher Candidates’’ at a recent American Educational Research Association conference. Wu also conducted research in Taiwan.
Johnson also has done professional development nationally and internationally with Karen McChesney Johnson, a College of Education assistant professor of education.
"Teacher education must cultivate the minds, hearts and hands of new early childhood education practitioners so that their theories and practices will develop and be complex to match the realities they will face,'' Johnson said. "Research in this area must try to learn more about the what, the why and the how concerning teaching new teachers about the importance of play in education and how to use play in the classroom.''
That process is slow but steady. Johnson said only about a quarter of research universities such as Penn State have a course on play, about seven-eighths embed the topic in another early childhood education course, and about half of them are linked to field work.
“When the word play does not show up in college course listings, this does not mean it is not covered,’’ Johnson said. “Often other related words appear such as project-based learning, activity-based, investigative engagements, exploratory learning and the like.
“Whatever the term, teachers need to know how to use play as a medium of learning and a context for healthy growth for young students.’’
A similar curriculum in Asia
According to newly enacted curriculum outlines in East Asia, Wu said, teachers are instructed to place a high value on children’s fundamental nature, which includes children’s potential to imagine and create.
“The outlines point out that children innately love to explore, operate and discover through play, and they learn how to interact with others and pick up cues in their surrounding environment through different play experiences,’’ Wu said.