Block Study

Preschool children learn through play.  The history of developmental psychology attests to this message (Piaget,  ; Vygotsky, 1932 ; Zigler & Bishop-Josef, 2004; Zigler, Singer, & Bishop-Josef, 2004;  Paley ). Guided play advances cognitive skills like language (Pellegrini & Galda, 1990) and reading (Bergen & Mauer, 2000; Bellin and Singer, 2006) as well as social skills like emotional regulation (Berk, Mann, & Ogan, 2006) and peer cooperation (Connolly & Doyle, 1984; Howes, 1998). Despite overwhelming evidence for the power of play in development (Zigler et al., 2004; Singer et al., 2006), however, parents, educators, and policymakers worry that playtime takes children away from precious academic activities (Hirsh-Pasek & Golinkoff, 2003).  Playtime has dropped precipitously from 40% in 1981 to 25% in 1997.  Research in our laboratory is looking at the value of play in stimulating rich interactions with parents and caregivers that set the stage for academic and social learning.  We are currently involved in two projects testing the value of playful interactions. These works are in progress and are described below.  For an overview of the motivating theory please see Hirsh-Pasek, K.  & Golinkoff, R. (2003) (2003)  Einstein never used flashcards:  How our children really learn and why they need to play more and memorize less. Emaus, Rodale Press (translations in Indonesian, Japanese, Chinese) and Singer, D., Golinkoff, R. M., & Hirsh-Pasek, K.  (Eds.) (2006).  Play=Learning:  How play motivates and enhances children’s cognitive and social-emotional growth.  New York, NY:  Oxford University Press.

Selected Presentation

People have speculated that play with construction toys might offer rich language and learning environments that would support later learning in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. In this study we are investigating what parent-child interaction quality playing with blocks support.  With the help of MegaBloks, we bring families into the lab and place them in one of three groups:  the free play group, the guided play group and the preassembled group.  The free play group can make whatever they wish from the blocks supplied.  The guided play group is asked to build a heliport.  Finally, the preassembled group receives a preassembled heliport. In phase two of the study the families are given exactly the same blocks and asked to build a garage.  Interestingly, in phase 1, the guided play condition elicits far more spatial language than is apparent in the other two groups. Nonetheless, in the follow-up phase, those in free play and in the guided play use rich spatial language while parents in the former preassembled group do not.  Although these are preliminary results, it appears as if the preassembled play generates some imaginative language interactions, but stifles later spatial language exchanges.

Selected Articles

E-Book Research

Are electronic books more academically stimulating than traditional books?  With Molly Collins of the Erikson Institute, we are finding out.  In one study, children at two local children’s museums (Please Touch and Chicago Children’s Museum) are asked to choose one of the displayed books to read with a parent.   Three to 5 year olds were participants and 85% had e-books at home. Nonetheless, preliminary findings suggest that children overwhelmingly choose traditional books.  Further their interactions with parents are completely different with the two types of books. With traditional books parents ask more questions about the content of the book and are more engaged with the children.  In contrast, e-books tend to stimulate more directives from parents (e.g., Do this.. push the button).  Little in the e-book interaction reinforces the kinds of dialogic reading  though to promote reading skill.  In a second study, children came into the lab and were assigned either an e-book or a matching traditional book.  Preliminary data suggest similar patters are emerging.