The impact of teacher-directed and child-directed pretend play on cognitive competence in kindergarten children

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Is allowing time for pretend play in pre-schools justified?

This study showed how different types of behaviours were demonstrated in pretend play. The authors suggest these are important for academic readiness and later school success, indicating that time spent in pretend play is time well spent.

The researchers found:

significantly more cognitive behaviours associated with thinking, knowing and remembering emerged during group free play managed by teachers when compared with the play activities directed by teachers from the front of the class;
teacher-directed pretend play fostered social and emotional development more than child-directed group play;
under teacher direction, children's persistence and thinking behaviours gradually decreased, thereby shortening the length of the lesson, compared with the child-directed group play condition;
children were found to take greater pleasure in play and learning when they were free to play in groups managed by their teacher than when their play was directed by their teacher;
there was no significant difference in teachers' behaviour between direct teaching and group management - the number of stimuli given by the teachers was similar for both forms of class organisation; and
mixed-age classes had a positive effect on children's social development and thinking skills.

The authors believe their results support play-based curricula in programmes for pre-school children and pointed out the possible repercussions of giving young children little opportunity to experience pretend play. They suggest free group play (managed by teachers) supports children's later problem solving skills, social skills and academic areas, such as literacy, mathematics and science.

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Research Home Themes \| Find digests \| About the digests resources glossary researchers contact TRIPS Introduction Is pretend play important? Is allowing time for pretend play in pre-schools justified? How can high quality pretend play be organised? How was the study designed? What are the implications for staff, parents and carers? Where can I find out more? Send us your feedback Collated digests To find out more about collated digests click here Get Word Reader The impact of teacher-directed and child-directed pretend play on cognitive competence in kindergarten children This digest found in Early years Send to a friend Word doc 50KB Printer friendly Collate for later Is allowing time for pretend play in pre-schools justified? This study showed how different types of behaviours were demonstrated in pretend play. The authors suggest these are important for academic readiness and later school success, indicating that time spent in pretend play is time well spent. The researchers found: significantly more cognitive behaviours associated with thinking, knowing and remembering emerged during group free play managed by teachers when compared with the play activities directed by teachers from the front of the class; teacher-directed pretend play fostered social and emotional development more than child-directed group play; under teacher direction, children's persistence and thinking behaviours gradually decreased, thereby shortening the length of the lesson, compared with the child-directed group play condition; children were found to take greater pleasure in play and learning when they were free to play in groups managed by their teacher than when their play was directed by their teacher; there was no significant difference in teachers' behaviour between direct teaching and group management - the number of stimuli given by the teachers was similar for both forms of class organisation; and mixed-age classes had a positive effect on children's social development and thinking skills. The authors believe their results support play-based curricula in programmes for pre-school children and pointed out the possible repercussions of giving young children little opportunity to experience pretend play. They suggest free group play (managed by teachers) supports children's later problem solving skills, social skills and academic areas, such as literacy, mathematics and science.