September 29, 2010
Educational Toys | Free Play Won’t Make Your Child Smarter
It might seem odd to think of pre-kindergarten toddlers as students in need of teachers, but the latest research suggests that some form of instruction may help children to better prepare for school.
Nina Chien, a post doctoral researcher in pediatrics at the University of California San Diego found that children who were left to engage in free play in pre-kindergarten centers showed the least improvement in reading and math skills after one year compared to children who benefited from some form of teacher instruction. The free play groups were provided with educational toys designed to stimulate their creative and cognitive processes, but they still learned up to two fewer alphabet letters and three fewer numbers than those who worked with teachers. Overall, when the children reached kindergarten, their teachers rated them up to 96% lower on language and literacy skills compared to their classmates. (More on Time.com: Photos: Summer Programs Keep Kids’ Minds Sharp )
Chien based her study on 701 state-funded pre-kindergarten programs in 11 states, was surprised by the findings since more than 50% of children were enrolled in free-play based centers, an indication of their popularity. “It’s very popular to give kids rich educational materials, let them chose which ones they want to play with, and let them play,” she says. “It was surprising that this very popular model turned out not to be that beneficial.”
The children who showed the most gains over the year in terms of learning the alphabet and numbers, as well as achieving basic reading and math skills, were those who had more individual interaction with teachers. Some teacher-based programs emphasized group instruction, while others involved more one-on-one guidance, in which teachers would encourage students to think more broadly or creatively. If a child drew a sun, for example, an instructor might ask how he could depict the brightness of sun, and guide the child to coming up with a way to draw the sun’s rays. Such encouragement, known as scaffolding, resulted in the most academic gains among the children. (More on Time.com: Video: Building a Better Playground )
Based on her findings, Chien believes that there is still a role for free play, as the children in these programs exhibited greater creativity over the year. She also notes that the study involved public programs in which many of the students came from lower income households. Previous studies have shown that such children benefit more from individualized instruction since they many not be receiving much guidance or support at home. But overall, she says, greater teacher interaction , combined with free play, might enhance children’s learning ability and better prepare them for school. Given the dwindling resources in public education, however, that may be harder and harder to achieve.
More on Time.com:
Top 10 Things Today’s Kids Will Never Experience
The Top 10 Books You Were Forced To Read in School
School’s Back: How’s That Schedule Working Out?
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4 Comments on Educational Toys | Free Play Won’t Make Your Child Smarter »
April 16, 2011
Ultimate Colossus @ 1:34 pm:
How the right educational toys can help enhance cognition
When we think of developing a child’s cognitive skills often we think of activities that are related to schoolwork and activities such as maths. Unfortunately, these activities may seem mundane to your child and they might resist them. Cognitive skills can be developed and enhanced just as easily by games that are fun, creative, interactive and appealing to your child. Reasoning, memory, general knowledge and numerical activities that help develop a child’s cognition need not be boring any longer!
Educational toys are the solution to what would have otherwise been a boring and unpleasant way to help your child develop their cognitive skills. Educational toys are made specifically to not only be fun but to enhance and enrich your child’s development. Either these toys may focus on one area of cognition or there maybe toys that help build up multiple areas of development at one time. Educational toys are a great way for parents to supplement and support their children’s school programme as well as help their child develop their cognitive skills.
Here are some types of educational toys that will help develop your child’s skills.
Memory Games: Memory is cognitive skill that all children should develop to help them later on with not only schoolwork. Regardless of age, memory is an important skill and it is for this reason that you should provide your children with games that help build memory. There are plenty of educational toys and games out there in the market that are made specifically to develop memory skills. These games can be in the form of card games, board games, puzzles and other types of games. They all focus on your child’s ability to store information, recall information and classify information in a manner that is interactive and fun.
General Knowledge Games: Educational toys and games that supplement and enhance a child’s general knowledge are wonderful to help with school programmes since they may explore topics your child is doing in school in a more multi-sensory and interactive manner. Children are more likely to be interested in and more likely to recall information if they are presented with facts in a fun way. If at home, they play general knowledge games that are covered in school they might find it easier to understand. Regardless of whether a general knowledge game follows topics from the school curriculum or not you are assured that when your child plays this type of educational game they are leaning something. General knowledge games may explore one topic for example, space or dinosaurs or they may cover a range of topics, which enhances and tests a child’s knowledge.
Number and Word Games: These types of educational games are great for using at home to support your child through their school curriculum or even for use in schools as part of the curriculum. Word games primarily focus on developing you child’s vocabulary, grammar and spelling skills. Math games usually try to build a child’s numerical skills such as numerical concept, number identification and number sequencing. These educational toys and games come in the form of puzzles, card games, board games and strategy games which help hone in on language and numerical skill development.
All educational toys must help supplement and augment your child’s development in some way. It is advisable that you choose educational toys that helps develop cognitive skills in your child. Choosing the right educational toy will be a fun way of learning for your child.
June 12, 2011
HelloTxt @ 11:31 pm:
Scooby Doo Mystery Mates 2-Pack Sherlock Scooby and Frankenstein’s Monster Reviews
October 2, 2011
Ivan Y @ 5:03 pm:
What type of cold war era question is this?
Really?
I would respond with an essay of welcome to over fifteen years later and express Russian economic growth laced with the widespread use of technology in the civilized world. Sure, they have political problems, but they aren't living in huts for shiits sake. It depends on what area of Russia they are in. If you are sitting in Chechnya (sp wrong I know), you are more concerned with safety and aren't bopping to an Ipod. But, if you are in Moscow or St. Petersburg, your life would probably be radically different.
It is the same as people in the US and how they allocate funds based on their socioeconomic status, just in a different political environment and scale.
Who cares if you fail the assignment, write a well developed essay to retort a dumb assignment. Maybe then your teacher will deep down and create real assignments.
October 10, 2011
D.A.T.A. @ 6:55 pm:
1. yes cuz and if you say no yo haven't been to Russia in a long time.
2.I believe in would be better because Russians they are all about having everything grand and in top style.
3. you would have less freedom of speech,other then that yes.
4.Russian population is more educated then the American,the system would require of you to work really hard.They cover the same stuff as here but two or three years faster.The educational system there is really intense, so you would have to do your h/w every day or get kicked out but usually Russians do their h/w and they know the value of education.
5.in Russia you can expect to be anything,the future is vast and the opportunities are endless.