̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Paul Ramchandani

Learning through 'guided' play can be as effective as adult-led instruction

tdk25 — Wed, 12 Jan 2022 09:01:39 +0000

Teaching younger children through 'guided' play can support key aspects of their learning and development at least as well, and sometimes better, than traditional, direct instruction, according to a new analysis.

̽��ֱ��research by academics at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge gathered and assessed data from numerous, widespread studies and information sources, which collectively documented guided play’s impact on the learning of around 3,800 children aged three to eight. Guided play broadly refers to playful educational activities which, although gently steered by an adult, give children the freedom to explore a learning goal in their own way.

Overall, the study found that this playful approach to learning can be just as effective as more traditional, teacher-led methods in developing key skills: including literacy, numeracy, social skills and essential thinking skills known as executive functions. ̽��ֱ��findings also suggest that children may master some skills – notably in maths – more effectively through guided play than other methods.

̽��ֱ��relative merits of play-based learning compared with more formal styles of instruction is a long-standing debate in education, but most of that discussion has focused on ‘free’ open-ended play.

̽��ֱ��new study is the first systematic attempt to examine the effects of guided play specifically, which is distinctive because it uses games or playful techniques to steer children towards specific learning goals, with support from a teacher or another adult using open-ended questions and prompts.

This may, for example, involve creating imagination-based games which require children to read, write or use maths; or incorporating simple early learning skills – such as counting – into play. Such methods are common in pre-school education, but are used less in primary teaching – a deficit which has been criticised by some researchers.

̽��ֱ��analysis was carried out by academics from the Play in Education, Development and Learning (PEDAL) Centre at the Faculty of Education, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge.

Dr Elizabeth Byrne, a co-author, said: “It’s only recently that researchers have started to conceptualise learning through play as something that exists on a spectrum. At one end you have free play, where children decide what to do with minimal adult involvement; at the other is traditional, direct instruction, where an adult tells a child what to do and controls the learning activity.”

“Guided play falls somewhere in between. It describes playful activities which are scaffolded around a learning goal, but allow children to try things out for themselves. If children are given the freedom to explore, but with some gentle guidance, it can be very good for their education – perhaps in some cases better than direct instruction.”

Paul Ramchandani, Professor of Play in Education, Development and Learning at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, said: “ ̽��ֱ��argument is sometimes made that play, while beneficial, adds little to children’s education. In fact, although there are still some big questions about how we should use guided play in classrooms, there is promising evidence that it actively enhances learning and development.”

Guided play has rarely been systematically studied in its own right, but the team found 39 studies, undertaken between 1977 and 2020, which had captured some information about its value compared either with free play or direct instruction, usually in the course of wider research.

By combining the results of studies which looked at similar types of learning outcome, the researchers were able to calculate how much of an overall positive or negative effect guided play has on different aspects of numeracy, literacy, executive functions or socioemotional skills, compared with other approaches. These effect sizes were measured using Hedge’s g; a widely-used statistical system in which a result of 0 represents no comparative gain, and 0.2, 0.5 and 0.8 represent small, medium and large effects respectively.

̽��ֱ��results offer significant evidence that guided play has a greater positive impact on some areas of children’s numeracy than direct instruction. For example, guided play’s comparative effect size on early maths skills was 0.24, and 0.63 on shape knowledge. There was also evidence that guided play better supports the development of children’s cognitive ability to switch between tasks.

Alongside other positive findings, there was also no statistically significant evidence that guided play is less effective than direct instruction on any of the learning outcomes studied. In short, guided playful activities tend at the very least to produce roughly the same learning benefits as more traditional, teacher-led approaches.

̽��ֱ��researchers offer various possible explanations about why guided play may improve numeracy in particular. One possibility is that the gentle prompting that guided play entails may be a particularly effective way of teaching children to work through the logical steps that maths-based tasks often involve.

Equally, the fact that guided play often involves hands-on learning may be important. “Children often struggle with mathematical concepts because they are abstract,” Byrne said. “They become easier to understand if you are actually using them in an imaginary game or playful context. One reason play matters may be because it supports mental visualisation.”

More broadly, the authors suggest that guided play may influence other characteristics which have a positive, knock-on effect on educational progress – enhancing, for example, children’s motivation, persistence, creativity and confidence.

Dr Christine O’Farrelly, a Senior Research Associate at the Faculty of Education, said: “It’s likely that playful activities have the sort of positive impact we saw in our analysis partly because they are acting on other skills and processes which underpin learning. If we can understand more about how guided play shapes learning in this way, we will be able to identify more precisely how it could be used to make a really meaningful difference in schools.”

̽��ֱ��study is published in the journal Child Development.

Play-based learning may also have a more positive effect on younger children’s acquisition of important early maths skills compared with traditional, direct instruction.

If children are given the freedom to explore, but with some gentle guidance, it can be very good for their education – perhaps in some cases better than direct instruction

Elizabeth Byrne

Faculty of Education

Researchers and children at the PEDAL Centre during the Cambridge Festival

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Supporting mums’ mental health strengthens ‘protective’ playmate role with children

tdk25 — Fri, 07 May 2021 07:58:44 +0000

̽��ֱ��finding comes from a granular analysis of 3,600 five-second clips, which researchers took from recordings of 60 mother-toddler pairs playing together. Mothers with minimal anxiety were more likely to play ‘pretending’ games with their children. Similarly, even when compared with the children of mothers with only moderate levels of anxiety or depression, those whose mothers had no such mental health challenges spent around 10% more time engaging in make-believe play.

̽��ֱ��study focused on pretend play because this helps young children to develop essential social and emotional skills. If those skills are less well-developed, they may experience difficulties as they get older: for example, when trying to make friends or settle in at school. This can, in turn, impact further on behavioural development.

Tellingly in this context, the researchers also assessed the children for signs of behavioural problems two years after the first part of the study, and found some evidence that these were less common among children whose mothers engaged in more pretend play when they were toddlers.

Dr Zhen Rao, from the Centre for Research on Play in Education, Development and Learning (PEDAL), at the Faculty of Education, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, said: “Parents are usually their child’s first play partners, so they fulfil an essential role, through pretend play, in helping children to learn skills like how to communicate, control their emotions, and co-operate with others. ̽��ֱ��associations we found show that supporting families affected by mental health challenges may also enhance children’s access to this important form of play.”

Paul Ramchandani, Professor of Play in Education, Development and Learning at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, said: “After more than a year of the COVID-19 pandemic and repeated lockdowns, we know that parental anxiety is rising. Now, even more than usual, it is critical that parents who are struggling with depression or anxiety receive appropriate support. As this study indicates, in the long run, it could significantly benefit their children, as well as them.”

According to Public Health England, around one in three children live with at least one parent reporting symptoms of emotional distress. Little is known, however, about how this affects parent-child play, and whether a resulting deficit in certain types of play affects the child’s development.

For the study, researchers worked with the families of children aged between 24 and 36 months. All of the children involved were selected because routine health assessments had indicated that they were potentially vulnerable to developing behavioural problems.

̽��ֱ��parents were given a bag of toys and asked to play with their child ‘as they normally would’. Five-minute video recordings were made of each mother-toddler pair, and these were then split into five-second clips. ̽��ֱ��researchers documented instances of pretend play by both the mothers and children: for example, moments when they pretended to be eating food using a toy picnic set, or created make-believe characters using puppets.

̽��ֱ��research also used a series of standard questionnaires, both at the outset and two years later, to measure maternal depression, maternal anxiety, and child behaviour problems. Anxiety was scored on a scale of 0-21 and depression on a scale of 0-27. Behaviour problems were documented using the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL).

In general, the researchers found that when mothers engage in more make-believe play, their children do as well. They also found that mothers with higher levels of anxiety do this less, although there was no similar association among mothers with depression.

̽��ֱ��results also suggested, however, that children engage in more make-believe play if their mother has lower depression or anxiety. Overall, child pretend play fell by 1% for every unit increase measured in maternal anxiety, and similarly by 1% for every unit increase in maternal depression. Children whose mothers had ‘moderate’ anxiety (10-14 on the 0-21 scale) therefore typically engaged in imaginative pretend play for around 10% less time than those of mothers with no anxiety issues.

“This means that if there are two mothers who pretend play with the same frequency, but one has higher anxiety or depression level, the child of that parent will tend to engage in less pretend play,” Rao said.

̽��ֱ��study also found some limited evidence that children whose mothers engaged in more pretend play were less likely to exhibit behavioural problems two years later. ̽��ֱ��children’s CBCL scores at the two-year follow-up fell slightly for each 1% increase documented in the mother’s pretend play at 24-36 months. This suggests that pretend play may be a protective factor preventing the development of behavioural problems in children.

Further research is required to explain exactly why maternal depression and anxiety may cause children to engage in less make-believe play, but there are several potential explanations. For example, parents struggling with mental health challenges may be less likely to notice when a child is trying to engage them in a pretend activity, or may simply feel too negative to join in.

While the researchers stress that pretend play is only one mechanism through which maternal mental health may impact on children’s outcomes, it may also be relatively easy to address. “Ideally, of course, we want to reduce anxiety and depression in the mothers, but we may also be able to provide advice or tools which support pretend play and reduce the risk of adverse outcomes for their children,” Rao said.

̽��ֱ��findings are published in the journal BMC Psychology.

Helping parents with depression or anxiety could also improve their ability to engage in potentially ‘protective’ forms of play with their children that can reduce the risk of behavioural problems, new research suggests.

If there are two mothers who pretend play with the same frequency, but one has higher anxiety or depression level, the child of that parent will tend to engage in less pretend play

Zhen Rao

Marisa Howenstine via Unsplash

Children playing with a parent

Yes

Playtime with Dad may improve children’s self-control

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Jun 2020 07:58:06 +0000

̽��ֱ��study, by academics at the Faculty of Education, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and the LEGO Foundation, pulled together fragmentary evidence from the past 40 years to understand more about how fathers play with their children when they are very young (ages 0 to 3). ̽��ֱ��researchers wanted to find out whether father-child play differs from the way children play with their mothers, and its impact on children’s development.

Although there are many similarities between fathers and mothers overall, the findings suggest that fathers engage in more physical play even with the youngest children, opting for activities such as tickling, chasing, and piggy-back rides.

This seems to help children learn to control their feelings. It may also make them better at regulating their own behaviour later on, as they enter settings where those skills are important – especially school.

Paul Ramchandani, Professor of Play in Education, Development and Learning at the Faculty of Education, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, said: “It’s important not to overstate the impact of father-child play as there are limits to what the research can tell us, but it does seem that children who get a reasonable amount of playtime with their father benefit as a group.”

“At a policy level, this suggests we need structures that give fathers, as well as mothers, time and space to play with their children during those critical early years. Even today, it’s not unusual for fathers who take their child to a parent-toddler group, for example, to find that they are the only father there. A culture shift is beginning to happen, but it needs to happen more.”

Parent-child play in the first years of life is known to support essential social, cognitive and communication skills, but most research focuses on mothers and infants. Studies which investigate father-child play are often small, or do so incidentally. “Our research pulled together everything we could find on the subject, to see if we could draw any lessons,” Ramchandani said.

̽��ֱ��Cambridge review used data from 78 studies, undertaken between 1977 and 2017 – most of them in Europe or North America. ̽��ֱ��researchers analysed the combined information for patterns about how often fathers and children play together, the nature of that play, and any possible links with children’s development.

On average, they found that most fathers play with their child every day. Even with the smallest children, however, father-child play tends to be more physical. With babies, that may simply mean picking them up or helping them to gently raise their limbs and exert their strength; with toddlers, fathers typically opt for boisterous, rough-and-tumble play, like chasing games.

In almost all the studies surveyed, there was a consistent correlation between father-child play and children’s subsequent ability to control their feelings. Children who enjoyed high-quality playtime with their fathers were less likely to exhibit hyperactivity, or emotional and behavioural problems. They also appeared to be better at controlling their aggression, and less prone to lash out at other children during disagreements at school.

̽��ֱ��reason for this may be that the physical play fathers prefer is particularly well-suited for developing these skills.

“Physical play creates fun, exciting situations in which children have to apply self-regulation,” Ramchandani said. “You might have to control your strength, learn when things have gone too far – or maybe your father steps on your toe by accident and you feel cross!”

“It’s a safe environment in which children can practise how to respond. If they react the wrong way, they might get told off, but it’s not the end of the world – and next time they might remember to behave differently.”

̽��ֱ��study also found some evidence that father-child play gradually increases through early childhood, then decreases during ‘middle childhood’ (ages 6 to 12). This, again, may be because physical play is particularly important for helping younger children to negotiate the challenges they encounter when they start to explore the world beyond their own home, in particular at school.

Despite the benefits of father-child play, the authors stress that children who only live with their mother need not be at a disadvantage.

“One of the things that our research points to time and again is the need to vary the types of play children have access to, and mothers can, of course, support physical play with young children as well,” Ramchandani added. “Different parents may have slightly different inclinations when it comes to playing with children, but part of being a parent is stepping outside your comfort zone. Children are likely to benefit most if they are given different ways to play and interact.”

Children whose fathers make time to play with them from a very young age may find it easier to control their behaviour and emotions as they grow up, research suggests.

Physical play creates fun, exciting situations in which children have to apply self-regulation

Paul Ramchandani

Family Equality via Flickr

Portrait of playful girl covering father's eyes in park

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School’s in: how to make the most of home-schooling in lockdown

ta385 — Thu, 30 Apr 2020 13:00:00 +0000

Five Cambridge education experts share tips, free resources (and moral support) to help you make the most of home-schooling in lockdown.

Gardeners and carpenters: the ‘skill’ of parenting

Anonymous — Thu, 08 Nov 2018 09:20:41 +0000

Professors Claire Hughes and Paul Ramchandani have spent their adult lives studying children. Both are fascinated by the complicated jigsaw of early child development. “Such a lot happens in pregnancy and the first few years of life: the child’s brain and physical development, the acquisition of new skills and knowledge, it’s utterly transforming,” says Ramchandani, Cambridge’s first LEGO Professor of Play.

But while we know much about what goes on, we understand far less about how the outside world shapes this transformation – knowledge we need as parents, practitioners and policymakers to provide environments that help children thrive.

It’s clear, for instance, that our mothers, fathers and families affect our lives and the people we become, but has understanding the importance of parent–child relationships led to modern-day parenting approaches that stifle rather than help a child to flourish?

“Think carpenters and gardeners,” says Hughes, referring to a book by American psychologist Alison Gopnik published in 2016. “Gopnik’s theory is that parents who behave like carpenters mould their child by a deliberate, organised and focused influence on their development; those who behave like gardeners create a safe, nurtured and free environment that helps their child to shape themself.”

Hughes’ work looks at how parents talk to children in their early years and what this means for how children develop some of the most crucial skills of their lives. Since she began her academic career as an undergraduate in Cambridge 30 years ago, her focus has shifted from clinical groups, including children with autism, to studying social influences on two key psychological constructs – theory of mind and executive function.

Psychologists use the term theory of mind, or mind reading, to describe awareness that other people have thoughts, feelings, intentions and desires. Most children develop theory of mind around the age of four. “Without it you can’t joke, you can’t lie, you can’t get sarcasm – the many social things that hinge on what others say and mean to say,” she says.

As a result, theory of mind is pivotal to children’s ability to interact and form social relationships, but it doesn’t act alone. Along with theory of mind comes executive function – all those higher-order thinking skills such as planning, adapting plans when situations change and working memory.

“These two things go hand in glove,” explains Hughes, whose research is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. “You need good executive function to acquire a theory of mind, because how we process information from others depends on being able to keep track of information and shift attention, and we know that poor executive function often leads to behavioural problems, which can in turn affect children’s ability to learn from social situations.”

By following a group of 117 children from toddlerhood to adolescence, and developing a new battery of tests – including an innovative ‘silent film’ task based on Harold Lloyd’s 1923 comedy Safety Last!, developed with one of her former students, Dr Rory Devine – Hughes has been able to gain a deeper understanding of how family environments shape young children’s theory of mind.

Her studies show that how parents talk to toddlers – in particular the extent to which they use words such as ‘think’, ‘believe’, ‘understand’ and other so-called ‘mental state talk’ – predicts how well children do at the silent film task when they reach the age of ten.

One of her new studies, which involves more than 400 first-time families in the UK, USA and Netherlands, aims to tease out differences in the way that fathers and mothers talk to their children. “We’re filming children at home at four, 12 and 24 months and we are now following them up at nursery at the age of three,” says Hughes. “It’s a big study, producing very rich data, and we’re using some interesting technology – including a device that’s like a talk pedometer – to get at children’s linguistic environments.”

Such detailed, long-term studies could, she hopes, lead to simple and effective tools to help parents foster their children’s theory of mind skills. Together with Professors Lynne Murray and Peter Cooper at the ̽��ֱ�� of Reading, Hughes is testing a South African intervention based on reading picture books, something that’s on the decline within UK families.

“It’s been a revelation to me to see how hard some parents find it to read a picture book. Some literally just read what’s on the page, and if there are no words they just show the picture,” she says. “ ̽��ֱ��South African study shows that in ten weeks you can take parents who aren’t very good at this type of reading and show them how to get their child involved.”

Testing new interventions is also central to Ramchandani’s research, not least because as well as an academic he’s also a practising psychiatrist. “I come from a medical background where you want to learn stuff so that you can do something about it,” he says.

He’s currently leading a randomised controlled trial with parents from London, Peterborough, Oxford and Hertfordshire to see if video feedback is a viable way of promoting positive child development. Over six sessions, parents are filmed playing with their toddler and the videos are then used to help parents notice – and respond appropriately to – their child’s communication.

One of his long-standing areas of interest is the role fathers play in the lives of their young children, something he feels has often been overlooked. “There are obvious reasons for this – mothers are more often the primary carers and theories that have dominated psychology have revolved around the mother–child relationship – plus, over the past 30 years, most research on children’s relationships with parents has focused on mothers,” says Ramchandani.

Before arriving in Cambridge in early 2018, he conducted the first major study of depression in fathers, which revealed that paternal – as well as maternal – depression has an impact on child outcomes.

“This study got me thinking about the family constellation, about how mothers and fathers influence children, and how children influence parents too, which led to my interest in play as one aspect of those relationships.”

Since then, he’s studied the way fathers play with their babies and found that when fathers were more physically and emotionally engaged, children did better behaviourally and cognitively. “It’s striking to see how different fathers can have very different styles of interacting with their babies, even though they are very young, with some getting stuck in and leading the play, and others watching and following their child’s lead more”.

Ramchandani is Director of Cambridge’s Centre for Research on Play in Education, Development and Learning, and with the team will be looking at an even wider field of play – studying its role in learning and social development, and finding the best way of measuring playfulness itself.

“Healthy child development is a fascinating and complicated picture: a jigsaw comprising fathers, mothers, siblings and the wider world, and involving language, play, physical and psychological health and more,” adds Ramchandani. “By getting a clearer picture of how it works, we have the best chance of helping to improve children’s lives around the world.”

Inset image: read more about our research on the topic of children in the ̽��ֱ��'s research magazine; download a pdf; view on Issuu.

Wanting your child to have the best chance in life is natural for any parent. But by focusing too much on the ‘skill’ of parenting, are we losing sight of things that matter more – how we talk to and play with children? Cambridge researchers are examining how parents can best help their children in their early years through nurturing rather than shaping.

Healthy child development is a fascinating and complicated picture. By getting a clearer picture of how it works, we have the best chance of helping to improve children’s lives around the world

Paul Ramchandani

Sushobhan Badhai

Yes

World-leading academic appointed to lead play research centre

pbh25 — Thu, 25 May 2017 23:01:00 +0000

̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge has appointed a world-leading researcher as the first LEGO Professor of Play in Education, Development and Learning.

̽��ֱ��Centre for Research on Play in Education, Development and Learning (PEDAL) was established in 2015 with a £4 million grant from the LEGO Foundation that also funded the leadership role that will be taken up by Professor Paul Ramchandani.

Having spent the past 15 years pursuing research focused on child development Ramchandani, who currently leads the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Research Unit at Imperial College, London, will take up his role at PEDAL in January next year.

Professor Geoff Hayward, Head of the Faculty of Education, said: “Professor Ramchandani has an outstanding research record of international stature. He has the vision, leadership, experience and enthusiasm that PEDAL needs, and we are delighted that he is joining us. This is an exciting area of research which we feel will throw new light on the importance of play in early education.”

PEDAL is examining the importance of play in education globally to produce research which supports excellence in education so that children are equipped with 21st century skills like problem solving, team work and self-control.

̽��ֱ��work of the centre, based at the ̽��ֱ��’s Faculty of Education, is currently focused on three strands of research:

Establishing a long-term study of the features of home and school that promote children’s playfulness, and the outcomes of early play experience for learning and emotional well-being
Developing an understanding of the underlying brain processes involved in play, and how to measure playfulness
Devising and evaluating play-based teaching approaches

Part of the Professor’s role heading up the centre will involve translating the research into hard evidence for international and national bodies as they produce policy around children’s right to play.

Professor Ramchandani said: “I am delighted to be taking up this role at Cambridge, and working with those at PEDAL on the challenge of finding the best evidence on where play fits in children’s development and education and how that can be used to give children the best start in life.

“Everyone has an opinion about what role play should have in early education and there is some wonderful research, but there are also big gaps in our knowledge. We need the best evidence possible in order to inform the vital decisions that are made about children’s education and development and I look forward to taking that work forward together with colleagues at Cambridge.”

Professor Anna Vignoles, acting head of PEDAL until Ramchandani takes up the new post, said: “ ̽��ֱ��value of play is relatively under-researched. You have people who are claiming that it enhances learning, that it’s important, that it’s good for children’s wellbeing. All of that might be true, but actually there’s remarkably little evidence for that. ̽��ֱ��aim of the PEDAL centre is to conduct rigorous research into the importance of play and how playful learning can be used to improve students’ outcomes.”

Bo Stjerne Thomsen, Global Head of Research, the LEGO Foundation said: “There is a great need for establishing play as a central arena for learning and development in the minds and actions of those influencing children’s lives. PEDAL’s research is hugely important in that regard, and we’re excited that Professor Ramchandani will be taking the helm and join the efforts to underscore the importance of children’s learning through play.”

LEGO^® Professor of Play in Education, Development and Learning announced.

We need the best evidence possible in order to inform the vital decisions that are made about children’s education and development and I look forward to taking that work forward together with colleagues at Cambridge.

Professor Paul Ramchandani

Ed Schipul

Play

Further information:

Professor Paul Ramchandani:

Ramchandani is currently Professor of Child and Adolescent Mental Health at Imperial College. He also works as a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist in the NHS with CNWL NHS Foundation Trust. He undertook his medical studies in Southampton before obtaining a degree in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He then completed training in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and obtained a DPhil from Oxford ̽��ֱ�� in 2005.
Ramchandani’s research is focussed on early child development and particularly on the prevention of emotional and behavioural problems in the early years of life.

PEDAL:

̽��ֱ��guiding focus of the centre’s work is to develop substantial and compelling research concerned with the role of play and playfulness in young children’s learning and development, and the potential of play-based approaches within educational contexts. ̽��ֱ��kinds of skills and accomplishments that are widely recognised as being vital components of 21st century educational provision, including critical thinking, problem-solving, interpersonal abilities, emotional resilience and creativity, have all been linked theoretically and empirically to playfulness and playful learning.

PEDAL Research Strands:

What is play?

Play is a very difficult concept to pin down scientifically, and many different definitions and measures of play are in use in education and in research. This makes it difficult to rigorously evaluate claims that have been made about the role of play in children’s social development. Two projects within the PEDAL centre examine play scientifically and help us understand the nature of play in early childhood.

̽��ֱ��Children’s Relationships with Peers through Play (CHIRPP) project, overseen by Dr Jenny Gibson and Dr Elian Fink investigates how play could support children to develop the social skills needed to learn and flourish at school. This project aims to establish a framework for measuring play taking into account different perspectives of play, including those of children, parents, teachers and observations of actual play interactions between peers at school. We are also measuring other aspects of child development relating to social skills (such as language and emotional understanding). By doing this we can establish whether or not play makes an independent contribution to social skills and school readiness during the first years of formal schooling. CHIRPP follows children over the first three years of primary school from Reception to Year 2. This enables researchers to test their predictions about how play may contribute to social development in the longer term. So far, over 240 children have taken part in this study. Our preliminary findings from reception-aged children indicate there is indeed an association between play and social development; however we will need to use the follow-up data to work out the nature of any causal associations.

In addition to CHIRPP, Dr Jenny Gibson’s HOPSCoTCh project (Hi-tech Observation of Play and Social Communication Trajectories in Children) comes at understanding play from another angle. This project is designed to help us understand more about children’s behaviour in school playgrounds. Use of GPS technology to track children’s social and physical activity at playtime provides data to help understand how children use their physical space and interact with each other during outdoor play.

How does play develop?

PEDAL is developing a longitudinal study of playfulness, which will begin with children at birth (and perhaps even before) and follow them through to early adulthood. We hope this will make a significant contribution to advance our understanding of the development of playful behaviours as well as their impact on later life.

Behind such a long-term research project is an extensive literature review of previous studies, as well as analysis of existing data collected by other longitudinal research projects. For example, the team has carried out a systematic review of studies of play in early childhood, concentrating specifically on the way play has been measured. Also, since parent-child interactions are crucial in early life, PEDAL has developed a scale to measure how playful are parents with their babies, observing both mums and dads interacting with their infants at 4 and 14 months of age. Understanding how to measure playful behaviours and observing them from birth throughout childhood will help us unpack the role of play on children’s wider development.

This research strand will be developed by the new Professor of Play, working alongside Dr Marisol Basilio and colleagues in the Department of Psychology.

Is there a role for play in schools?

Dr Sara Baker and Dr Audrey Kittredge are developing and testing playful approaches to teaching in early childhood classrooms, based on current research from the field of cognitive developmental psychology and applied in practice by working alongside a team of teachers.

Acknowledging there is a growing demand for children to master ‘21st century skills’ (to be independent, creative thinkers and problem solvers, as well as good collaborators and communicators), Sara and Audrey’s research is exploring how schools can foster these skills, and whether a more playful environment and approach to teaching leads to better learning outcomes.

Though these ‘21st century skills’ are relevant to any discipline, Sara and Audrey’s research focuses on flexible problem solving in early years science learning, and it is intended that once the research program is complete, a professional development programme for teachers will be developed to share key findings and enhance the repertoire of teaching approaches that primary school teachers require.

PEDAL Hub

PEDAL Hub is a free online, searchable database of the most current and authoritative play research as well as other relevant materials and media. Led by Dr Melissa Scarpate, PEDAL Hub will be launched in the autumn of 2017.

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

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