PLAY=LEARNING
Preparing the 21st century child for a global world
Professor Kathy Hirsh-Pasek - Temple University
Professor Roberta Golinkoff - University of Delaware
The Economic Imperative for
Quality Early Education
For every dollar spent on quality early
childhood education, society saves a
minimum of $7 and a maximum of $17
on each person.
- Galinsky (2006) Economic benefits of high quality early childhood
programs
WHY?
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On productivity grounds alone, it …makes
sound business sense to invest in young
children from disadvantaged environments…
early childhood interventions are much more
effective than remedies that attempt to
compensate for early neglect in later life.
Enriched pre-kindergarten programs…coupled
with home visitation programs, have a strong
track record of promoting achievement…,
improving labor market outcomes, and reducing
involvement with crime.
- Heckman & Masterov (2004) The productivity argument for investing in young children
But how do we create quality
early childhood
environments?
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Research suggests that high
quality early education
programs are characterized
by playful environments in
which children have strong
relationships with their
caregivers and are engaged
in active learning.
And this is true for all
children
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Rural and urban
Rich and poor
Across all ethnic groups
All children need high-quality early
education and the opportunity to learn
through play!
But whatever happened to
play?
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In 1981, a typical school-age child in the United
States had 40% of her time open for play. By
1997, the time for play had shrunk to 25%.
What percentage is it down to now??
We are wearing out our youngest
children by
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•Engaging in “drill-and-kill” activities rather
than playful and meaningful learning, even at
the youngest ages!
•Testing for “factoids” rather than real learning
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Expecting children to learn like adults has
consequences…
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Preschoolers in the U.S. are being expelled at 3
times the rate of children in K-12.
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Dr. Walter S. Gilliam, the principal investigator of the Yale
Child Study
In the 4 billion dollar tutoring business (still
growing), 20% of the children being tutored are
2-6 years old (Junior Kumon and Kaplan)
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National Public Radio June 6, 2005
And more…..
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“Educational” toys have become a billion
dollar industry, much of it promoting “oneright-answer” learning and little creativity
Assessment has become a huge industry
in the U.S.as accountability becomes the
norm and learning is defined through a
narrow lens
We are confusing
learning with memorization
and
academic achievement with success
Teachers are forced to choose between
And parents are barraged with books that
speak to their newly created anxieties
about whether their children will succeed
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As a society, we have a choice
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ROBOTS?
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CREATIVE THINKERS?
The 21st Century Child
Has facts at her
fingertips.
To be a lifelong learner,
and a productive citizen,
she must become a
creative thinker who can
use information in
innovative ways.
It is critical to find some balance
between the desire to breed little “Einsteins” and
the need to foster play as a foundation for
academic and social learning.
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How did we move from a childhood
dominated by play to one that is more
skill oriented?
We believe that
Well-intentioned parents and teachers
Have been misled by . . .
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Exaggerated science
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Societal forces
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Marketing ploys
Exaggerated Science
Remember the
“Mozart Effect”?
The REAL evidence
Professor Hetland (Harvard):
examined 67 studies on the “Mozart
Effect” with 4,564 adults
“the existence of a short-lived effect by
which music enhances . . . performance
in adults does not lead to the
conclusion that exposing children to
classical music will raise their
intelligence.”
Societal Forces
Even comic strips reflect our insatiable appetite for
products that will boost IQ and save our children
from the fate of being *gasp* “normal.”
From Baby Blues
Reprinted with permission of King Features Syndicate
Marketing Ploys
In this talk we will
demonstrate . . .
What 30 years of developmental
science has taught us about how
to create lifelong learners.
The accumulated evidence
Asuggests:
talk in three parts
1. Early education is important but . . .
- How you learn is as important as what you learn.
2. E.Q. is as important as I.Q.
3. Each of you has a role to play in helping
children become life-long learners.
- You are the village
Part 1
1.
What’s the evidence that early education is
important ?
2. E.Q. is as important as I.Q.
3. Each of you has a role to play in helping
children become life-long learners.
- You are the village
Three kinds of studies illustrate this
point:
Their goal?
To understand the
achievement gap
The findings…

In an average year, children hear…
11 million words - Professional homes
6 million words - Working class homes
3 million words - Welfare homes

By age 3 these children had HUGE differences in vocabulary and in IQ
scores
Early Head Start has made a tremendous difference here in helping all
children hear more language and use more language!
Early learning
matters!
We see this in the Head Start data
too…
Early Head Start(2002):
17 programs, 3001 families, random assignment study
Head Start Impact Study (2005):
84 programs, 5000 children, random assignment study
The Positive Results
Early Head Start(2002):
The programs: Center based, Home-based, Mixed approach
The findings: Higher Mental Age scores
Higher language scores
> attention; < aggression
> parent involvement, e.g., reading
Positive Results Cont.
Head Start Impact Study (2005):
The programs: Head Start program vs. Head Start-eligible community
The findings:
Head Start children had:
> pre-reading scores
> pre-writing scores
> vocabulary
< problem behaviors
The positive effect that Head Start attendance has
on pre-reading skills is comparable to, or larger
than, the effect that homework has on school
achievement, the effect that lead poisoning has on
diminished IQ scores, and the effect that asbestos
exposure has on cancer occurrence (Phillips &
McCartney, 2005).
And in an intervention study that
spans into adulthood…
Campbell & Ramey
These researchers asked:
How much can cognitive development be
enhanced by
environmental stimulation?
Loooooong-term intervention study
•Children were either in a high quality
child care environment or an
ordinary environment at age 5.
•Children followed until 21 years of age!
•What they found might shock you
Reading scores over time
Math Achievement over time
Percent ever attending a 4 year college
The bottom line?
Early experience matters
BUT….
How you learn is as important as
what you learn
Preschool children in highly academic, “drill and
kill” learning environments are:
More aggressive
More anxious
More perfectionistic
Than those who learn in playful environments
where learning is meaningful.
Play = Learning
In reading…
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Telling stories
Word play
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(what rhymes with “hat”?)
Singing songs
Dialogical reading
Reading product labels
Engaging conversations
Many of these are already included in the Virginia Foundations for Early Learning
READING IS NOT
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Phonics without fun
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Simply memorizing the alphabet or vocabulary
words
These do NOT build great readers
Why?
Learning works best in
meaningful contexts!
In math
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Finding patterns
Dividing candy
Sorting trail mix
“I spy”
Noticing more and less
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(“She got more ice cream”)
Lemonade stands
Playing cards
MATH for Preschoolers
IS NOT
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Memorizing equations
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1+1=2
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Flashcards of numbers
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Computer software for toddlers
Even in physics?
There are lessons learned

When you throw a
ball?

Or push it to the front
of the room?
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Or make it fly.
As Einstein once said…
"The only thing
that interferes
with my learning
is my education."
How you learn is as important as what you
learn
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PLAY = LEARNING
Part 2
1. How you learn is as important as what
you learn.
2. E.Q. is as important as I.Q.
3.Each of us has a role to play in helping
children become intelligent and happy.
A tale of two Spocks
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Dr. Benjamin Spock got it all along: social and
emotional skills matter -- a lot
Mr. Spock did not get it: He is all intelligence and
no social skills
Scientific evidence also points to the power of
social skills for emotional health and
intellectual growth!
“From the last two decades of
research, it is unequivocally clear
that children’s emotional and
behavioral adjustmentRaver,
is 2003
important for their chances of
early school success.”
For example…

Parental talk about emotions creates children who are
more sensitive to others’ emotions.
“How would you feel if she took your bear?”
Identifying emotion is important for
understanding yourself and others.
EQ (emotional intelligence) is
important for…

Building moral character in children who learn
right from wrong

An understanding of who we are, and

An understanding of others
AND
Believe it or not….it is critical for
SUCCESS IN SCHOOL AND IN THE WORK FORCE
EQ does not develop on its own
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Children learn it from adults
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Children learn it from other children
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Children learn it through PLAY
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Part 3
1.Early education is important but . . .
- How you learn is more important than what you
learn.
2. E.Q. is as important as I.Q.
3.Each of us has a role to play in helping
children become happy and intelligent.
‘It takes a village to raise a
child’
Ancient African Proverb
“Learning is the heartbeat of a strong society.”
Andrea Camp
Family
School
The Arts
Library
Media
Religion
Museum
A Huge GAP
What we know in
science…
What we do
It is time to bridge the GAP!
What we know…
What we do
The science seems to…

Fly in the face of a global world that thinks
Faster is better
 Every moment must count
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Yet there is virtual consensus in our field of
child psychology that children do not thrive
when they are hurried with no time to
explore!
Thus, in Einstein Never Used Flash Cards
We,
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Bridge the gap between
science and practice
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Show how children really learn
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Give real life examples that
can be used in the school
room and in the living room (as
well as in the library, museum
and media)
To reach her full potential as a
lifelong learner . . .
The 21st century child
must do more than just
learn the facts; she
needs to integrate
them into a creative
framework that meets
the demands of our
global society.
To reach her potential as a
productive citizen…
she needs to have a high-quality
early education that will prepare her
for the workplace of tomorrow.
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We know what it takes to raise
intelligent, well-adjusted, successful
children.
It is incumbent upon us to put
science into practice!