Math Learning with Guided Play
Learning through guided play has a more positive effect on younger children’s acquisition of important early math skills than traditional, direct instruction.
The 2022 research was conducted by academics at the University of Cambridge who gathered and assessed data from numerous, widespread studies and information sources. Collectively, these sources documented guided play’s impact on the learning of around 3,800 children through age eight.
What is Guided Play?
Guided play broadly refers to playful educational activities gently steered by an adult, yet give children the freedom to explore a learning goal in their own way.
“… guided play aims to allow children to engage with and learn from their environment while receiving adult support that is contingent on their individual needs and interests.”
- Skene et al., 2022
What is the Impact of Guided Play on Math Skills?
Learn more about:
Child Development | Early Math Foundations | Learning Through Play | Family Engagement | Educational Technology | Learning Frameworks
Playful math activities and math through play in preschool build number sense naturally. Overall, the meta-analysis found that a guided play approach to learning is as effective and sometimes more effective as more traditional, teacher-led methods in developing key skills: including literacy, numeracy, social skills and essential thinking skills known as executive functions.
The findings also suggest that children may master some skills – notably in math – more effectively through guided play than through other methods.
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References
Carlson, S. M. (2023). Let Me Choose: The Role of Choice in the Development of Executive Function Skills. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 32(3), 220–227. https://doi.org/10.1177/09637214231159052
Ernst J. R., Reynolds A. J. (2021). Preschool instructional approaches and age 35 health and well-being. Preventive Medicine Reports, 23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2021.101498
Skene K., O’Farrelly C. M., Byrne E. M., Kirby N., Stevens E. C., Ramchandani P. G. (2022). Can guidance during play enhance children’s learning and development in educational contexts? A systematic review and meta-analysis. Child Development, 93, 1162–1180. https://srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cdev.13730
