What do the American Association of Pediatrics, Robin Henig of the New York Times, and Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind, have in common? They all believe in the power of play. Add to that list Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, who promotes play at children’s museums to ignite curiosity; and zoologist John Byers whose research sparked many other studies showing the impact of play on the growth of the cerebellum.
A recent report of the Alliance for Childhood states: “The power of play as the engine of learning in early childhood and as a vital force for young children’s physical, social, and emotional development is beyond question.” But playing is just as important for adults, as evidenced by a recent study published in The New England Journal of Medicine. Researchers followed 469 people older than 75 for five years; and found that those who played board, tile, and card games had a reduced risk of dementia.
The power of play is prominent in the findings of academicians, e.g., Hirsh-Pasek and Golinkoff’s Einstein Never Used Flashcards, business and sports professionals (Kevin Carroll’s Red Rubber Ball at Work: elevate your game through the hidden power of play), and prominent physicians like Hendrik Mamorare at the Sisulu Cardiac Centre in Africa who found that surgery demands similar skills—resourcefulness and imagination—to those he learned in childhood play.
Tina Bruce, professor at the London Metropolitan University, once said, “Play is like a reservoir full of water. The deeper the reservoir, the more water can be stored in it, and used during times of drought.”
Particularly during these times of economic drought, playing more—to enhance learning, memory, curiosity, and well-being—seems like a good, if not audacious, idea for Baltimore.
Thanks, Dr. Copeland for this audacious idea! I agree, and in terms of education, this belief in the power of play asks us to look at how we teach children, and make adjustments in the classroom. Interestingly, believing that engaged learning looks a lot like play, causes the “role of the teacher” to change. The teacher goes into the mode of facilitator, expert, stage mangager, archivist, and more. Next we just need to allow our assessments to reflect the kind of engaged learning we know is best! Thanks for this provoking article.
Bobbi Macdonald
Founder and President
City Neighbors Charter School
Play is good for adults as well as children. Play is improvisational, this providing the brain the ability to relax from pressures and just experiment. This gives a safe environment for new ideas and interactions – in a social environment.
I’m involved in a fitness movement that removes the ‘workout’ from the gym and puts it back as play, all while giving strength, stretching the body, providing cardio, and strength. http://www.exuberantanimal.com
There’s also a new book that has topped the sales charts: “Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul” by Dr. Stuart Brown, MD
(http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1583333339?ie=UTF8&tag=physmind-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1583333339)
It describes play’s use in the human and animal realms, what happens without play as well as with play – in adults and children. You can hear Dr. Brown speak on NPR: http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/play/
Lauren Muney
health, fitness and lifestyle coach
Baltimore MD
This is a great commentary. Play develops skills and attitudes in children and adults alike. We learn how abide by rules, strategize, work in teams, and accept defeat in a dignified fashion. It allows us to celebrate and appreciate effort as well as result.
Bravo! I am happy to hear that the current academic thinking bears out the fact that children passionately involved in their ‘Work’ play, is the real learning environment. As a former community organizer I do remember offering this solution, especially in education circles, of doing away with all academic school subjects except phys-ed and art solely predicated on this very idea that when a student has passion and with focused attention you can teach him or her anything, and those lessons get absorbed seemingly effortlessly. More play. Bravo!
Couldn’t agree more! Check out the play opportunity we are bringing to 10,000 kids a day in Baltimore:
http://www.playworksusa.org
I think you may be interested in this essay: http://blog.exuberantanimal.com/?p=319
Excerpted:
“The Greeks would be appalled at our inverted sense of priorities and our blatant disregard for the basics of healthy living. So would the ancient Chinese. So would any primal people.
For the Greeks and the Chinese, higher education was supposed to be an extension of lower education, a complement to the health of the physical body. It was never meant to be a substitute for human physicality or real-world knowledge. They had a sense of proportion in education; we do not.
We see the proof of our inverted priorities in the grim statistics on the state of the human body and the immense toll of highly-preventable lifestyle disease: According to the World Health Organization, at least 1.9 million people die each year as a result of physical inactivity.
So it’s time for an excavation. It’s time to dig down to the base of the pile and recover what’s been buried for far too long. So imagine if you will, an Institute of Lower Education, an educational program in the fundamentals of physical living. What would the curriculum look like? How would it conduct its mission?
The course catalog would include subjects such as “How to live in your body,” “How to prepare and eat real food,” “How to walk, run, dance and move,” “How to sit still, breathe and manage stress,” “How to hold a conversation, tell a story and hold a dialogue,” “How to build a sustainable lifestyle,” “How to understand and live in the natural world,” “How to create community” and “How to heal your body.”
slower ed
Not only would Lower Education offer instruction and experience in the fundamentals of physical and social living, it would also bring a completely different philosophy of education to bear. In “higher ed,” every action is plotted on a premeditated, scripted timetable, with courses and exams scheduled according to administrative calendars, not the pace of actual human learning or environment. In essence, higher education is a race with the calendar. Exam preparation resembles nothing so much as a cognitive speed-eating contest in which contestants gorge on textbooks and lecture notes until their brains are ready to burst.
In contrast, Lower Education would also be a form of Slower Education. Many of us are familiar with the Slow Food Movement, the cultural movement that began in Europe, a philosophy that emphasizes quality ingredients, pleasure and community. Some people have even proposed a Slow Fitness movement that would embrace similar principles.
Similarly, Slower Ed would move at the pace of the human body, the seasons and the environment. This is not just a romantic, hippie notion about rejecting modernity and returning to the earth, although that might very well be a good idea. Modern discoveries in neuroscience tell us conclusively that learning works best in oscillation and in harmony with circadian cycles. Instead of lunging desperately towards exams and cramming short-term memory to maximum capacity, Slower Ed would seek to synchronize instruction with both internal and external physiology (the environment)…”
I heartily agree with this audacious ideas. Relatedly, good spaces for play are also important. Ten years ago in Baltimore, a group of parent volunteers and volunteers from the Neighborhood Design Center surveyed City playgrounds and found that 80% of them were deteriorated to the point of being unsafe for play. In addition, when one child in Cherry Hill was asked what he thought of his playground, he replied, “It tells me what you think of me.” Since the playground is the one of the few places that adults generally make just for children, and the one in question, like so many others, was rusty and full of trash, these sites can either communicate concern or neglect.
Then, under the leadership of then Mayor O’Malley, the City invested in renewing its play spaces, replacing equipment and fall surfaces at more than 80 sites. Here’s hoping those sites are being maintained so that kids can see that adults care about them!
Carol Gilbert
former executive director, NDC
Absolutely. The concept of “play” and of “lower education” have wider meanings. People (children , teens and adults)need it both for its own sake and as an inducement to “higher education.”
“(S)lower ed” needs to be accompanied by a less structured/regimented approach to “higher ed.” If we want learning to be attractive and attracting then we must remember the customer as well as the product.
There is much concern about the loss of inventiveness in our society. Inventiveness comes from both knowledge and ease with knowledge. The “ease” relies both on data and openness to expanding its use. For openness, a broad sense of play and playfulness is required.
Confession — I do not know anything about the relevant research but have had to rely on reflection and play.
I am delighted to hear support for the power of play. The Alliance for Childhood is a wonderful resource for important information about children and their needs.
I hope we as a society can recognize that children in at risk populations need play as much as any children. (The simplicity of play as a tool of learning is lost on most children these days.) Creating safe, fun places to play, including in formal programs is more important than having the little ones sit down and read. The skill of reading naturally follows from play for fun. Through play the imagination develops, which is one of the most important building blocks for reading comprehension.
Play provides a non-threatening arena to practice social and academic skills. Since we know how important play is to health (adult and child) and to child development, why do educators eliminate recess from the curriculum? Is there any research that looks at the relationship between the growing achievement gap or the increase in violence and the decrease in opportunities for children to play? Its ironic that the best audacious ideas are the old ideas!