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Let the KidsLearnThroughPlay

LIE
BJORN

ByDAVIDKOHN
MAY16,2015

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TWENTYyearsago,kids in preschool,kindergartenand evenfirst and second

gradespentmuch of their time playing:building withblocks, drawingor creating
But increasingly,these
imaginaryworlds,in their own headsor with classmates.
activitiesarebeingabandonedfor the teacher-led,didacticinstructiontypically
usedin highergrades.In manyschools,formal educationnow startsat age4 or S.
Without this earlystart,the thinking goes,kids risk falling behindin crucial
subjectssuchasreadingandmath, and may nevercatchup.
The ideaseemsobvious:Startingsoonermeanslearningmore;the earlybird
catchesthe worm.
and educatorssaythereis
But a growinggroupof scientists,educationresearchers
little evidencethat this approachimproveslong-termachievement;in fact, it may
havethe oppositeeffect,potentiallyslowingemotionaland cognitivedevelopment,
stressand perhapsevensouringkids' desireto iearn.
causingunnecessary

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OneexpertI talkedto recently,Nanry Carlsson-Paige,

a professoremeritaof
educationat LesleyUniversityinCambridge,Mass.,describesthis trend asa
"profoundmisunderstanding
of howchildrenleam.."Sheregularlytoursschools,
and seesyoungerstudentsflounderingto comprehendinstruction:"I've seenit
many,manytimesin many manyclassrooms- kidsbeing told to sit at a tableand
just copyletters.Theydont knowwhat they'redoing.It's heartbreaking."
The stakesin this debateareconsiderable.
As the skepticsof teacher-ledearly
learningseeit, that kind of educationwill fail to producepeoplewho candiscover
and innovate,andwill merelyproducepeoplewho arelikely to be passive
consumersof information,followersrather than inventors.Which kind of citizen
do we want for the 2$t century?
In the United States,moreacademicearlyeducationhasspreadrapidly in the past
decade.Programslike No Child Left Behindand Raceto the Top havecontributed
to more testing and more teacher-directedinstruction.
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Anotherreason:the CommonCoreStateStandards,a detailedsetof educational

guidelinesmeantto ensurethat studentsreachcertainbenchmarksbetween
kindergartenand rzth grade.Currently,4gstatesand the Distriet of Colurnbiahave
adoptedboth the math andlanguagestandards.
The shift toward didactic approaehesis an attempt to solvetwo pressingproblems.
By manymeasures,
Americaneducationalachievementlagsbehindthat of other
countries;at the sametime, millions of Americanstudents,manyof them poor and
from minoritybackgrounds,remainfar belownationalnorrns.Advocatessaythat
startingformal educationearlierwill help closethesedual gaps.

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But thesemoves,while well intentioned,aremisguided.Severalcountries,

includingFinlandand Estonia,don't start compulsoryeducationuntil the ageof 7.
In the mostrecentcomparisonof nationaleducationallevels,the Programfor
InternationalStudentAssessment,
both countriesrankedsignificantlyhigherthan
the United Stateson math, scienceand reading.
Of cowse,thesecountriesare smaller,lessunequalandlessdiversethan the
United States.In suchcircumstances,
educationposesfewerchallenges.It's
unlikelythat startingschoolat 7 wouldwork here:too manyyoungkids,
disadvantaged
or otherwise,would probablyendup watchinghoursof TV a day,
not an activitythat promotesfuture educationalachievement.
But the complexities
of the taskin this countrydon't erasea fundamentalfact that overlystructured
classroomsdo not bene{itmanyyoungchildren.
Someresearchindicatesthat earlyinstructionin readingand other areasmayhelp
somestudents,but theseboostsappearto be temporary.A zoog studyby
SebastianP. Suggate,an educationresearcherat AlanusUniversityin Germany,
lookedat about4oo,ooo r5-year-oldsin morethan 5o countriesand forrndthat
earlyschoolentryprovidedno advantage.
Anotherstudyby Dr. Suggate,published
in zotz, lookedat a groupof 83 studentsoverseveralyearsandfound that those
who startedat age5 had lowerreadingcomprehension
than thosewho began
learninglater.
Otherresearchhasfound that earlydidacticinstructionmight actuallyworsen
at the
A. Marcon,a psychologyprofessor
academicperformance.Rebecca
Universityof North Florida,studiedS+gchildrenrvhohad attendeda preschool
classthat was"academicallyoriented,"onethat encouraged"child initiated"
severalyears
learning,or onein between.Shelookedat the students'performance
later, in third and fourth grade,and found that bythe end of the fourth gradethose
who had receivedmore didacticinstructionearnedsignificantlylowergradesthan
thosewho hadbeenallowedmore opportunitiesto learn throughplay.Children's
that
progress"mayhavebeenslowedby overlyacademicpreschoolexperiences
introducedformalizedlearningexperiences
too earlyfor most children's
developmentalstatus,"Dr. Marconwrote.
manyeducatorswant to curtail play during school."Playis often
Nevertheless,
perceivedasimmaturebehaviorthat doesn'taehieveanything,"saysDavid
Whitebread,a psychologistat CambridgeUniversitywho hasstudiedthe topicfor
decades."But it's essentialto their development.Theyneedto learnto persevere,
to controlattention,to controlemotions.Kids learnthesethingsthroughplaytng."

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Overthe past 20 years,scientistshavecometo understandmuchmoreabouthow

children learn. Jay Giedd,a neuroscientistat the University of California,San
Diego,hasspenthis careerstudyinghow the humanbrain developsfrom birth
he saysmostkids youngerthan 7 or 8 arebetter suitedfor
throughadolescence;
activeexplorationthan didacticexplanation.'oThetroublewith over-structuringis
exploration,'o
he says.
that it discourages
Reading,in particular,can'tbe rushed.It hasbeenaroundfor only about6,0oo
years,so the abilityto transformmarkson paperinto complexmeaningis not prewired into the brain. It doesn'tdevelop"naturally,"asdo other complexskills such
aswalking;it canbe fostered,but not forced.Too oftenthat'swhat schoolsare
tryrngto do now.This is not to suggestthat we shouldn'tincreaseaccessto
preschool,and improveearlyeducationfor disadvantaged
children.But the early
- shouldtruly
educationthat kids get - whatevertheir socioeconomicbackground
he$ their development.We must hopethat thosewho makeeducationpolicywill
start payingattentionto this science.

DavidKohnis a freelancesciencewriterbasedin Baltimore.

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