Play Inspires Learning

Even as adults, most of us still recall the excitement when the recess bell rang and the entire class squeezed their way out the door and onto the playground.

Experiencing this thrill of play time was often the highlight of the day for all kids, successful and struggling students alike. Recess let students know it was OK to play, just for the fun of it. It also taught the social skills necessary to prepare for adulthood in a safe, non-threatening atmosphere.

Because the concept of play has such an important role in the learning process, companies on the forefront of childhood education are learning to take play seriously under the premise that kids are more receptive to learning when they’re having fun. Joyful exploration inspires and engages them, both on an intellectual and emotional level.

And according to experts, play is not only essential to learning but also a necessary part of children’s well-being.

“Play is not a luxury, but rather a crucial dynamic of healthy, physical, intellectual, social, and emotional development at all ages,” says child development expert David Elkind of Tufts University.¹ In fact, Gillian McNamee of the Erikson Institute describes the ability to play as a vital sign of a child’s health.²

Educational games see the best results when they constantly challenge kids without overwhelming them. Play enhances their cognitive capacity with trial and error, problem solving, and decision making while encouraging their participation in a fun, rewarding environment—making play not only intellectually stimulating, but also emotionally gratifying.

But the effect goes beyond the child engaged in play. Watching a child smile and laugh while learning vital math skills is rewarding for parents and teachers as well.

The flexibility and mobility of new web-based learning methods are also a welcome addition for parents and kids alike, offering kids a chance to practice math anywhere, anytime, and in new ways.

A sign of the times, computer games are a large part of the way kids play today, so it’s important to keep up with them by offering computer games that teach them valuable lessons—and it’s already paying off as recent studies have directly linked computer games to higher math scores. Take for example, Learning and Teaching Scotland’s “brain training” study where an experimental group played a brain teaser game for 20 minutes each day while the control group continued practicing traditional methods of learning. After nine weeks, the computer game group improved test scores by 50%—academic evidence that this type of learning could potentially improve performance in school.

“Computer games help flatten out the hierarchy that exists in schools—they are in the domain of the learner as opposed to the domain of the school,” concludes Learning and Teaching Scotland’s National Advisor for Emerging Technologies, Derek Robertson.³

And while teaching math at home on the computer may not have the same obviously exhilarating effect as 40 screaming kids at the ring of the recess bell, it does instill a positive attitude in kids that math is fun and that play time and math time are not mutually exclusive.

Resources
Want to learn more about the importance of play and learning? See:

• Play is key to healthy children: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/17/magazine/17play.html
• The importance of play and learning: http://www.360kid.com/blog/?p=57
• Play learning is not just for kids: http://www.centernetworks.com/iphone-playful-exploration

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1. David Elkind is a child development expert at Tufts University. His comments made in this story are from the Sandbox Summit: http://izzyneis.wordpress.com/2008/09/29/play-is-important-to-learning/. For more information on Elkind see: http://tuftsjournal.tufts.edu/archive/2007/january/features/index.shtml

2. Gillian McNamee is a professor of child development and director of teacher education at Chicago’s Erikson Institute, which focuses exclusively on educating leaders in early childhood development and education. McNamee works extensively with Head Start, daycare, preschool and primary teachers, as well as parents, in public and private schools. For McNamee’s take on play and learning, visit: (link no longer available).

3. Derek Robertson is the national adviser for emerging technologies and learning at Learning and Teaching Scotland — Scotland’s lead organization for the development of the school curriculum. For the full story, visit: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/7635404.stm.

Math Learning Tips for Busy Parents

At DreamBox Learning, we know parents want to be involved with their children’s learning. As a regular feature, we include simple games parents can play with their young children, even during everyday activities. Parents can help develop math skills no matter what their child’s age by talking about the math in the world around them.

Go Fish!
Many family card games include great math lessons. Besides counting, they can teach matching and grouping, recognizing greater than/less than, and give children opportunities to practice mental addition and subtraction. Go Fish is an old favorite. 2-6 players can play using a standard 52-card deck. Each player is dealt 5 cards (or 7 if only 2 are playing). Players take turns asking another player if they have any cards of a given number or face that the asker has in hand, for example “Mom, do you have any fives?” If mom has any she has to give them all to the asking player, who gets another turn. If not, she says “Go fish,” and the asker draws from the un-dealt cards in the middle. When a player collects 4 matching cards, they must be shown and discarded face down. The first player to run out of cards wins! If the un-dealt pile runs out first, the player with the most discarded cards wins. Older children can learn from Go Fish too, as they track and try to predict who has and doesn’t have certain cards in their hands.

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Try the Newest Version of DreamBox Learning K-2 Math

DreamBox is currently inviting a new group of students to participate in the private beta program for DreamBox Learning K-2 Math. This beta includes the 2nd grade curriculum, and there are over 100 lessons at each grade level. DreamBox Learning is solid math wrapped in fun web-based adventures that kids love! And they'll be learning the math that’s vital to their future.

If you’re currently a DreamBox beta user you don’t need to sign up again — you’ll automatically be invited!

If you are interested in signing up your Pre-K, Kindergarten, 1st, or 2nd grade child(ren) for this beta, please click here. You’ll discover the many cool ways DreamBox Learning helps your child have some serious fun learning math! For example:

• All of the lessons cover the key concepts from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics-recommended curriculum for each grade level.
• An initial placement lesson and ongoing assessment ensure that your child starts at the optimum point in the curriculum, and continually gets the right lessons at the right time.
• We encourage children through the many different adventure stories they can explore, and they can track their progress, collect rewards, and feel a sense of accomplishment.
• All aspects of the experience are adapted for each child—including the lessons, hints and instructional feedback, the pace, sequence, and much more—to help your child to feel engaged, motivated, and successful.
• And, parents get progress report emails, tips for fun home activities, and an online “Dashboard”.

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Want to Learn More About DreamBox Learning? Read Our Blog!

Check out recent posts on ‘How Young Is Too Young to Begin Computer Learning Games?’; or ‘In Pursuit of the Right Kind of Homework’; or ‘One Reason US Students Are Falling Behind in Math.’ You can read it at http://www.dreambox.com/blog/.