Page 27 - Abacoa Community News - November '24

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Science on the cuttinG edGe

As the school year kicks into in hunter-gatherer and traditional
full gear, Bjorklund, associate chair cultures today, young children acquired
and professor in the Department of important cultural knowledge and
Psychology within FAU’s Charles E. skills through play and observation,
Schmidt College of Science, highlights with much adult behaviors being
the plethora of robust benefits of imitated during play,” said Bjorklund.
pretend play on cognitive, social and “Pretend play is associated with a
Play It Forward: Lasting emotional development in children host of enhanced cognitive abilities
and cautions how “learning through
such as executive function, language
Effects Of Pretend Play In play” has changed with the demands Pretend play is associated with a host of and perspective taking, which are
of contemporary society.
important to education, making the
Early Childhood Given natural selection’s shaping enhanced cognitive abilities such as executive minimization of pretend play unwise.”
of childhood for the acquisition and function, language and perspective taking, He explains that direct teaching of
By Gisele Galoustian refinement of species-adapted social- which are important to education, making the children by adults is rare in traditional
From developing social skills to fostering creativity, pretend cognitive skills – much through minimization of pretend play unwise. cultures, and likely was for our hunter-
play in young children is likened to being a “metaphoric pretend play – Bjorklund says it is gatherer ancestors. However, with the
multivitamin” in an editorial published in the journal unfortunate that modern culture is ignoring the evolved wisdom advent of increasingly complex technologies such as reading
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews by Florida Atlantic of how best to educate young children. and mathematics and the need for universal education, formal
University’s David F. Bjorklund, Ph.D. “Throughout our species’ history and prehistory, and schooling became necessary, and this has recently extended
to early childhood.
“The prevalence of preschool education has increased
over the decades in many developed countries, and unlike
earlier days when ‘learning through play’ described the basic
curriculum, contemporary preschool education instead often
emphasizes direct instruction, characteristic of pedagogy
designed for older children,” said Bjorklund. “This reflects
an evolutionary mismatch between young children’s evolved
learning abilities and the demands of contemporary society.”
Pretend play occurs voluntarily and spontaneously,
especially when the individual is relaxed and not under stress
and typically lacks any immediate practical purpose.
“In the context of pretend play, skills encompass
imagination, the ability to think about possibilities that differ
from reality, mental time travel, and imitation, among other
symbolic capabilities,” said Bjorklund.
He explains that pretend play functions as an experience-
expectant process, enhancing the brain’s readiness for focused
learning.
“It’s not clear whether the extended period of childhood and
juvenile development created more opportunities for play or if
this playfulness emerged as a result of that extended period,”
said Bjorklund. “However, this evolution of childhood, along
with the prolonged neural plasticity it brings, may have been
a crucial adaptation for the development of the modern human
mind.”
He says pretend play likely plays a crucial role in
developing and refining psychological skills rather than being
solely necessary for their emergence.
“Advanced pretend play is most evident during the
extended juvenile stage in humans,” said Bjorklund. “This
extension has led to a distinct childhood stage, lasting until
about age 7, characterized by greater independence and social
interaction.”
During this time, children engage in more complex play
while their cognitive abilities continue to develop. Bjorklund
emphasizes that this prolonged juvenile period and its neural
plasticity are essential for fostering our unique social-cognitive
skills.
Research comparing play-based preschool curricula to
those focused on direct instruction has consistently shown that
while direct instruction may yield immediate benefits, play-
based approaches offer more significant long-term advantages
in both academic performance and students’ attitudes toward
school.
“One of the most comprehensive studies on the long-term
effects of direct instruction for preschoolers from low-income
backgrounds found that although there were initial academic
gains, these benefits diminished over time,” said Bjorklund.
“By third grade, children in the control group outperformed
those in the direct-instruction program, and this gap widened
by sixth grade.”
These findings led the researchers to reevaluate the
effectiveness of heavily drilling children on basic skills and
to consider the potential benefits of play-oriented preschool
programs, particularly for children at risk of intellectual
challenges.
Bjorklund says recess and opportunities for free play
for older school-aged children also have been declining in
developed countries, sometimes replaced by adult-directed
play, again at odds with what is known about children’s evolved
learning abilities.
“These practices may not only make learning more arduous,
but negatively impact children’s sense of autonomy with
respect to learning,” said Bjorklund. “Pretend play evolved
to enhance children’s acquisition and refinement of important
cultural knowledge and skills during an extended juvenile
period. The abilities needed by modern children have changed
and may require new means of learning, but we should not
lose sight of the substantial benefits that pretend play can still
afford our species’ youngest members.”

Science On The Cutting Edge on page 28