The purposes of this study are (1) to identify the relationship between play and achievement in preschool and kindergarten students and (2) to compare academic skill mastery levels between two types of school groups: play curriculum and direct teacher instruction. A total of 48 preschool and kindergarten students, half enrolled in a curriculum…

Dialogics as a philosophical principle is, like the dialectics predominant at present in all industrialized countries, based on the duality of life and thought. Dialogics postulates that two thoughts, or two aspirations, or two concepts together make up a whole, simultaneously, each being of equal importance. Play is a dialogic of doing and…

Explores the possible influences of commercial and educational television on young children's imaginative play, intellectual development and behavior. Commercialism, learning readiness, television's unique mode of communication, and the child's sensory experiences while viewing are considered from the standpoint of developmental needs. (SDH)

One hundred eighty elementary school children were randomly assigned to same sex pairs and randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups: real-life aggressive film, aggressive cartoon, or nonaggressive film. Results reveal that boys who viewed the realistic aggressive film were significantly more aggressive in play than boys who viewed the…

Philosophers and poets from classical times to the present have argued that playful and amiable discourse are conducive to teaching and learning. The play principle enhances reading and study and should be applied by teachers to benefit their students. Teachers should help their students see that it is fun to enliven the imagination with good…

Illustrates the content, process, and group dynamics of Activity Group Guidance. Describes and evaluates a comprehensive Activity Group Guidance program. Gives specific suggestions to counselors who wish to start Activity Groups. (Author)

To examine the nature of sex differences in children's speech during play, 10 boys and 10 girls in kindergarten were videotaped continuously during 10 minute dyadic play sessions involving non-sex-typed toys. Each child participated twice -- once with a same-sex peer and once with an opposite-sex peer. The videotapes were coded according to whom…

This paper discusses playfulness and creativity and draws educational implications. The suggestions in the paper are intended to provide a rationale for incorporating foolish interludes, humor, flexibility, and the playful side of human nature into classrooms to stimulate creative thinking in young people today. Play is described as a mode of…

Using play constructions as a projective technique of investigation, Erik Erikson (1951) concluded from his observation of preadolescents that, during this developmental period, play constructions are largely determined by psychosexual differences. Erikson suggested that only observation of subjects in a younger and older developmental period…

The influence of age, sex, representational detail of objects (prototypicality) and adult play suggestions on children's progression of pretend behaviors was studied. A checklist was developed and utilized for coding the responses of 20 children (10 males, 10 females), to objects judged to be high and low prototypical by 12 adults. Children ranged…

A total of 141 children, aged 6 to 10 years, were read eight illustrated attribution problems involving play and non-play behaviors and were asked to infer information concerning the story character's intrinsic or extrinsic motivation for the behaviors. Children were grouped into three age levels (mean ages 5.9, 8.8 and 10.3 years) for analysis of…