Examines a recent study of children's definitions of classroom work and play and discusses the implications of the findings for curriculum and teaching. Findings show that children in kindergarten call required work activities, work, and voluntary ones, play. Fifth graders define play as any activity, voluntary or required, which is pleasurable.…

Examined whether the density of play continues to increase as children grow older. Four- and five-year-olds made simple constructions using few materials, six- and seven-year-olds made more constructions with more materials, and eight-to ten-year-olds made fewer but much more extensive and integrated constructions. (Author/DB)

Three key areas of confusion in the English department--composition, curriculum, and humanism--can be resolved by marshaling ideas from social dramatism, games theory, and sociobiology. (DD)

Examines whether mothers modify their actions in response to infant facial expression or gaze direction. Subjects were seven pairs of mothers and infants (four to eight months old). Mothers were instructed to induce their infants to smile. (CM)

Children who engaged in fantasy behavior after a frustrating incident were significantly more extrapunitive than control subjects. Age was significantly but negatively correlated with outward aggression. (Author/DB)

Analyzes children's toys and their use as communicators of racial stereotypes. Emphasizes characterizations of Black American males in play artifacts from the years following the Civil War through the Depression years. Concludes that racial games and toys have functioned as disseminators of racially biased images. (Author/MK)

Describes a child-oriented activities playroom at a family health center. Emphasizes the value of evaluating children's developmental status and progress by observing them at play in the center. (CM)

In order to understand the work and play in kindergarten and to define kindergarten play from the children's perspective, children in three classrooms were observed and interviewed. (MP)

Studies the effects of playroom deprivation on self-motion play, or peragration, for rhesus monkeys of ages 24 to 36 weeks. (Author/SS)

Effect of peer presence on the sex-typed toy choices of three and four year olds (N=62) was investigated in a repeated measures experimental design. (MP)

The article identifies eight typical play problems of severely handicapped children, and describes several instructional strategies for each problem as possible solutions for teachers and parents in overcoming these difficulties. (Author/DLS)

Results showed that play opportunity and training experience for four year olds produced roughly equivalent problem-solving speeds when the task was standard or direct. When the task was nonstandard or innovative, however, play opportunity produced faster problem solving than training. (JMB)

Separate studies investigated free-play behavior and its relationship to IQ in 100 normal children, and its usefulness in assessing 16 severely disturbed children. (DLS)

Presents a fictional mystery scenario that addresses issues concerning instructional technologists and the debate surrounding media and methods. (LRW)