Evaluative intervention research studies in pretend play are investigations that examine the potential of imaginative play in young children to demonstrate a relationship between play and cognitive, social, and emotional growth. A review of the research indicates that children who engage in imaginative play yield higher test scores than those in…

Play has an important socializing function in the process of cognitive and social development. The focus of this treatise is on play as it relates to social interaction, role development, and assimilation of cultural expectations. (JN)

Playgrounds should be diverse and flexible so that children have many different opportunities for natural, creative play. Equipment should encourage group activities, challenge children at different levels of development, and enhance physical fitness. Such playgrounds could receive enthusiastic public support. (PP)

Asserts that literacy can be seen as a dramatic set. Shows how this conceptualization makes sense of the central concerns of language programs and provides an explicit means for developing literacy. Notes that drama activities provide experiences across many linguistic registers. (RL)

Observers recorded the sex-typed activities of 49 children during free-play sessions in nursery school and kindergarten. Reinforcing and punishing responses of peers and teachers were also recorded. Among the results, children reinforced one another primarily for gender-appropriate activities. Most reinforcements and punishments were received from…

Presents a dice-playing game which mathematically unsophisticated students and school children can play to learn empirically the principles of radioactive dating and population growth. (HM)

The developmental play (DP) approach enhances developmental and expressive communication through intense interaction between the child and significant adults. Children are encouraged to become aware of and to express feelings through play experiences and activities with adult partners. DP offers promise to those who work with dysfunctioning…

An antismoking program for elementary schools, using a mannikin of a thirteen-year-old boy in a skit with a doctor, reveals some of the side effects of smoking, including shortness of breath, bad breath, stained teeth and fillings, and the inability to properly taste and smell. (JMF)

Summarizes results of studies indicating that play training led to significant increases in young children's problem-solving ability, use of language, creative thinking ability, verbal ability, and conservation. (Author/MP)

Drawing on case study data from an urban school, examines the elementary school classroom as a setting for children's learning of culturally appropriate modes of informal work group behavior. Concludes that schools temper the spontaneity, solidarity, and autonomy that pupils can enjoy in their informal relations with one another. (Author/GC)

Describes the mounting of Ionesco's "La Lecon" through a group of junior high school students, and the subsequent videotaping of the performance for viewing by a large audience. Suggestions are given for using drama and videotapes in the language classroom. (AM)

The author explores the rationale and methods for injecting play and reality into the education of the gifted. After recounting the present situation in which education lacks both relevance and play, some suggestions of learning simulations which model reality are presented. (PHR)

Investigates how two traditional early childhood activity settings, the block and housekeeping areas, influence young children's play and social behaviors. (Author/MP)

Considers the value of published subject bibliographies in helping to winnow the amount of retrieved information from electronic catalogs and indexes based on an information search of the interdisciplinary field of play and leisure. A case study compares the process of developing two bibliographies about play and leisure. (Author/LRW)