Kids and Play

[windawake]

I just read this article and it's really interesting. It seems to me in keeping with the general feeling on this forum, and reminds me a little of the recent MMM article about his son being ready for early retirement.

I find it sad that kids have to be in school all day, with very little time outdoors or for creative play.

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/give-childhood-back-to-children-if-we-want-our-offspring-to-have-happy-productive-and-moral-lives-we-must-allow-more-time-for-play-not-less-are-you-listening-gove-9054433.html

[Emilyngh]

I agree.   

My daughter is two and a half.   She's clearly very bright, creative, and active.   But, I'm amazed already about how much I hear from others about her "formal education."   People quiz her regarding letters and numbers, ask when we're sending her to preschool like they are concerned for her well-being (DH SAH with her), and ask what formal activities she participates in.   

Ummmm, she's 2.5!  Sheesh.   There's plenty of time for that later.   She has barely even started to be interested in imaginative role-play type play, why the rush to move past that already?   I mean, two years ago she wasn't even crawling yet.   

[avonlea]

I agree with the author of the article in a lot of ways.  There definitely needs to be more playtime at school during the elementary years.  It would be good if kindergarten and first grade classrooms were run more like preschool classrooms.  I also like the idea of returning to 6 hour school days, especially for children under the age of 9.  My daughter was exhausted last year after spending 7.5 hours in school each day, even though she didn't have to be at a desk all of the time.  She seems to be able to handle that amount of time in school much better this year, though. I'm also, like the author, in favor of less homework.  The book The Case Against Homework addresses this topic well.  And I'd love to see more kids heading over to the park to play with my kids instead of staying at home.

I know that the author is concerned that western schools are starting to go in the direction of East Asian schools.  But I don't think the he needs to worry that either the UK or the U.S. are anywhere near having the madness that exists in the Japanese education system. http://articles.latimes.com/1986-08-16/news/mn-7267_1_cram-school

This is snippet is about children on a retreat that are learning to study for junior high entrance exams:

"They need to study with only five hours' sleep for their entrance exams; we train them to do that," Yasuo Satono said. He is the education director of Yamada Gijuku, one of Japan's largest "cram" schools and sponsor of the outing.

Noritaka, the son of a banker, has already learned a great deal about studying. He is only 12 years old, but since the age of 10 he has been attending the "juku", or cram school, for three hours a day. All of this comes on top of regular attendance at elementary school--seven hours on weekdays and four on Saturdays--as well as "three to four hours of study on my own at home."

When my husband was in high school, his teachers told him, "Sleep 4 hours a night and you will pass the college entrance exam.  Sleep 5 hours, you will fail."

[oldtoyota]

Homework is BS. Unfortunately, we're in a time in America when homework is considered the "cure" even though studies have proven otherwise. Let's hope parents revolt.

Sal Khan, founder of Khan Academy, pointed out in a talk that some teachers began to assign his video lesson as the homework and used the class time to answer questions about the lesson(s). Currently, most education goes the other way. You get the lecture at school and then have no one to ask when you are trying to do the work later at home. I can't believe someone did not think of that before!

Anyway, back to the point. It's hard to be the calm one when people around you are freaking out about whether you 2 yo knows the ABCs yet. I feel for you on that one.

[Emilyngh]

Sal Khan, founder of Khan Academy, pointed out in a talk that some teachers began to assign his video lesson as the homework and used the class time to answer questions about the lesson(s). Currently, most education goes the other way. You get the lecture at school and then have no one to ask when you are trying to do the work later at home. I can't believe someone did not think of that before!

Well, to be fair, it's called a flipped classroom and people did think of it before (he did not invent it).   Flipped classrooms have been shown to work very well for some students and not well at all for others.   The students who it does seem to work well for are those who are intrinsically motivated (who seem to do well with most learning styles) and those that it does not work as well for are those who do not read/watch the lectures ahead of time and come to class unprepared.   As a college professor, I have tried both methods, and find that for my students a mix works best.   They are assigned some reading ahead of time, we do some lecture/discussion (to help digest what they've read) in class, work some problems in class, and then they have some more problems to work outside of class.

[oldtoyota]

Sal Khan, founder of Khan Academy, pointed out in a talk that some teachers began to assign his video lesson as the homework and used the class time to answer questions about the lesson(s). Currently, most education goes the other way. You get the lecture at school and then have no one to ask when you are trying to do the work later at home. I can't believe someone did not think of that before!

Well, to be fair, it's called a flipped classroom and people did think of it before (he did not invent it).   Flipped classrooms have been shown to work very well for some students and not well at all for others.   The students who it does seem to work well for are those who are intrinsically motivated (who seem to do well with most learning styles) and those that it does not work as well for are those who do not read/watch the lectures ahead of time and come to class unprepared.   As a college professor, I have tried both methods, and find that for my students a mix works best.   They are assigned some reading ahead of time, we do some lecture/discussion (to help digest what they've read) in class, work some problems in class, and then they have some more problems to work outside of class.

Thanks! He was not claiming to have invented it. He pointed out that that was how some teachers were using it. When I taught college, the students seemed all over the place in terms of who would or would not complete work. Personally, I would have loved to watch a video of the material at least part of the time. I learn best when I get to watch/listen at my own pace.