Piaget on Play

10/20/2010

Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can.
Arthur Ashe, Tennis Pro, 1943-1993

In the Bank Street College News Flash (Spring 2008) Steven Webb outlines a Piagetian view of play:

“Jean Piaget theorized that a child’s mental models, or cognitive structures, are based on the child’s activities; engagement makes meaning. Free, unstructured play is healthy and, in fact, essential for helping children reach important social, emotional and cognitive developmental milestones. Piaget’s theory is based on the idea that the developing child builds cognitive structures known as mental maps, or schemas, for understanding and responding to physical experiences.

“What is known as constructivism postulates that, by reflecting on our experiences, we develop our own understanding of the world. Each of us generates our own mental models to make sense of our experiences. Learning, therefore, is the process of adjusting our mental models to accommodate new experiences. Constructivist teaching focuses on creating experiential and engaging activities for students. This kind of learning also involves an element of play."

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