Learning, Play, and the Brain

What effect does play have on the brain?

Well the answer to that question probably depends on who you talk to. The New York Times posted an article a few days ago about play. There’s a lot to it – 10 pages to be exact, but all very interesting and relevant to those of us with children and interested in play for the purpose of learning.

Unfortunately it doesn’t really help those of interested in determining the learning value of play – at least not for adults. It how ever does take a good look at the need for play and some scientific consequences (at least in animals) of not getting enough play.

There were a lot of interesting points, one that is made early on in the articles is the fact that play can quickly become an expendable commodity when things start getting rough. Animals will tend to eliminate play when under stress – whether that is do to drought or lack of food. Yet interestingly enough, in humans, play will continue to arise even in bleak circumstances.

One of the definitive questions that isn’t answered those is this:

So play can be risky. And, under stress, it tends to disappear. What then would justify, in evolutionary terms, the prevalence of play?

Is play for complex learning? Is it a type of motor training for later life? Does it help children determine work through how to interact with a complex and ever shifting world?

I am not a neuro-scientist, I am not an expert on play, my education is in learning though – and as I watch my kids play- heck, even as I watch my colleagues play I see a bit of all these things… I even see the release of working and living in a stressful world… it takes the brain away from those things and allows, if nothing else, a momentary distraction from those things that are stressful and otherwise consume us.

The end of the article I thought put the notion of play into great perspective:

“Watch children at play, and the benefits are so obvious: just look at those ecstatic faces, just listen to those joyful squeals. Stuart Brown alluded to it in his library talk last month. ‘‘Look at life without play, and it’s not much of a life,’’ he told the audience. ‘‘If you think of all the things we do that are play related and erase those, it’s pretty hard to keep going.’’ Without play, he said, ‘‘there’s a sense of dullness, lassitude and pessimism, which doesn’t work well in the world we live in.’’

Then the author concluded:

“In the end, it comes down to a matter of trade-offs. There are only six hours in a school day, only another six or so till bedtime, and adults are forever trying to cram those hours with activities that are productive, educational and (almost as an afterthought) fun. Animal findings about how play influences brain growth suggest that playing, though it might look silly and purposeless, warrants a place in every child’s day. Not too overblown a place, not too sanctimonious a place, but a place that embraces all styles of play and that recognizes play as every bit as essential to healthful neurological development as test-taking drills, Spanish lessons or Suzuki violin.”

So regardless of my kids learning complex interactions and motor movements (or as my wife said – our youngest who is turning two is learning about the properties of gravity — what goes up must come down), I think we’re going to let our kids just play.

Heck, I can’t wait to join them.

Making room for Learning

Is it interesting that learning occurs all around us, but if we’re not semi-conscious  of the opportunity to teach we can miss it.

I was thinking about this when I read the following article on 43 folders: http://www.43folders.com/2008/01/28/its-not-bug-its-kung-fu

In the article Grant talks about using his kids desire to help, turning their desire to be a tool for good to keep them from getting in the way- sort of martial arts style “I’ll use your strength and energy to defeat you.”  I’ve done this with my own kids at times but not nearly enough.

But think of this– each of these opportunities is an opportunity for learning, exploration and growth. If a child (or heck, even an adult) is willing to work, and we use what they bring to multiply and enrich what we’re already doing it seems like a no-brainer.  But it is also in that moment that we need to take what ever enthusiasm that they have, and turn the opportunity into a chance to learn.

Don’t misunderstand me– the learning must be authentic, it cannot be contrived or the whole momentum and using that enthusiasm to be involved can backfire quickly.  Just imagine if you are working with a colleague who asks to get involved in a project. You know it will be more work to get the individual up and running. Nothing would kill that motivation to get involved like some coming down hard on the lecture, and forcing the learning to occur (maybe through force feeding of information?) Yes more work stinks for everyone – but what about on the next project that has similar qualities- that individual be more ready to take it on, and hopefully allowing you room to work on other necessary activities.

Maybe I’m forcing the point and over simplifying- but I like this idea as a concept. Difficult to employ for corporate learning, or maybe even outside the home- but maybe we’ll be a bit surprised.

What should we expect from Technology?

The New York Times is reporting on schools that are dropping laptops from the classrooms [Read the article].

There are lots of reasons for dropping laptops – the cost of keeping up with the technology- not only the computers but the infrastructure to maintain the usability of the equipment. Some are critical that more students are using them fun and personally use – much more than learning. I think all of the criticisms are fair… technology certainly has it difficulties.

I wonder though, what are we loosing by giving up on using technology in the classroom. One of the major criticisms is that scores of the students haven’t improved – measuring performance should be a critical consideration (although it would be interesting to see what tools are being used to measure performance).

Unfortunately, I wonder if the school systems have adequately prepared the teachers for using technology in the classroom. Please don’t take this wrong – I have a great deal of respect for the abilities of teachers – but I know a good number who aren’t ready to use technology in the classroom. One of my friends that teaches in a middle-school commented to me recently that he was the first teacher in his school to even have a website. Why doesn’t anyone else have a website at his school – they don’t know how. That’s one problem. Compounding the problem is the issue of time. Teachers seem to have way more to do than time permits – so on top of everything else they have to become experts in teaching with technology.

My favorite quote from the article:

“The art of thinking is being lost,” he [Tom McCarthy] said. “Because people can type in a word and find a source and think that’s the be all end all.”

Hmmm. Maybe, but regardless of technology (pen, paper, laptops, 3-D immersive environment) critical thinking is challenging to think. But, it seems that technology could be valuable in assisting with this… but by no means should we expect technology to do the job.

Perhaps we should:

Prep teachers to better teach use technology

Research how technologies should be used to educate (come on, we can definitely do better than we are now)

Figure out what topics and subjects work with Technology (or at least leverage technology when it makes sense – even if that isn’t all of the time)

Probably lots of things we can do- but before we get up on technology in the classroom – maybe we should look at the bigger systemic issues and see what we can do -since technology isn’t really going away anytime soon.

Maybe your Kids, but not mine

I just read an article in the New York Times [check it out] on the newest video game – that instead of a controller is a bike that the preschooler pedals. Now without totally destroying the merit of the idea, I can definitely see the need for such a device… because some movement and exercise is better than nothing, right?

Having young children myself I can imagine the desire now…

“Dad, can we please get that bike? So and So has it and they can do x, y and z with it….”

For a little while it would be cool as they pedal and explore, but then like most toys it would get old…

Okay – beyond that even – what about the learning aspect of the games? I’m no expert in learning associated with movement, but it seems that we’re trying to cross several different paths of the education experience – pedaling and learning letters, numbers, math, etc… I know my 4 year old is really just figuring out the riding bike thing [how to pedal, steer, get up the hill, etc...) - I'm not sure that riding a faux bike will help learning.

It seems that the load on the little learner to divide tasks and keep focus on more than one seems to limit learning more than help. Maybe all of those of us with kids should try to spend a little more time reading and working on numbers, or going outside and playing with the kids, rather then leaving it up to a bike to teach.

When they get the game that teaches kids to ride without training wheels - I'm in.

Edit: I just read a post on a blog from Christian Holljes [ Read his post at Not a soccer mom ] who invented this product. He says,

“I invented this product and licensed it to Fisher Price because there are 12million obease children and lots of stupid videogames. Little children can be active while learning…how is this sad? This does not replace a regular bike or other activity games but as we developed this we can see the immersive quality and fun that can be derived for pedaling and turning to learn and think.

Latest research indicates that we learn best while active. This is a good thing and very much needed!

Christian Holljes
president
Newgent, Inc.”

I’ve asked for more info on the research, we’ll see what comes back….