The values of dramatic play in children

Mellou, Eleni

doi:10.1080/0300443941040109

Cited by 9 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…A child-centered educational approach directly translates into opportunities for preschool children to engage in successful peer play (Mellou, 1994;Mendez et al, 2001;NAEYC, 1991). Our findings suggest that achieving this goal likely requires flexible classroom structures that meet the needs of overactive children prone to disruption during social interaction.…”

Section: Implications For Early Educational Assessment and Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying and promoting social competence with African American preschool children: Developmental and contextual considerations

Smith

McDermott

Fantuzzo

2001

Psychology in the Schools

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School psychologists and teachers are frequently asked to assess the level of social competence of preschool children as one indicator of their academic readiness. However, many assessment instruments available to psychologists working in early childhood settings fail to consider important contexts where children acquire social competencies. This study presents a comprehensive picture of multiple constructs that play a role in understanding African American preschool children's social competence. Domains of temperament, language, self-regulation, and peer play were assessed within a classroom context for a sample of 139 low-income African American children attending Head Start. Findings support the importance of considering both children's developmental stage and their gender when evaluating aspects of social competence, particularly temperament and interactive peer play abilities. As a group, younger boys experienced the greatest difficulties with initiating and sustaining play activities with classmates. Language abilities and self-regulation were significantly greater among older preschool children. Implications for school psychologists conducting preschool assessment, intervention, and outreach to parents and teachers within early childhood settings are discussed.

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Section: Implications For Early Educational Assessment and Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying and promoting social competence with African American preschool children: Developmental and contextual considerations

Smith

McDermott

Fantuzzo

2001

Psychology in the Schools

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“…Following a Vygotskian (Vygotsky, 1987) and post-Vygotskian (Elkonin, 1977(Elkonin, , 1978Leont'ev, 1978) perspective, dramatic play is conceptualized here as the leading activity for preschool and kindergarten age children and is distinguished by other activities by indicating that during dramatic play young children take on a role of another entity, for example, they pretend to be another person, an animal, or an object and use objects in a symbolic way, for example, they use a cardboard box as a spacecraft (Bodrova & Leong, 1998). As Mellou (1994) argues, the value of dramatic play for young children lies in five basic functions: "1) it provides personal expression and catharsis of inner desires; 2) it helps the child to distinguish between reality and fantasy; 3) it provides for children's social adaptation: 4) it is dynamic for learning; and 5) it improves intellectual development and specifically creativity, through interaction, transformation and imagination" (p. 105). Through their dramatic play, young children express themselves in intellectual, affective, and embodiment levels.…”

Section: Dramatic Play As a Pedagogical Practice In Early Childhood Science Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dramatic play as a means to explore and support preschool children’s thinking about thermal insulation

et al. 2021

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Research in young children’s ideas, representations, and pre-conceptions about the natural and technical world has a long history. Most of the studies in the field have used individual, semi-structured interviews as a methodological technique to generate and collect empirical data. However, less is known about how tracing procedures can come in line and be incorporated into everyday educational reality in early childhood settings in a way that reflects young children’s interests and needs. The present study uses dramatic play to trace young children’s thinking in science and advance their science learning experiences. The study focuses on a science concept young children are familiar with in everyday life though has not been thoroughly studied in the literature yet: thermal insulation. Empirical data from 6 preschoolers in Greece are presented. Qualitative data were collected through recordings of children’s dialogues, children’s drawings, field notes from the early childhood teachers, and photographs. The findings revealed that during their dramatic play children a) developed basic argumentation to express their thinking about the phenomenon; b) related the phenomenon with the thermal condition and changes in temperature; c) identified materials and objects with insulating properties and distinguish them from others with non-insulating properties, and d) came to the conclusion that the use of amplified insulation materials can lead to better insulation results. The outcomes of the study add to the research methodology in early childhood science education and inform practice providing a pedagogical framework that balances between play-based pedagogies and advanced learning outcomes in science for young learners.

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“…Therefore, in DPT the different points of view and imaginations of participants can change the storytelling of an enacted situation, also enhancing perspective taking and transformation. Mellou (1994) states that transforming the present is a cognitive process related to imagination, and that children’s ability to transform objects favors creativity because children are focused beyond the obvious, enabling them to make new associations. Holland (2009) discovered that when children retold their story from different viewpoints to different participants, this helped them to consider different perspectives and create additional, different content.…”

Section: Dpt Model For Creative Thinkingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fostering Children and Adolescents’ Creative Thinking in Education. Theoretical Model of Drama Pedagogy Training

Celume

Besançon

2019

Front. Psychol.

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Drama Pedagogy Training (DPT), as other drama-based pedagogies, has been related to several outcomes, including creativity enhancement. This enhancement is commonly proven through the measurement of different creative processes. In our review we systematize characteristics, activities and techniques of DPT that are assumed to be related to creativity in order to have a more comprehensive framework to identify the specific DPT elements that are involved in the enhancement of some of the creative processes of children and adolescents. To this end, we identified five creative processes in experimental studies using DPT: divergent thinking, fantasy and imagination, associative thinking, symbolization, and problem solving. These processes were cross referenced with DPT characteristics, activities, and techniques that were argued to be related to creativity enhancement. Our review will propose a model with two main categories and six elements as follows: (1) technical drama phases which emphasizes the role of narrative and embodiment through (a) corporal and vocal training and (b) main drama techniques (e.g., storytelling and improvisation and role-play), and (2) psycho-pedagogical framework which emphasizes the role of a dialogic space through (c) playfulness and a (d) collaborative, safe space. We also identified (e) feedback as an important element of DPT which belongs to both drama technical phases and psycho-pedagogical framework categories. Along with the model, we explain the creative outcomes associated to each of these elements as a means to attire the attention to drama-based pedagogies for the development of creativity in the educational setting.

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The values of dramatic play in children

Cited by 9 publications

References 19 publications

Identifying and promoting social competence with African American preschool children: Developmental and contextual considerations

Identifying and promoting social competence with African American preschool children: Developmental and contextual considerations

Dramatic play as a means to explore and support preschool children’s thinking about thermal insulation

Fostering Children and Adolescents’ Creative Thinking in Education. Theoretical Model of Drama Pedagogy Training

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