Effectiveness of pretend play as a simulated experience: Young children can acquire general knowledge in pretend play

Research Project

Project/Area Number	15K04087
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Section	一般
Research Field	Educational psychology
Research Institution	Japan Women's College of Physical Education
Principal Investigator	Nakamichi Naoko 日本女子体育大学, 体育学部, 准教授 (10389926)
Project Period (FY)	2015-04-01 – 2019-03-31
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2018)
Budget Amount *help	¥3,770,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥870,000) Fiscal Year 2017: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000) Fiscal Year 2016: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000) Fiscal Year 2015: ¥1,430,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥330,000)
Keywords	幼児 / ふり遊び / 学び / 疑似体験 / 直接体験 / 間接体験
Outline of Final Research Achievements	In pretend play, people sometimes intentionally distort reality. Therefore, it is considered that children do not acquire new knowledge through pretense, which often causes misconceptions. However, recent studies (e.g., Hopkins, Dore, & Lillard, 2015; Sutherland & Friedman, 2012, 2013) showed that children can learn new information in pretend play with adults. The present study showed that children can learn the perceptual characteristics of novel foods or tools through pretense.
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	従来，ふり遊びは，幼児が既に知っていることや体験したことを再現する場であり，幼児がふり遊びの中で新しい知識を獲得することはない，と考えられてきた．本研究では，大人とのふり遊びを通して，幼児が未知の事物の色や形などの知覚的特徴を学習できることを明らかにした．このように本研究は，幼児期のふり遊びは知識を再現する場であるだけでなく，新しい知識を獲得する場であることを実証した点で意義がある．