Education appropriate for early childhood cognitive development: What children learn through "play"

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K02475
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 09030:Childhood and nursery/pre-school education-related
• Research Institution: Akita University
• Principal Investigator: YAMANA Yuko 秋田大学, 教育文化学部, 教授 (10399131)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 遊びの中の学び / 学びの基盤 / 認知発達 / 幼児期から児童期にかけての移行

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this study was to consider "learning" appropriate for early childhood. Through observations of children and repeated conferences with teachers, it became clear that "play as a spontaneous activity" becomes the "foundation of learning" as a result, and that it is more important than anything else to carefully accept the child's thoughts, rather than as an "activity" that is easy to understand and explain. On the other hand, since teachers have different perspectives on such situations, it is also more important to look at the same situation together and to talk about it from the perspective of a specific child.

Free Research Field

幼児教育，発達心理学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

幼児期特有の整理のつかない学びが，子どもの自発的活動としての遊びの中で育まれていること，またその遊びを保育者が意図して環境としてしみこませることが重要であることを示唆した。
特に幼児期から児童期にかけての環境移行では小学校の準備教育として幼児教育が考えられることが多いが，そうではなく，幼児期で十分に遊ぶことの必要性を子どもの姿や保育者へのインタビューから多面的に論じた。この点は，現在議論されている「架け橋プログラム」の構築にも生かされる点である。