Play Grows Young Minds in Scientific Fields

To ensure that our nation nurtures a sufficient crop of future scientists, mathematicians and engineers, we need to put play back into the classroom, according to an article in the American Journal of Play (a scholarly journal from Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York).

Most experts agree that children learn best while having fun through imaginative, self-directed play, says Doris Bergen, professor of educational psychology at Miami University. Play keeps the mind sharp (even for older adults) and helps humans to cope with change and deal with the unknown. Play offers humans an adaptability “that has helped us through the centuries to invent new ideas, products and behaviors.” And, play is an essential tool in developing young minds in scientific fields.

Bergen presents myriad examples of innovative or creative people in scientists whose accomplishments were attained as a result of playful opportunities in their early lives and careers. For example, recipients of the MacArthur Foundation “genius” awards, studied by Michelle and Robert Root Bernstein, reported “engaging in extensive imaginary wordplay in their childhood.” As one of the scientists in the study said, “It is necessary to imagine what needs to be discovered before discovery can be made.”

“Adults who have gone into scientific, mathematical and engineering fields were often great construction players as children,” observes Bergen, citing Frank Lloyd Wright’s early block-building experiences as a prime example. “The ‘worlds’ children construct, either with concrete materials such as blocks or interlocking pieces or with virtual-reality simulation games, give them the imaginative experiences and the interest in ‘seeing what might happen’ to prepare them to create new worlds of design in later work experience.”

Other researchers have found that “teachers who enabled young people to follow their interests and who transmitted a joyful attitude toward learning were important influences on students’ long-term motivation to identify and pursue difficult problem solving – and later careers in mathematics.”

Standardized curricula in our nation’s grade schools run counter to playful learning, observes Bergen. Presently, “in most U.S. schools, the curriculum does not intentionally focus on playful learning, and sometimes play does not even occur on the school playground.” Even in the younger grades, current trends “are moving against playful learning.”

It is imperative that educators be reminded about the importance of playful learning in our schools, concludes Bergen. Children skilled at playful learning “will be more likely to demonstrate creativity and innovation in their adult computer-technology, scientific, mathematical and engineering professions.

The American Journal of Play provides thought-provoking content from some of the most prominent national researchers and writers in the field. Each issue is filled with articles, essay interviews and book reviews that explore the critical role of play in learning and human development. To view the most current issue’s table of contents, visit www.americanjournalofplay.org.

Strong National Museum of Play houses the world’s most comprehensive collection of dolls, toys, games and play-related artifacts, and is the only collections-based museum anywhere devoted solely to the critical role of play in learning and human development, and the ways in which play illuminates American cultural history. For more information, visit www.museumofplay.org.

Play and Children With Disabilities: What It Means to Moms

An article in a more recent issue of the American Journal of Play discussed the findings of a study of play among disabled children. Mining the rich data it provided, University of Wyoming Professor Michelle Buchanan and Assistant Professor Tricia Giovacco Johnson made critical observations about the benefits of spontaneous, child-led play among this population.

Researchers studied the playful interactions between three toddlers and their mothers at home. Each of the toddlers had developmental delays or disabilities. Victoria (30 months old) was diagnosed with Down syndrome; Cory (32 months old) with cerebral palsy; and Elizabeth (30 months) with developmental delays and a metabolic disorder that sapped her energy. Observations of 215 play episodes among the three toddlers were videotaped for analysis. Mothers viewed the videotapes of their own children at play and described their toddlers’ play and their own motives and intentions in participating in that play. Their responses were recorded.

Toddlers in the study played in ways similar to their more typically developing peers – exploring household spaces, manipulating items and inspecting them visually and tactilely, and using playthings in conventional ways (throwing balls, feeding baby dolls, etc.). They differed “only in the frequency and in the amount of time they spent engaged in various kinds of play, reflecting their preferences and abilities.

“Contrary to previous findings,” write the authors, “mothers in this toddler play study were observed responding to their children’s play initiations, following their children’s leads in play, and intentionally helping children with their play to support their children’s play goals.”

Mothers used play during routine instances of diapering, mealtimes, asthma treatments and other care-giving events, and to elicit cooperation, make unpopular routines tolerable for their children, or help them recover from disappointment and distress. Play sessions served a vital role in everyday child learning, and mothers said it provided “a window” into their children’s minds or worlds. It also gave children an opportunity to “be in control and initiate activities.”

The child-led play techniques employed quite naturally by mothers often differ in character from interventionist techniques employed in more clinical settings. One mother told the interviewer, “It is very important to me that Elizabeth be able to take initiative …that she is not always manipulated and worked on; that she is the one that initiates play and others respond to her. It has to do with ownership … it is important that she feels a sense of ownership in interactions with others and of her own learning process.”

Another mother “wondered if others believed her when she told them what her child did at home because her child didn’t show that same competence in the play group.”

According to the authors, play not only contributes to learning and development in all children, including those with disabilities, but it contributes in other ways that people don’t often consider: It is valued by mothers as a deeply human behavior, it contributes to a sense of agency and identity, and it is at the heart of equity and inclusion in child culture. Mothers in this study spoke of their children as being imaginative and competent players in contrast to their “given” identities as disabled.

By learning about familiar play in the home and ways mothers support the play, interventionists might better understand how to support children’s play in early care and education settings. Researchers found that mothers protected and nurtured their child’s play in the home with the hope that their child would use that play as a means for participation as they moved into the world.

How to Manage Generation Y

Workers born in 1978 and later need strong leadership, says Bruce Tulgan, author of the book Not Everyone Gets a Trophy. If you’ve recently hired an employee between the ages of 19 and 31, you may already know what he’s talking about. And, in your efforts to find out how best to manage this age group, you may have come across what some other experts advise: that you need to try to make the workplace more fun, focus on praise and rewards, and thank them for just showing up on time.

“This approach is all wrong and is totally out-of-touch with reality, especially right now in these hard economic times,” Tulgan insists. He urges managers of Gen Y employees to:

• Never undermine your own authority.
• Never pretend that the job is going to be more than it is.
• Never suggest that things are up to Gen Y-ers when they’re not.
• Never gloss over details.
• Never let problems slide.
• Never offer praise or rewards for less-than-excellent performance.

In his book, Tulgan lists 14 myths about this generation of workers and explains, instead, the reality. Here are a few.

Myth: Gen Y-ers are disloyal and unwilling to make real commitment to their employers.

Reality: They can be very loyal, but not blindly. They will not tightly observe rites of passage or display patience for recognition and rewards. Instead, their loyalty is the kind you get in the free market – whatever you can negotiate. It’s the same kind you extend to your customers. “We call it ‘just-in-time’ loyalty,” said Tulgan.

Myth: They don’t do grunt work.

Reality: They are so eager to prove themselves that they will do anything you want them to do, but they need to make sure that someone is keeping track of it and giving them credit. “They are not about to do the grunt work in exchange for vague, long-term promises of rewards in the vast and distant future.”

Myth: They want their managers to do their work for them.

Reality: They want their managers to spend time teaching them how to do their work very well and very fast.

Myth: They want the top job on day one.

Reality: They have no interest in taking the time to get “a feel for the place.” They want to identify problems that no one else has identified, solve problems that nobody else has solved, make existing things better and invent new things.

Yes, Gen Y-ers are often amazingly advanced in their knowledge and skills at a very young age, yet they often lack maturity when it comes to the old-fashioned basics of productivity, quality and behavior. What’s worse, managers often report that Gen Y-ers tend to be unaware of gaps in these basic skills and are completely unconcerned about it. Managers can help them fill in the gaps one at a time by teaching them the basics of self-management, which include:

• Making the most of their time.
• Devising and following a plan.
• Taking notes and using checklists.
• Understanding the value of good workplace citizenship.
• Practicing the habits of critical thinking.

Then, urge them to ask these questions on an ongoing basis:

• Am I getting enough work done fast enough? What can I do to get more work done faster?
• Should I revisit my priorities? Do I need to postpone low-priority activities?
• How can I eliminate time wasters? Do I need better time budgets? Do I need to make better plans?
• Am I meeting or exceeding guidelines and specifications for my tasks and responsibilities? What can I do to improve? Do I need to make better use of checklists?
• Are there substandard behaviors I can eliminate? Are there superstar behaviors I can start adding? Should I be taking more initiative or less?

Tulgan says that Gen Y-ers need their supervisors to guide, direct and support them every step of the way. That means committing to high-maintenance management. “In return,” he says, “you’ll get the highest-performing workforce in history.”

Bruce Tulgan is the author or coauthor of 16 books, including Managing Generation X and the bestseller, It’s Okay to Be the Boss. He is recognized internationally as a leading expert on young people in the workplace, and is founder of the management-training firm RainmakerThinking.

Moms Believe in Blogs

Promoting your day care center or preschool on mommy blogs and social networking sites is a no-brainer. Moms love to get on their computers, not only to research and make purchasing decisions, but also to connect with other moms. An article on www.marketingsherpa.com notes that moms perceive blogs to be very credible sources of information. Why not come up with some ways to have them mention your services, or form partnerships with them?

Experts estimate that moms control 85 to 90 percent of household spending. They also say that in these tight-fisted times, moms are focusing on their families first.

What blogs are best for you to focus on? To narrow down choices, MarketingSherpa advises using Technorati (www.technorati.com), a blog search engine that indexes more than 1.5 million new blog posts in real time. “Try searching for keywords like ‘mom blog’ or ‘parenting,’” advises the article. “Find the number of blogs that link to the site where it says ‘authority’ next to each result. The higher the number, the more popular the site. Target these popular mom blogs with your messaging.”

Social networking sites are other avenues to pursue. A few sites that were mentioned in the article include:

• www.cafemom.com, the largest social-networking/community site for moms, and also the leading women’s and parenting site on the Internet. In 2007, CafeMom was ranked the eighth fastest-growing site by Web analytics company Compete (compete.com).

• www.workitmom.com, a community designed as a place where working moms can share their experiences, advice and support to help make the juggling act of work, home and family more manageable.

• www.mamasource.com, a site that offers moms “advice, local resources and reviews you need in a supportive community of moms helping moms.”

Create a newsletter and e-mail it. Immediately.

Sixty-three percent of moms get e-newsletters from one to five senders, according to statistics from the Lucid Marketing/E-mailLabs 2005 study on effective e-mail marketing to moms. Over 35 percent prefer to receive e-mail weekly, 33 prefer monthly and 23 prefer every two weeks. (Lucid is a mom-marketing firm.)

The “from” line carries a lot of weight, says Kevin Burke, Lucid Marketing founder. “We found that when moms are browsing their inboxes, the ‘from’ line is very important to them, more so than just the subject line,” he said. “They give the ‘from’ name more interest.”

At the same time you consider advertising on websites and e-mail marketing options, think about reaching moms in more traditional ways, with an ad in their favorite local magazine, for instance, and on the radio. Even though online media and blogs are grabbing their attention, moms continue to read magazines geared toward them. They also spend plenty of time in their cars.