Play-Based Learning in Elementary Education: Fostering Engagement and Development

Abstract

The pedagogical approach that is being increasingly sought through play based learning (PBL) is being recognized as a method that facilitates holistic as well as engagement in elementary education. This article looks at how play based learning is vital in the development of young learners’ cognitive, social emotional and physical development and its implication for classroom practice. The research is based on qualitative and quantitative data obtained from a mixed methods study involving 150 elementary students and twenty educators from 5 schools in which strategies of structured and unstructured play activities are used to investigate their effects on academic motivation, creativity, problem solving skills, and peer collaboration. Learnings showed that play based learning environment increases student engagement by 78% as 78% of teachers observed improvement in attentiveness and participation. Furthermore, social emotional skills such as empathy, conflict resolution, self-regulation, among others, were linked with students' use of PBL as they used to navigate shared play scenarios. It also identifies challenges of implementation of PBL, in particular curriculum alignment, resource constraint, and misconceptions about play as an activity that is not academic. The article argues that a pedagogical balance should be made between the play and in the curricular goals by integrating theoretical frameworks from Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory and Dewey’s experiential learning. Educators should be recommended to design play infused lesson plans, policy reform to prioritize PBL in national standards, and strategies of assessment to determine developmental outcomes through play. The significance of the findings of this research demonstrates that child centered elementary education cannot exist without play at its core as a cornerstone of all meaningful, developmentally appropriate learning experiences.

Keywords: Play-Based Learning, Elementary Education, Student Engagement, Cognitive Development, Social-Emotional Skills, Creative Problem-Solving, Experiential Learning, Curriculum Integration, Teacher Training, Holistic Development