My best friend told me about an article that one of her college friends had written for Newsweek (I had forgotten Newsweek was still around) about bi-polar disorder. While reading it, I saw an article on Executive Functioning, which is much more up my alley than reading about a suicidal 5 year old. The article describes a research program designed to teach EF skills to preschoolers and many of the examples it gives are a lot like games I played as a kid (like Simon Says). Which reminds me of a previous article I posted on the importance of play in cognitive development. The researchers later tested these kids and found that they did (surprise, surprise) score higher on EF tests than other students. There was no mention in the article if the children did better academically or behaviorially in the classroom but I would bet my cat that they are following them through elementary school.
What are your thoughts on all this new research pointing to the cognitive benefits of dramatic play?
Nature Scitable Bloggers Update
4 months ago
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