Studio 4 | 7 Main Research Topics - (Follow up from last post)
1) More Than One Movement Pattern:
The benefits of sports participation were found to depend on particular combinations of multiple activities through sports. More specifically, children with more involvement with multiple sports or movement activities, have a positive youth development and contribution. This also means that children who are more active with multiple disciplines are also more likely to be physically apt later in life. For example, if they asked to climb a rope, the children who were more adventurous with their movement choices earlier in life, would be more likely to achieve the rope climb.
Repetition for a child in terms of play, makes the process hard for them to continue concentrating. At some point, they will get bored of their current activity and want to change it slightly or move on entirely. This is also why taking a child to a playground is entertaining for them. Through my part time job of coaching gymnastics, I observe children in this scenario and notice they like to bounce around the playground and climb up something once, then swing along something else.
More than child's play: Variable- and pattern-centered approaches for examining effects of sports participation on youth development. Zarrett, Nicole; Fay, Kristen; Li, Yibing; Carrano, Jennifer; Phelps, Erin; Lerner, Richard M.
Children’s attention span is significantly shorter than adults. A survey was done where children (4 years old) were compared to adults (25 years old) with small tasks in front of them. They found that children who were rated one standard deviation higher on attention span at age 4 had 48.7% greater odds of completing college by age 25. That is almost twice the chance of finishing school with a greater attention span. It was then proved that the greater the attention space is practised in early youth, the better that are likely to excel later in life at school and other personal activities and accomplishments.
McClelland, M. M., Acock, A. C., Piccinin, A., Rhea, S. A., & Stallings, M. C. (2013). Relations between preschool attention span-persistence and age 25 educational outcomes. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 28(2), 314-324.
McKay, B., & McKay, K. (2014, January 30). 11 exercises that will strengthen your attention and concentration | the art of manliness. Retrieved from http://www.artofmanliness.com/2014/01/30/your-concentration-training-program-11-exercises-that-will-strengthen-your-attention/
3) Using Curiosity as a Sense of Discovery:
Humans possess an inherent desire to discover uncertainty. Acting upon uncertainty is naturally more common, whether the consequences are in their favour or not. Children are naturally curious as well, if not more so than adults as they have not yet experienced a lot of life scenarios and are less likely to understand the feeling of fear and failure. As they start to get older, these children that didn’t try things when they are younger, struggle with saying yes to new experiences later in life. A lot of personality and habits are created a very young age.
Part of the curiosity is to find out the consequence, not the journey. Using the curiosity gap to improve health choices and enforcing healthy behaviour is also key through a process of giving enough information to intrigue, making the human take action, then gain the reward for exploring their curiosity, whether the result is good or bad in their favour.
Bergland, C. (2016, August 4). Curiosity: the good, the bad, and the double-edged sword | psychology today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-athletes-way/201608/curiosity-the-good-the-bad-and-the-double-edged-sword
4) Connection to Their Happy Place:
Play is practice. When a child is playing, their mind opens up to experience and imagination. There is growth in both the prefrontal cortex and the cerebellum + brain development at a young age which means the importance of play is strong.
When they are using their own minds to develop stories (often fantasies or a heightened version of a realistic situation they have seen on tv, or with their parents or friends) using imaginative play time forces children to conflict within themselves, calming or solving issues. For example, if the child doesn't particularly like going to the dentist, they could re act a scenario where they are the dentist and make the story better in their own mind - a form of reverse psychology.
Schlozman, S. (2016, August 5). When do kids get the time to play? | psychology today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/grand-rounds/201608/when-do-kids-get-the-time-play
Based on the research and my own experimentation with children at my work, I believe an act of kindness is a huge part of this project which can be easily included with great benefits. Helping someone else, not only helps the person in need, but also the person doing the deed. People who are generous and help out have higher self-esteem and overall well-being, alongside decreased stress levels and teaches humans to live through a good perspective on life and their choices.
“The mesolimbic pathway of the emotional part of the brain releases feel-good chemicals, triggering a feeling of physical energy. Thirteen percent of people also report alleviation of physical pain. So there really is joy in giving.” (Maran, M. 2009). Dopamine reinforces the human urge to do whatever feels good. Dopamine encourages us to hang out with people who are nice to us, savor a great meal, head for the hammock on a hot summer day, and do nice things for others. A sense of ‘elevation’ excites people, making them want to do it over and over again. This means it falls under the addiction category if taken too far.
Maran, M. (2009, June 1). The activism cure | greater good. Retrieved from http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/the_activism_cure/
Mehner, S. (2010, April 21). Kindness is contagious, new study finds | helix magazine. Retrieved from https://helix.northwestern.edu/article/kindness-contagious-new-study-finds
Yam, K. (2015, March 20). 10 facts that prove helping others is a key to achieving happiness. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/20/international-day-of-happiness-helping-_n_6905446.html
6) Different Abilities Mean Different Actions:
Every child is different in terms of their play methods and their thinking behind what they are and aren’t capable of. Studies were done with children 6-10yrs who were observed for 5-10min periods at a time. Social fantasy did not differ in the two groups tested, as this was a basis from where ‘play’ started, though social play differentiated significantly. The study proved that as social non-physical play decreased with age increase, some children with impaired coordination may not get as involved in social group physical play.
Children with impaired coordination can become isolated and feel lonely in the playground, making them more likely to not enjoy fantasy play, and/or more so experimental play with different shapes objects and textures. When creating our project, another very important aspect is having more than one option to the challenge and games we include.
Hand-eye co-ordination is also a key aspect around physical play. A study referenced below looked into the comparison between the individuals hand-eye motor coordination of gamers and non-gamers. It has been proved that gamers have significantly better hand-eye co-ordination than people who do no play games. This is an interesting study, which relates back to children and how many are growing up in the age where video gaming is totally normal and ‘healthy’.
Griffith, J. L., Voloschin, P., Gibb, G. D., & Bailey, J. R. (1983). Differences in eye-hand motor coordination of video-game users and non-users. Perceptual and motor skills, 57(1), 155-158.
Smyth, M. M., & Anderson, H. I. (2000). Coping with clumsiness in the school playground: Social and physical play in children with coordination impairments. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 18(3), 389-413.
7) Connection with their surroundings:
Children need to feel comfortable in their environment. This means that their safety is key as well as their mental stability around other children and ensure they feel comfortable with other children.
Safety and social factors emerged as important physical environment themes for not only the child, but the parent as well. The child's level of independence is influenced on their free-play and atmosphere (mainly based around social themes, facilities at parks and playgrounds and urban design factors). This means that if they are feeling truly comfortable in their surroundings, their level of exploration and discovery increases and would have a lot more fun role playing their fantasy/scenario.
If the area around them is also aesthetically pleasing (colourful, vibrant and simple - not too busy), the children are more likely to relate and enjoy their time in a play that makes them feel like they can be themselves and feel comfortable doing so.
Veitch, J., Bagley, S., Ball, K., & Salmon, J. (2006). Where do children usually play? A qualitative study of parents’ perceptions of influences on children's active free-play. Health & place, 12(4), 383-393.
