PLAY AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THINKING IN CHILDREN

Noraziah, Abdul Aziz and Netty Yushani, Yusof, eds. (2009) PLAY AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THINKING IN CHILDREN. Educational Management and Leadership Series . Institut Aminuddin Baki, Genting Highlands, Pahang. ISBN 9789839479614

Preview

PDF - Published Version Download (630kB) | Preview

Abstract

Play is universally common to all cultures and it is the life blood of childhood. What is play then? It is very difficult to define the word precisely for it has ambiguous in meaning. Psychologists and researchers in child development define the word differently. Sheridan (1977) for instance, defines play as 'eager engagement in pleasurable physical or mental effort to obtain emotional satisfaction', while Aldis (1975) vaguely remarked play as 'principally a behaviour of the young' and so does Wood (1981) who defines it as 'a twilight area of life, a very curious activity and it fulfils many purposes'. Reilly (1974) defines it as 'an external expression of the developmental processes. On the other hand Hurlock (1972) explained play as 'any activity engaged in for the enjoyment it gives'. We tend to favour Stallibrass (1974) definition more when he regards play 'as almost anything a child does when it is not obliged to be doing something else is called play and all the things that children do purely for the joy of it are quite rightly called play'. Development as explain by Oxford English Dictionary simply as growth, evolution, stage of advancement. Thinking is again another word which is very ambiguous in meaning, and there is no simple definition to this abstract yet universally known word. Technically, according to Ray (1967) Thinking is something people do. 'It is a sort of behaviour, an activity, an idea, a concept, a cognition is an event; it is something which occurs ...' Nevertheless according to Vinarke (1952) 'thinking is purely human characteristics which distinguishes man from the lower animals' and that 'thinking is any non perceptual process or activity not predominantly perceptual by which one apprehends an object or some aspects of an object or situation'.

Actions (login required)

View Item