Benefit of symbolic play

符号游戏的好处

1.符号游戏和语言发展

Geva （2015 年）提出的问题。首先，研究人员培训数据收集员每两周对有 6 至 18 个月大儿童的家庭进行一次家访。

向婴儿展示了 50 件物品，他们的游戏行为被录像了一小时。这些物体在大小、形状、颜色和质地方面各不相同。

随后根据以下条件对视频进行分析和编码：符号游戏的类型（例如，单一对象动作或对象序列动作）和声音输出（例如，喋喋不休，单字发音）。这个分类方案总共产生了 288 个象征性的游戏场景。

对视频记录的分析表明，单一对象游戏出现在大约 8 个月大时，单一对象序列出现在 10 个月大，多对象游戏和序列出现在 12 个月左右。牙牙学语发生在大约 10 个月大时，一个单词的发音发生在大约 12 个月大时。

结果表明符号游戏在后来的语言发展中的重要性。

根据研究人员的说法， “这项研究的主要发现是，在随后出现的所有符号和音频语音里程碑的长期发展中，单一对象游戏的启动所起的主要作用”（第 157 页） 。

2.换位思考

角色扮演是象征性游戏的一种形式。这不仅有趣，而且还可以帮助孩子培养换位思考能力，这是同理心和情商的组成部分。出于这个原因，许多教师喜欢将角色扮演活动融入学生的课程中。

例如，为了帮助孩子们了解保护和保护动物栖息地的价值，一位三年级老师设计了一个巧妙的角色扮演活动。

首先，她在教室的一个角落创建了一个模拟丛林栖息地。然后她让几个孩子在一出戏里扮演不同的角色。角色包括：一只母虎、两只幼崽、游客、导游、旅馆老板和偷猎者。

该剧包括两个场景。第一幕，游客拍照时老虎和幼崽一起玩耍。场景结束时，游客们返回酒店，支付房费和晚餐，然后上床睡觉。酒店老板表示感谢。

在场景二中，偷猎者绑架了老虎并将它们卖给了三个不同的动物园。游人回栖，见无所见，遂退房而归。酒店老板看起来很伤心。

学生们演出一周，每次轮流扮演不同的角色。下周，老师举行课堂讨论，让学生轮流戴上每个角色的帽子，并从该角色的角度谈论发生的事情。

3. 角色扮演、蝙蝠侠和执行功能 (EF)

角色扮演是象征性游戏的一种形式，是全世界幼儿园课堂上的常见活动。孩子们喜欢通过戴上象征这些角色的帽子和服装来假装成其他角色，并帮助他们完全沉浸在角色中。

角色扮演还可以改善执行功能 (EF)，它被定义为“有意识地自上而下控制行动、思想和情绪所需的认知过程，并且与涉及前额叶皮层的神经系统相关” （穆勒和利本，2015 年，第 271 页）。

Veraksa等人。 (2019) 检验了角色扮演可以提高 EF 的假设。他们指派 80 名 5-6 岁的儿童扮演英雄、圣人、恶棍，或者根本没有角色（控制条件）。

对于男孩来说，英雄是蝙蝠侠，圣人是聪明的巫师，反派是俄罗斯文化中众所周知的角色。对于女孩子来说，女主是公主，圣人是睿智的女巫，反派是有名的女反派。孩子们穿着服装和配饰，帮助他们沉浸在角色中。

EF 的测量方式与之前的研究相同，被认为是有效的评估。

结果表明

“......处于 Sage 和 Control 条件下的儿童在 [EF] 任务中表现出显着改善。被要求扮演主角和恶棍的孩子在 [EF] 方面没有任何显着改善”（第 12 页）。

尽管角色扮演蝙蝠侠并未改善 EF，但作者认为这种体验可能在情绪上过于强烈，从而破坏了 EF。

4. 亲社会行为

维果茨基 (Vygotsky, 2004) 假设，结合了象征性游戏的想象游戏会告诉孩子在现实生活中什么是合适的。

在游戏中学到的教训被转移到现实中。 “这种将技能从想象世界转移到现实世界的能力得到了研究的支持……有助于发展对他人的社会关系、思维和情绪状态的理解……” （ Veraksa等人，2019 年，第 12 页） 3).

因此，老师们经常通过角色扮演的方式来教孩子正确的行为方式，如健康的习惯或如何处理各种社会问题。

它也可以用来教授安全课程。因此，戏剧Crash描述了两个家庭去超市的场景。

当一个家庭进入他们的汽车时，父母正在明确指示他们的孩子“系好安全带”，而孩子们则提醒他们的父母“不要 发短信或浏览互联网。”

随着对方一家人上车，场面更加混乱了。孩子们没有系好安全带，父母们正在发短信和打电话。

两辆车最终穿过小路并相撞。一个家庭逃脱了，只受了轻微的擦伤。然而，另一个家庭受了重伤，需要紧急护理；进入救护车和医院工作人员。

目标是让学生将在剧中学到的知识应用到现实生活中，最终帮助他们的家人养成安全习惯。

Benefits Of Symbolic Play

1. Symbolic Play And Language Development

This was the question addressed by Orr and Geva (2015). First, the researchers trained data collectors to make bi-weekly in-home visits to families with children 6 to 18 months of age.

Fifty objects were presented to the babies and their play behavior was videotaped for one hour. The objects differed in terms of size, shape, color, and texture.

The videos were later analyzed and coded according to: the type of symbolic play (e.g., single object action, or object sequence actions) and vocal output (e.g. babbling, one-word utterances). This classification scheme produced a total of 288 symbolic play scenes.

Analysis of the video recordings revealed that single-object play emerged at approximately 8 months of age, single-object sequences at 10 months, and multiple-object play and sequences at around 12 months. Babbling occurred at approximately 10 months and one-word utterances at around 12 months.

The results point to the importance of symbolic play in later linguistic development.

According to the researchers, “The key finding of this study is the primary role played by the initiation of single-object play in the long-term progression of all symbolic and audio-vocal milestones that arise thereafter” (p. 157).

2. Seeing From Other Perspectives

Role-playing is a form of symbolic play. It’s not only fun, but it can also help children develop perspective-taking skills, which is a component of empathy and emotional intelligence. For this reason, many teachers like to integrate role-playing activities into their students’ lessons.

For example, to help children understand the value of conservation and preserving animal habitats, a third-grade teacher has designed a clever role-playing activity.

First, she creates a mock jungle habitat in one corner of the classroom. Then she has several children play different roles in a play. The roles consist of: a mother tiger, two cubs, tourists, tour guide, hotel owner, and poacher.

The play involves two scenes. In scene one, the tiger and cubs play together as the tourists take photos. At the end of the scene, the tourists return to the hotel, pay for their room and dinner, and then go to bed. The hotel owner expresses gratitude.

In scene two, the poacher kidnaps the tigers and sells them to three different zoos. The tourists return to the habitat and see nothing, so they check out of the hotel and go home. The hotel owner looks quite sad.

The students run the play for a week, each time taking turns playing different roles. The next week, the teacher holds a class discussion wear students take turns wearing the hat for each role and talking about what happened from that character’s point of view.

3. Role-Playing, Batman, And Executive Function (EF)

Role-playing is a form of symbolic play and a common activity in kindergarten classrooms all over the world. Children love to pretend to be other characters by wearing hats and costumes that symbolize those characters and help them become fully immersed in the role.

Role-playing may also improve executive functioning (EF), which is defined as “cognitive processes that are required for the conscious, top-down control of action, thought, and emotions, and that are associated with neural systems involving the prefrontal cortex” (Müller &Liben, 2015, p. 271).

Veraksa et al. (2019) tested the hypothesis that role-playing could improve EF. They assigned 80 children, 5-6 years old, to play either a hero, a sage, a villain, or no character at all (control condition).

For boys, the hero was Batman, the sage was a wise sorcerer, and the villain was a well-known character in Russian culture. For girls, the heroine was a princess, the sage a wise sorceress, and the villain a well-known female villain. The kids wore costumes and accessories to help them become immersed in the character.

EF was measured the same way as in previous research and is considered a valid assessment.

The results showed that

“…children in the Sage and Control conditions showed significantly improved performance on [EF] tasks. Children who were asked to play protagonists and villains did not show any significant improvements in [EF]” (p. 12).

Although role-playing Batman did not improve EF, the authors suggest that the experience may have been too intense emotionally, which then disrupted EF.

4. Prosocial Behaviors

Vygotsky (2004) postulated that imaginary play, which incorporates symbolic play, informs the child about what is appropriate in real-life situations.

The lessons learned during play are transferred to reality. “This ability to transfer skills from the imaginary to the real world is supported by research….contributes to the development of an understanding of the social relations, thinking and emotional states of other people …” (Veraksa et al., 2019, p. 3).

Therefore, teachers often use role-playing to teach children about appropriate behavior in regards tohealthy habits or how to handle various social issues.

It can also be used to teach lessons about safety. Hence the play Crash, which depicts a scenario of two families going to the supermarket.

As one family enters their car, the parents are giving clear instructions for their children to “buckle-up,” while the kids remind their parents about“no texting or browsing the internet.”

As the other family enters their car, the scene is more chaotic. The kids don’t buckle-up and the parents are texting and making phone calls.

The two cars eventually cross paths and crash into each other. One family escapes with only slight bruises. The other family however, has serious injuries and need emergency care; enter the ambulance and hospital staff.

The goal is for the students to apply the lessons learned in the play to real life, and ultimately help their families practice safety habits.