Vital Role of Play in Healthy Development of a Child - Research Paper Example

The Vital Role of Play in Ensuring Healthy Development of the Child and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Relationships by: [date of submission] The Vital Role of Play in Ensuring Healthy Development of the Child and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Relationships The United Nations High Commission for Human Rights recognizes play as a child’s basic human right (UN General Assembly, 1989). Meanwhile, several researchers (Fox, 2008; Ginsburg, 2007) show that play is an integral part of a child’s development.

According to Ginsburg (2007), “play…contributes to the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being of children and youth” (p.182) and it presents an opportunity for parents to truly bond with their children. Despite its importance however, Ginsburg says that child-driven play in school has reduced over the years and he believes that it has led to several issues such as the difficulty of children to learn. Note, however, that Ginsburg’s study is no more than a collation of materials written about the topic of play, how it affects child development and parent-child relationships.

He did not launch his own research to find out if these variables truly have connections with each other. Hence, this research aims to back up Ginsburg’s claims with statistical data. Here are some of the research questions addressed by this study: Research Questions: To what extent does free play in early childhood education affect childhood development as measured by a child’s learning behaviors and problem solving skills? Design and Sampling Requirements: This research can use combined qualitative and quantitative methodologies to address the research question.

For this study, 30 cases will suffice because it will utilize an interview schedule for data gathering. The interview will involve both students (children) and their teachers (or nurturers) in ntheir early childhood schooling. Teachers will be asked to assess their students’ learning abilities and problem-solving capabilities using several indicators. Assessment through the Likert scale can be used. Meanwhile, background information on the children such as the number of free play hours in early childhood schools will also be gathered.

Correlational statistics and hypothesis testing will be used to analyze the data. Works Cited Fox, J. E. (2008). Back-to-Basics: Play in Early Childhood. Early Childhood News. Retrieved October 7, 2011, from http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID=240 Ginsburg, K. R. (2007). The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bond (pp. 182-191). doi:10.1542/peds.2006-269 UN General Assembly. (1989). Convention on the Rights of a Child.

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.