ABSTRACT
What if the environment could be transformed in culturally-responsive and inclusive ways to foster high-quality interactions and spark conversations that drive learning? In this article, we describe a new initiative accomplishing this, called Playful Learning Landscapes (PLL). PLL is an evidence-based initiative that blends findings from the science of learning with community-based participatory research to transform physical public spaces and educational settings into playful learning hubs. Here, we describe our model for conducting this research, which is mindful of three key components: community input, how children learn best, and what children need to learn to be successful in the 21st century economy. We describe how this model was implemented in two PLL case studies: one in a predominantly Latine community and the second in early childhood education classrooms. Furthermore, we describe how research employing our model can be rigorously and reliably evaluated using observational and methodological tools that respond to diverse cultural settings and learning outcomes. For example, our work evaluates how PLL impacts adult-child interaction quality and language use, attitudes about play and learning, and community civic engagement. Taken together, this article highlights new ways to involve community voices in developmental and educational research and provides a model of how science can be translated into practice and evaluated in culturally responsive ways. This synthesis of our process and evaluation can be used by researchers, policymakers, and educators to reimagine early educational experiences with an eye toward the built environment that children inhabit in everyday life, creating opportunities that foster lifelong learning.
ABSTRACT
Creativity is typically measured using divergent thinking tasks where participants are asked to generate multiple responses following a prompt. However, being able to generate responses captures only a partial picture of creativity. Convergent thinking, in which a single solution is chosen, is an equally important part of creativity that is often left out of divergent thinking assessments. Moreover, as the field of creativity evolves, exploration is starting to be recognized as an understudied component of how children generate and apply creative solutions. The current study moved beyond typical divergent thinking tasks and examined a measure of creativity that also captured 4- to 6-year-old children's convergent thinking and exploration behaviors. A total of 130 children participated in a creative problem-solving task where they were asked to remove a ball from a jar using everyday objects. Children's actions were coded as divergent thinking, convergent thinking, or exploration behaviors. Results demonstrated that divergent and convergent thinking performance was not associated with success on the task, indicating that simply generating and selecting more responses is not always enough to achieve a creative outcome. Children's exploration behaviors were positively associated with success on the task. Exploration behaviors were more likely to lead to success if they were purposeful and iterative. These findings provide some of the first evidence that children's exploration is a vital component of creativity.
