Early Childhood Education is a field that is evolving some believe for the

for the good. This is most evident with the move towards pushing more formal

instruction and academic skills in preK/ preschool settings. On the other side of this

controversy early childhood educators and child developmentalist alike agree that

school readiness has nothing to do with academic training but has everything to do

with providing our youngest learners an environment where they construct their

knowledge and understanding. It is an environment in which adults provide

experiences that will develop their ways of thinking, develop socially appropriate

behaviors, develop communication and interactions with peers. It is in those

interactions with …show more content…
These leading activities that take the form of

make believe play in preschool and kindergarten were of important to Vygotsky

because play is a social experience that as children engage in it they develop social,

emotional, language and other cognitive abilities such as problem solving.

In he article “Make believe play versus academic skills: a Vygotskian approach

to today’s dilemma of early childhood education”, Elena Bodrova discusses the

challenges and pressures of teaching academic skills at an earlier age, the

divide and effects between teaching academic skills vs. make believe play, how

the Vygotskian approach actually prepares students academically through make

believe play and the integral role of adults in scaffolding play of young children.

Bodrova (2008) points to the fact that academically oriented preschool programs do

not necessarily guarantee future academic success. In fact preschool programs

whose focus is on teaching academic skills through direct instruction has the

opposite effect. Research has shown that children who engage in this type

of experience beforehand are at risk for developing social and emotional …show more content…
Play is a precondition for learning and teachers who work with

young children can support the development of what Vygotsky calls symbolic

function: “Children who have attained this accomplishment are able to use objects,

actions, words and people to stand for something else” Bodrova(2007) by using the

the techniques of Elkonin (1978) of planning ahead , modeling play roles, modeling

the use of symbolic function, which is at the heart of Vgostsky’S scaffolding, modeling,

and guided participation. The divide that exist between the promoting of play and

the teaching of academic skills has become in the opinion of Bodrova (2008) as a

competition as to which is better for young children. The focus should be that play

should be seen as a vehicle to augment academic learning and not be a rival of it.

In the article “Young Einstein’s: Much too Early” the author David Elkind a child

psychologist and professor unabashedly talks about the roots of academic instruction which lead

to the creation of Head Start. The roots of Head Start coming from Lyndon Johnson’s War