Mildred Parten, Smilansky, And Constructivism

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The Concepts of Play: Marten, Smilansky, and
Constructivism
American philosopher, writer, and arts and crafts supporter Elbert Hubbard once wrote: “The object of teaching a child is to enable him to get along without a teacher.” It should be our objective as teachers to aid and guide children into becoming self-sufficient, self-motivated, and creative critical thinkers.
Parten and Her Stages of Play Mildred Parten (1916-2009) was an American sociologist, theorist, and researcher. Parten is known for having developed the six stages of social play and its developmental impacts. Those stages are as follows: Unoccupied Behavior, Solitary Independent Play, Onlooker Behavior, Parallel Play, Associative Play, and Co-operative or Organized Supplementary …show more content…

“In Parten’s classification, the child’s movement from solitary play to more social categories of play is a positive developmental step.” Parten believed that solitary play was the least mature of types of play. However, contemporary research of older socially apt preschool children shows that solitary play may not be the product of social immaturity, but instead a personal choice of desirable play (Frost).
Smilansky and Her Stages of Play Sarah Smilansky () was a senior researcher at the Henrietta Szold Institute: The National Institute for Research in the Behavioral Sciences for the Ruth Bressler Center for Research in Education as well as a professor at Tel Aviv University (Resumes). She was also a contemporary of Jean Piaget. Like Mildred Parten, Sarah Smilansky is well known for her four stages of play. The four stages are: Functional Play, Constructive Play, Dramatic or Symbolic Play, and Games with Rules (On Track). In Functional Play, children are just beginning to learn and explore. They are examining and engaging with the world around them to learn the function of objects.
Piaget and

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