Play-Based Learning: Air and Flight Concepts in Early Childhood

This essay explores the use of play theory to teach kindergarten children about air and flight. It highlights the importance of hands-on activities in science education, referencing concepts like light, sound, force, and matter. The essay includes two illustrations of learning-through-play activities: collecting air in a plastic bag and using a plastic cup to demonstrate atmospheric pressure. Each illustration provides context, analysis of children's learning, and analysis of intentional teaching by the preschool educator, focusing on scaffolding techniques. The activities are aligned with the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF), promoting children's engagement, confidence, and active learning. The essay concludes that play-based learning is more effective than direct instruction for teaching science concepts to young children and encourages curiosity and participation in further learning.

Running head: AIR AND FLIGHT
AIR AND FLIGHT
Name of student:
Name of university:
Author note:

1AIR AND FLIGHT
Introduction
Studies have shown that teaching and learning science through the play theory is not
just include the vigorous participation of the children but promotes the learning of different
concepts or a phenomenon through the hands-on activities (Fensham, Gunstone and White
1994). Some of the important concepts in science taught to children through the theory of
play is light, vision and color, sound and music, working scientifically, force and motion,
physical changes matter, bodies and skeletons, chemical change, electricity, magnetism and
air and flight among others (Sumsion and Wong 2011). Through the incorporation and
implementation of the play theory, children are capable of making distinction between
observations and inferences. The play method along with the scaffolding technique
empowers children to probe, engage in investigative questions, plan experiments and argue
from the given evidence (Weisberg, Hirsh-Pasek, Golinkoff, Kittredge and Klahr 2016). This
paper aims to explore about the concept of air and flight taught to kindergarten children
through the method of play in the classroom. This paper will further explore the effectiveness
of this teaching method and the participation of others in enabling the children to grasp the
concept of science.
Illustration 1: Describe the type of learning-through-play science related activity which you
have observed
Context and Analysis
Kindergarten children aged between 3-5 years were asked to take a plastic bag and
collect air. As studies have shown for children, air is representative of breeze or wind.
Children are of the view that air exists solely in the outer space. Once on obtaining the plastic
bag, the children ran around the entire room and were enthusiastically engaged in collecting
air. Some children blew the plastic bag and tried to blow it as much as possible in attempt to

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collect air. Other children were present and involved in the activity with these children. The
science topic for this activity is Air and Flight and the specific concept is that Air is all
around us.
Children’s learning
Analyse and discuss this data to identify children’s learning of the science
concept(s).
Through this activity of collecting air, children learnt that air is omnipresent. It is
because as they will try to collect air, they will come to understand that air is present
everywhere. Through the collection of air via the plastic bag the children would realize that
air is present everywhere even within the plastic bag. Air cannot be seen but it can be felt and
it is everywhere.
Intentional learning
Analyse the intentional teaching of the pre-school educator and include discussion on:
The teacher introduced the concept of air is everywhere and wanted the students to
imbibe the concept. The principles of scaffolding technique are that it recognizes the strength
of each child and then model the technique based on the developmental need of the child. In
this case, the scaffolding technique was used to challenge the child to explore a new concept
through play (Bergen 2014). Therefore, in this case, the scaffolding technique was used for
hands-on learning. Through the integration of the scaffolding technique and the activity of
collecting, the children learnt about the concept of air are all around us. This would help
enable children to link ideas with the materials. Learning this in a group activity in a playful
manner would allow the children to remember the concept better.

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Illustration 2: Describe the type of learning-through-play science related activity which you
have observed
Context and analysis
Kindergarten children who are aged between 3 to 5 were instructed to make a hole in
the bottom of the plastic cup. Then, the parents who were also present in the activity were
asked to hold the cup underwater. Next, the water had to pull out the water in a slow motion,
upside down with the finger on the hole. The science topic in this activity is Air and flight
and the concept of science that is being taught to children is that atmosphere exerts water
surface. Whatever space the air is allowed it will fill it up.
Analysis1: Analyse and discuss this data to identify children’s learning of the science
concept(s).
The children found that the water stays in the cup despite the hole in the glass. Therefore, the
children learnt that the atmosphere exerts pressure and whatever space will be left it will be
filled up by air (VanHoorn, Nourot, Scales and Alward 2014). The resources used in the task
were a clear plastic cup, heated needle and a container with water. This task enabled children
to understand that the heated needle during the making if the hole in glass inserted hot air.
This heat in the air on interacting with finger helped to prevent the flow of water.
Analysis 2: Analyse the intentional teaching of the pre-school educator and include
discussion on:
The teachers set up this learning activity with the aim of fostering this concept in the
minds of the children. As has been discussed the purpose of the scaffolding technique is to
challenge the children and enable to learn, inculcate and retain a concept in a playful manner.
Participating in this activity with the parents enabled them to learn the social skills of the

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modelling language. The use of glass, water container and heated needle, the task involving
parents and children, and the understanding of the concept of atmosphere exerts pressure on
all surfaces. In this case, the space that as left between the finger and the edges of the hole in
the glass prevented water from flowing out. In this case, the participation of parents with
children has enabled a collaborative learning (Leong and Bodrova 1996).
Conclusion
It has been found that the children’s learning of science through the play method
facilities a better understanding of the concepts of science. This is more useful and impactful
compared to teaching children through the direct instructional method. These two illustrations
are connected with Early Year Learning Framework (EYLF) as in these children feel
connected with and learn their role in contributing to the world. These activities will foster
confidence among the children and turn them into involved and active learners that are
another feature of EYLF (Tytler 2002). Another reason that proves that these illustrations are
associated with EYLF is that these activities demonstrated that teachers or educators play an
active role in the planning, implementation and the evaluation of the quality of early
childhood settings. These activities will not just foster the concepts of science but further
encourage children to become curious and participate in more such activities. The term
intentional teaching refers to teaching pre-primary children with a goal. The notion is to
accomplish a plan where the role of the teacher is to act with a specific goal for children
according to their environment. This approach of teaching is targeted at the holistic
development of the child. Intentional teaching is known for using a wide range of techniques
that are instructional in nature. This is done with the purpose finding out the best possible
technique for teaching.

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Reference
Bergen, D., 2014. Foundations of play theory. The SAGE handbook of play and learning in
early childhood, pp.9-21.
Fensham, P.J., Gunstone, R.F. and White, R.T. eds., 1994.The content of science: A
constructivist approach to its teaching and learning. Psychology Press.
Leong, D. and Bodrova, E., 1996. Tools of the mind the Vygotskian approach to early
childhood education.
Radford, J., Bosanquet, P., Webster, R. and Blatchford, P., 2015. Scaffolding learning for
independence: Clarifying teacher and teaching assistant roles for children with special
educational needs. Learning and Instruction, 36, pp.1-10.
Sumsion, J. and Wong, S., 2011. Interrogating ‘belonging’in belonging, being and becoming:
The early years learning framework for Australia. Contemporary Issues in Early
Childhood, 12(1), pp.28-45.
Tytler, R., 2002. Teaching for understanding in science: Constructivist/conceptual change
teaching approaches.Australian Science Teachers Journal, 48(4), p.30.
Weisberg, D.S., Hirsh-Pasek, K., Golinkoff, R.M., Kittredge, A.K. and Klahr, D., 2016.
Guided play: Principles and practices. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 25(3),
pp.177-182.
VanHoorn, J., Nourot, P.M., Scales, B. and Alward, K.R., 2014. Play at the center of the
curriculum. Pearson Higher Ed.

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Appendix
Illustration 1
Context 4.) Question Teacher: Have you collected air?
Children in kindergarten: Yes we did!
Teacher: Where is it?
Children: It is inside the plastic bag!
Illustration 2
Context 4.) Question Teacher: Have you made the hole in the glass?
Parents and children: Yes we did!
Teacher: What have you observed from the experiment?
Children: The water stays inside the glass when I have blocked the
hole of the glass with my finger!