Publication Date

12-2019

Date of Final Oral Examination (Defense)

11-14-2019

Type of Culminating Activity

Dissertation

Degree Title

Doctor of Education in Curriculum and Instruction

Department

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies

Supervisory Committee Chair

Eun Hye Son, Ph.D.

Supervisory Committee Member

Maggie Chase, Ph.D.

Supervisory Committee Member

Stan Steiner, Ph.D.

Abstract

The implementation of strict academic requirements is replacing play as a previously widely accepted developmentally appropriate practice in kindergarten classrooms around the United States, resulting in an imbalance in cultivating the whole child. Research focused on the importance of play in children’s cognitive, linguistic, physical, moral, creative, emotional and artistic development exists. Couched in Vygotsky’s social development theory and the Reggio Emilia principle this ethnographic case study investigates how kindergarteners demonstrate literacy learning, practice and mastery of Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CC.ELA) through imaginative play in a negotiated environment. Research outcomes suggested that negotiated play appears to provide a recursive teaching practice and mindset whereby children learn, practice and demonstrate understanding of Common Core English Language Arts Standards standards through imaginative play in the official, unofficial and imagined spaces of a classroom, rich with literacy learning opportunities.

DOI

10.18122/td/1634/boisestate

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