ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the most contested and controversial pair of concepts in early childhood education (ECE): play and learning. First, we review the traditional and contemporary views and theories about play, focusing on its historical evolvement. Second, we review the conventional and contemporary definitions of learning and systematically present a multilevel, multidimensional, and multistage theory about learning. Third, we interpret the coexistence of play and learning as a coherent natural whole from the metaphor of three blind individuals and that of the Chinese Tai Chi yin-yang philosophy. We also offer examples of the conceptualization and treatment of play and learning from different cultural contexts. Finally, we conclude by recommending the continued imperative of including both play and learning in the professional discourse of ECE.
Play and learning are the most contested and controversial pair of concepts in early ECE. During the past century, there have been heated debates and misunderstandings about this dyad, largely because some scholars and educators interpret their dynamic and complex relationships from the extreme binary framework: play versus learning. However, this dichotomy is misinterpreting and misleading, thereby becoming counterproductive to our understanding of the two concepts (play and learning) individually and collectively. Therefore, in this chapter, we systematically review the dyad from a theoretical perspective and introduce the new hybridity or fusion of the two concepts as an intricate pair, one complementing rather than conflicting the other and without which the natural development of children is hampered. We interpret the coexistence of play and learning as a coherent natural whole from the metaphor of three blind individuals and that of the Chinese Tai Chi yin-yang philosophy. To conclude, we recommend the continued imperative of including both play and learning in the professional discourse of ECE.
