Chen Yidan, LEGO foundations release report on learning through play

Members of the Chen Yidan Foundation and the LEGO Foundation unveil a report on learning through play at a ceremony in Shenzhen on Sunday. Photos courtesy of the organizers

A report on the impact that learning through play can bring to children was jointly released by the Chen Yidan Foundation and the LEGO Foundation on Sunday.

Entitled“Where Global Science Meets Playful Learning: Implications for Home, School, Cities and Digital Spaces — A Special Focus on China,” the report, which is based on worldwide studies on the connections between play and learning and with a focus on China, points out that play holds a key role in promoting healthy brain development and helping children pick up the skills they need in this ever-changing era. Encouraging and practicing learning through play, according to the report, serves as an effective way to cultivate talents in the face of a future of increasing uncertainty.

The report is based on worldwide studies on the connections between play and learning and with a focus on China.

With latest feedback from parents and educators in China and the United States, the report also explores how learning through play in both physical and virtual environments can benefit children, and provides advice for sustainable education policies.

Dr. Bo Stjerne Thomsen, vice president and chair of Learning through Play at the LEGO Foundation, shared with journalists via video conference at a ceremony in Shenzhen on Sunday afternoon how learning through play helps children to have a deeper understanding of knowledge and helps cultivate lifelong learners who can apply the knowledge they learn to solve practical problems. In addition to briefing those present on the benefits of learning through play, he also pointed out that learning through play can happen not only in schools but also in homes and in public places such as libraries, museums and science centers, highlighting the significance of building urban spaces that are suitable for engaging kids in the practice.

In the context of artificial intelligence developing at an unprecedented speed, Dr. Thomsen also shared his views on the impact artificial intelligence may bring to learning though play, and how parents and schools can leverage the technologies to diversify learning through different approaches to play

One of an array of achievements of the Chen Yidan Foundation and the LEGO Foundation’s joint project on learning through play, which dates back to 2020 and was launched on the basis of the two foundations’ common focus on future learning patterns and the consensus on the importance of playful learning, the report is the result of collaboration among research teams from U.S. and Chinese institutions such as Temple University, Tsinghua University, University of Delaware and University of California, Berkeley.

In another development, a book on learning through play in China by Peking University Professor Shang Junjie is soon to be released. With extensive research on learning through play practices in China, the book will shed a light on how learning through play is developing in China, obstacles caregivers and educators face when promoting learning through play, and how to better engage children in such practices.