Preschool-aged children, from 3 to 5 years of age, are at a transitional period in their overall development. They are developing and honing cognitive abilities through many different processes and practices. One approach to improving these abilities is game based learning. More specifically, I will explore how the game Concentration, a matching card game, can both influence and enhance cognition, behavior, and emotional development in these children.
The game of Concentration can be played by multiple players. The basic concept of the game is finding matching pairs from a collection of cards that are displayed face down. During a player’s turn, he or she chooses two cards to flip over. If the cards are a match, the player keeps the pair and
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This process of learning rules, and subsequently following these rules, are integral in the development of many processes. In order to have an effective teacher-learner relationship, a basic understanding of perspective-taking is required by both parties. By learning and following the rules of the game, the child then learns to focus his or her behavior with the intent of reaching a goal or completing a task – this is known as self-regulation. This type of self-control typically emerges around the age of 4, but introducing the concept earlier on may lead the child to progress more quickly when it comes to other cognitive abilities. Being able to focus his or her attention to either the instructions or the game itself is a task for preschoolers, but the ability to direct one’s attention without distraction is needed for effective …show more content…
How well a child performs in each of these areas of executive function correlates to improved cognitive abilities later in development. As the child retains the instructional information received prior to playing the game, he or she must have the ability to process the incoming information quickly and efficiently in order gain a complete understanding of the game’s objective. Once the objective is known and the child engages, he or she will use that information to make decisions about his or her approach. The younger the child, the more challenging it is to grasp the concept of the game is and the less strategy is involved; both will improve over time with exposure and experience. As children grow older, their speed of processing increases, and they can make effective decisions more