Expanding Fröebel's garden: the effect of play on adolescents cognitive development

Abstract

This study explored the relationship of play and cognitive development in adolescents. The research design was a quantitative study that consisted of two groups of participants who engaged in either a computer program (work condition) to test cognitive skills or a computer game (play condition) that contains the same tests. The participants were 167 adolescent male students aged 14-19 from urban mid-Atlantic Catholic high schools. The results indicated that adolescent males performed the cognitive tasks of memory and reading better in the play condition than they did in the work condition and performed the cognitive tasks of logic and mathematics better in the work condition than in the play condition. Differences in performance related to age were not present. The findings suggest that play may have a significant effect on adolescents cognitive development. © 2012 Taylor & Francis.