ABCs Plus Play Equal Pre-K Smarts

Nov. 14, 2008 -- Should preschool be more about ABCs or learning to play with others? With the help of Twiggle the Turtle, scientists found out that youngsters do better if they do both.

So concludes a major study in Head Start programs in Pennsylvania, research with implications for preschools and parents everywhere.

Face it, 4-year-olds are lovable but self-centered, impulsive and prone to meltdowns. Teaching them not to whack a classmate who snatches a toy is a big part of preschool socialization.

But growing awareness that early learning is important to future school achievement has put more pressure on preschool's academic side, especially efforts to eliminate achievement gaps between low-income and wealthier students.

Both skills are intertwined, said Penn State University psychology professor Karen Bierman, who led the new study.

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"If preschools focus just on the facts -- let's just get the letter knowledge in, let's just get the number knowledge in -- they're really missing the engine that's going to drive the desire and motivation for learning," she said.

To prove the relationship, Penn State researchers turned to Head Start, the federal preschool program for poor children.

With funding from the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies, they divided 44 Head Start classrooms with about 350 4-year-olds. Half taught a traditional Head Start curriculum.

The other half added to their traditional teaching a program called REDI Head Start that included weekly special social lessons -- puppets or stories that teach specific problem-solving skills.

Take Twiggle the Turtle. He pushed his friend after she knocked over his block tower, and thus couldn't play anymore. A wise old turtle told Twiggle that when he got upset, he should go inside his shell, take a deep calming breath, and say what bothered him and how it makes him feel: "It really made me mad that you knocked my blocks over."

Cross your arms to be like Twiggle in his shell, the teachers tell their preschoolers. Then practice what James might say if Suzie takes the toy he wants, or if Billy says something mean to Tommy.

Instead of the vague "use your words" advice that parents tend to spout, "be like Twiggle" became the theme and a good habit.

"What's really beautiful: You'll see children over in the blocks center and someone stands up and does the turtle and talks, and someone else does the turtle and talks, and then they sit down and play again," Bierman said.

Another enrichment tested: More intense reading-readiness instruction. It included interactive reading -- where the teacher asks questions after each page or so to work on vocabulary and comprehension -- and listening games to tease out discrete sounds in words. Both require self-control to focus.