A meta-analysis study by Skene et al. aimed to examine the effectiveness of guided play on children’s learning progress, especially in Early Childhood Education (ECE). It also studied how guided play is being conceptualized and implemented in experimental studies.
Guided play is a type of play-based learning that requires adults to provide guidance during children’s playing while still honoring children’s autonomy and choice. This meta-analysis reviewed 39 studies, of which 17 studies were included. In these studies, children aged from 1 to 8 years were included regardless of their gender, race, and other factors such as socioeconomic status. The studies included randomized controlled trials, in which participants were assigned randomly into control groups, and non-randomized controlled trials.
