Doris Bergen has promoted the value of play since seeing its effect on students during her days as an elementary school teacher and a pre-kindergarten program director. Her subsequent career in higher education focused primarily on the developmental effects of play, particularly pretend play, and the effects of play on education and classroom practice, technology-facilitated play, social interactions among autistic children, humor development in gifted children, and cross-cultural play. She has published twelve books as well as more than 60 refereed articles and book chapters on play. She served for eleven years as Educational Psychology Department Chair at Miami University in Ohio, where she also co-directed the Center for Human Development, Learning, & Technology.
Most Influential Work:
- “The Role of Pretend Play in Children’s Cognitive Development” (Early Childhood Research & Practice, 2002).
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