Kathy Hirsh-Pasek is unequivocal about the importance of unstructured play for children to learn and thrive. Her research examines the development of early language and literacy as well as the role of play in learning. Together with her longtime colleague Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, she has written hundreds of articles and 14 books, including several for the general public, examining the importance of play and advocating to preserve unstructured playtime as an essential element of children’s education. She is currently the Stanley and Debra Lefkowitz Faculty Fellow in the Department of Psychology at Temple University and a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and in 2021 was elected to the National Academy of Education. She is co-director of Temple University’s Infant and Child Laboratory.
Most Influential Work:
- In 2005 she organized the Play=Learning research conference at Yale with Dr. Golinkoff and Dr. Dorothy Singer; the following year, they published Play = Learning (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006), which translates that research for the general public and argues persuasively for the lifelong importance of childhood play to physical and emotional health and academic achievement.
View all books and articles on our site by Kathy Hirsh-Pasek:
- A Mandate for Playful Learning in Preschool: Applying the Scientific Evidence
- Play = Learning: How Play Motivates and Enhances Children’s Cognitive and Social-Emotional Growth
- Einstein Never Used Flash Cards: How Our Children Really Learn–and Why They Need to Play More and Memorize Less
- Becoming Brilliant: What Science Tells Us About Raising Successful Children
- The Wisdom of Play – How Children Learn to Make Sense of the World
