A Study of the Practice of the “Playful Learning” Method and the Transition from Kindergarten to Elementary School in the Schools Affiliated to the Tokyo Women's Normal School:

Focusing on the Practical Process of Kindergarten and the First Grade of Elementary School

Abstract

This study aims to elucidate characteristics of the practice of kindergarten and the first grade of elementary school among the ‘Taisho’ new education movements focusing on the practice of the “playful learning” method in the schools affiliated to the Tokyo Women's Normal School. Results showed that both grades had almost the same content and “play and daily life” as learning materials and regarded the interest of the children as the most important. The practice of this school, in which the whole school life was planned such as “education by play”, was treated as an important foundation in the period of the basic learning and the period of the self-education. It was suggested that the transition from kindergarten could change by the innovation of elementary school education.