The Content-form Unity in the Psychology of Play
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: ABSTRACT: The article presents the results of a conceptual study addressing the social content of preschool play, with a focus on the relationship between the form and content of playful activity in Elkonin’s Psychology of Play (2019). Grounded in the premise that play constitutes an activity through which social relations are reconstituted via playful action, and noting that contemporary cultural-historical studies in Brazil have often treated the content of children’s roleplay as a secondary dimension, this theoretical investigation examined Elkonin’s approach to the problem of play content and its relationship with playful form. The analysis was organized around four axes: (i) the historical context and societal project; (ii) the method for understanding reality; (iii) the conception of human development (individual-society relationship); and (iv) pedagogical principles and action. We found that the dimensions of content and form are conceived as a dialectical unity in play, and such principle permeates Elkonin’s work, placing the play's social content at the center of his general theory of play—an insight with significant implications for both scientific research and educational practice in schools.
Source: Educação em Revista
Institution: Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp)
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4416503143