AI-Empowered Self-Directed Play: Practical Pathways of “Human–AI Collaborative Thinking” and Strategies for Supporting Children’s Development

LIANG Minna, LI Huiyan, LU Lixia

Abstract

Self-directed play is the core domain in which young children explore freely and construct knowledge actively. As artificial intelligence (AI) is applied extensively in early childhood education, however, the educational value of self-directed play risks being eroded by the “standard-answer logic” of AI. This study addresses the central question of AI application in self-directed play: how to preserve the distinctive value of self-directed play for children’s development when AI assistance is introduced. Grounded in Loris Malaguzzi’s educational philosophy of “The Hundred Languages of Children” and in the paired-assistance work through which Foshan Chancheng Government Offices No.1 Kindergarten, supports kindergartens in the Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou Province, and in Luoding, this study reconceptualises “human–AI collaborative thinking” and clarifies a triangular interaction logic of “teacher-led, child-centred, AI-assisted”. Through in-depth analysis of self-directed play scenarios such as the constructive play “Hamster City” and generative story creation, three core principles are identified for resolving the dilemmas of “AI labelling” and “AI unified narrative”: two-way integration (combining teachers’ observations with AI analyses), pause-and-compare (suspending judgement and comparing AI analyses with teachers’ analyses), and co-thinking within the professional learning community (PLC). On this basis, the interactive mechanism of “teacher–child–AI collaborative creation” is refined and formalised, yielding a replicable model of AIsupported self-directed play for frontline preschool teachers and offering practical reference for preserving a child-centred stance in the intelligent transformation of preschool education.

Keywords

children’s self-directed playAI-supported strategieshuman–AI collaborative thinkingpreschool teachershigh-quality development

References

  1. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. Guidelines for Assessing the Quality of Preschool Education and Care [R]. Beijing: Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, 2022.
  2. Malaguzzi L. The Hundred Languages of Children [M]. Nanjing: Nanjing Normal University Press, 2006.
  3. Piaget J. The Language and Thought of the Child [M]. Beijing: Culture and Education Press, 1980.
  4. Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. Guidelines for the Learning and Development of Children Aged 3–6 [R]. Beijing: Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, 2012.