Validating the Effectiveness of a Large Language Model-based Approach for Identifying Children's Development across Various Free Play Settings in Kindergarten

TL;DR

This study introduces a novel approach using Large Language Models and learning analytics to assess children's development during free play in kindergarten, achieving high accuracy and revealing setting-specific developmental insights.

Contribution

The paper presents an innovative LLM-based method combined with learning analytics for assessing children's development through free play narratives, demonstrating high accuracy and practical utility.

Findings

LLM-based approach achieved over 90% accuracy in identifying developmental abilities.

Significant differences in development were found across different play settings.

The method provides valuable insights for personalized early childhood education.

Abstract

Free play is a fundamental aspect of early childhood education, supporting children's cognitive, social, emotional, and motor development. However, assessing children's development during free play poses significant challenges due to the unstructured and spontaneous nature of the activity. Traditional assessment methods often rely on direct observations by teachers, parents, or researchers, which may fail to capture comprehensive insights from free play and provide timely feedback to educators. This study proposes an innovative approach combining Large Language Models (LLMs) with learning analytics to analyze children's self-narratives of their play experiences. The LLM identifies developmental abilities, while performance scores across different play settings are calculated using learning analytics techniques. We collected 2,224 play narratives from 29 children in a kindergarten, covering four distinct play areas over one semester. According to the evaluation results from eight professionals, the LLM-based approach achieved high accuracy in identifying cognitive, motor, and social abilities, with accuracy exceeding 90% in most domains. Moreover, significant differences in developmental outcomes were observed across play settings, highlighting each area's unique contributions to specific abilities. These findings confirm that the proposed approach is effective in identifying children's development across various free play settings. This study demonstrates the potential of integrating LLMs and learning analytics to provide child-centered insights into developmental trajectories, offering educators valuable data to support personalized learning and enhance early childhood education practices.