[Portland, OR] [October 7, 2025] – Teaching Preschool Partners is excited to announce a new partnership with Active Playful Learning (APL), a multi-state initiative supported by the LEGO Foundation, to bring cutting-edge, research-backed learning experiences to children. This collaboration is rooted in the science of learning, which shows that when students are actively engaged and joyfully participating through hands-on and culturally relevant experiences, they learn more deeply, retain information longer, and build essential life skills. Oregon joins the national study alongside sites in Texas, California, Illinois, and Virginia.
Active Playful Learning is the culmination of a national research collaboration among leading scholars from leading scholars from Temple University, the University of New Hampshire, the University of Virginia, the University of California Irvine, and the University of Chicago. Several nationally recognized researchers, including Roberta Golinkoff and Dale Farran, also serve as consultants to the project. The initiative integrates rigorous academic content with purposeful, guided play—an approach supported by decades of research showing that learning is most effective when it is active, engaging, meaningful, socially interactive, and joyful.
This evidence-based framework helps children build the 6 Cs—Collaboration, Communication, Content, Critical Thinking, Creative Innovation, and Confidence—a suite of skills identified by researchers Kathy Hirsh-Pasek and Roberta Golinkoff as essential for thriving in school and beyond. The approach draws on studies demonstrating that guided play—learning experiences that are both structured and exploratory—leads to better academic and social-emotional outcomes than either free play or direct instruction alone (Brookings Institution).
What We’ll Do Together in Active Playful Learning
Teaching Preschool Partners will participate in the final three years of this five-year study. During this period, Teaching Preschool Partners will:
- Form district-based Advisory Groups of teachers and administrators to co-design and guide implementation.
- Provide professional development and coaching in APL’s six core teaching practices, with classroom modeling and observation.
- Equip teachers with materials and tools to create engaging, “hands-on, minds-on” learning experiences.
- Foster community engagement to involve principals, educators, and families.
- Collect and contribute data to the APL Data Center through a partnership with Oregon State University to measure growth in teaching practices and student outcomes.
- Support 80 classrooms across Parkrose and Tigard-Tualatin over two years of data collection, combining coached and self-study approaches for maximum impact.
APL in a Policy Context
In the U.S., momentum for play-based learning is growing. States such as New Hampshire, Oklahoma, and Connecticut have passed legislation requiring or protecting play-based approaches in elementary education. This shift marks a move away from test-heavy early learning models toward approaches that cultivate the whole child—academically, socially, and emotionally.
“Decades of science show that playful learning is not extra—it’s essential,” said Soobin Oh, Co-Director of Teaching Preschool Partners. “Through our partnership with APL and the LEGO Foundation, we’re connecting our educators and students to a global movement, the latest science of learning, and proven strategies that build skills for school and life.”
The rollout will begin in Fall 2025, in Parkrose School District and Tigard-Tualatin School District.
About Teaching Preschool Partners
Teaching Preschool Partners (TPP) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving early childhood education by empowering educators through collaborative professional development and strong community partnerships. Since its founding in 2014, TPP has worked with schools and districts across Oregon to align early learning with research on child development through Playful Inquiry practices with values of co-creation and participatory approaches. Through coaching, curriculum design, and administrative technical assistance, TPP equips educators with the tools to help each and every child thrive in school and beyond.
About Active Playful Learning (APL)
APL is an innovative, research-based educational approach co-developed by researchers from Temple University, the University of New Hampshire, the University of Virginia, the University of California Irvine, Vanderbilt University, the University of Delaware, and the University of Chicago. It blends rigorous academic content with purposeful play, helping students build six core skills—Collaboration, Communication, Content, Critical Thinking, Creative Innovation, and Confidence—essential for lifelong success.
About the LEGO Foundation
The LEGO Foundation works globally to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow by redefining play and reimagining learning. Through its Learning through Play initiative, the Foundation champions playful learning as the most effective way for children to build the broad set of skills they need to thrive in a rapidly changing world.
By Soobin Oh and Emily McNeff
