During a recent takeover of Byres Road during European Mobility Week, the guys at Operation Play Outdoors reminded us of this quote “Play is the highest form of research”. People often like to claim that this is an Einstein quote but apparently the credit has to go to Neville Scarfe, in his article “Play is Education” on the topic of cognitive development. We echo that sentiment and it was great to see so many kids having fun on a street which would normally be off limits to them.
Free Wheel North were providing the bikes that day and the kids (and adults) had fun tearing up and down on our motley fleet. If playing is research into how the world works, how would playing on a bike lead to smarter people, we wonder? Well, whether you are a primary school student or a university researcher, the results of the Mass Experiment 2012 in Denmark showed that cycling could be of benefit- kids who cycled or walked to school showed markedly better concentration than those who came by car or bus.
Cycling- good for fun, good for science!