A pedagogy of play. Reasons to be playful in post-secondary education (original) (raw)
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The second issue of the magazine is compiled and edited by Chrissi Nerantzi and Alison James and it explores the theme of play and the educational benefits of designing learning experiences that encourage playful engagement. When we first came up with the idea of dedicating an issue of the Creative Academic Magazine to play in Higher Education we had no idea that it would attract so much interest - play is often seen as too edgy or novel and definitely not mainstream practice. However over 30 contributions show that practitioners are exploring, experimenting with and implementing more playful approaches. You can join the Creative Academic community at http://www.creativeacademic.uk/
Pedagogy & Play: Creating a Playful Curriculum for Academic Achievement and Engaged Learning.
Key Summary Points 1. Using instructional techniques based upon play can improve achievement. 2. A review of research on play is presented and provides a framework for designing playbased classroom instruction and assessment. 3. Three case studies are presented as demonstrations of the framework. Key Terms Play, Assessment, Learning, Growth, Mindset, Instructional Communication, Curriculum, Classroom, Pedagogy, Instructional Design Welcome to the playful classroom. This chapter will present ways to increase academic engagement and achievement through play. Three examples of classroom learning activities are presented as case studies to demonstrate ways for designing classroom curriculum through play. Why play? Play and games serve important roles in cognitive, social, and affective development (Dubbels, 2014; Fisher, 1992; Frost, 1998; Garvey, 1990), and should be part of classroom curriculum. Play is innate, and facilitates the individual’s need for competence and mastery for knowledge, skill, and social status (Bruner, Jolly, & Sylva, 1976; Dubbels, 2009; Piaget, 1976). For juveniles, learning mostly occurs through the observation, exploration, and discovery that happen in play (Lancy, 1996; Smith, 2004). Karl Groos observed that play was “critical” in shaping later development in studies of both human (1901) and nonhuman play (1898). Robert Fagen (1981) identified play as an innate, and that an organism’s early play experiences are critical to subsequent development and functioning.
Pedagogy and Play: Creating a Playful Curriculum for Academic Achievement and Engaged Learning
Play and games serve important roles in cognitive, social, and affective development, and should be inform the design of classroom curriculum. This chapter presents three classroom examples with instructional techniques to help educators implement their own play-based curriculum. The curricula were designed, implemented, and analyzed as part of the author’s experience as a classroom teacher, exploring the role of play and games as a curriculum.
A pedagogy of play: Supporting playful learning in classrooms and schools
A pedagogy of play: Supporting playful learning in classrooms and schools. Cambridge, MA: Project Zero., 2023
Play is at the heart of childhood. Through play, children learn how to collaborate, how to negotiate rules and relationships, and how to imagine and create. They learn to find and solve problems, think flexibly and critically, and communicate effectively. This book, written by researchers at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, draws on cross-cultural, empirical research to explore what it means to embrace play as a core part of learning in school. The authors address three questions: Why do educators need a pedagogy of play? What does playful learning in schools look and feel like? and How can educators promote playful learning? The book includes practices and strategies from the classroom to the staffroom, eight pictures of classroom practice from four countries, and 18 tools for teachers, school leaders, and professional development providers to support playful learning across content areas and age groups.
Designs for playful learning, 2021
This article explores the softer side of play, considering the affordances of teaching at the reflective and contemplative end of the playful learning spectrum. Inspired by both contemplative and compassionate pedagogies plus practice-based enquiry, it argues for the positive impact that playful learning can have on student and staff mental health. It explores the way that a playful teaching approach can benefit both students and teachers within UK Higher Education: a sector where high levels of poor mental health among both groups are well-documented. The affordances of combining playful learning with compassionate and contemplative pedagogies are identified: these include the development of skills in empathy, listening and reflection, and the provision of safe spaces for identity work. The article ends with some practical recommendations for teachers who would like to adopt this compassionate approach in both their playful practice and their own development.
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Educational Abundance, The Journal of the New York State Foundations of Education Association, 2023
Play, understood as aesthetic experience in an academic field, permits students to engage emotionally with subject matter, permits students to feel what they study. Play presents opportunities to imagine and learn from future, discipline-related scenarios and situations, to engage creatively with the unknown, not just play by the rules of a pre-established game. My students set up schools on new, previously uninhabited planets, and other such adventures. This way of structuring the semester is fertile ground for reimagining grading and assessment in our own, present circumstances, and lets us relate to each other with a playfulness that does not happen when writing/grading papers is at the core of course development.
Can the Professor Come Out and Play? - Scholarship, Teaching, and Theories of Play
PSN Educator: Other (Topic), 2008
In January 2008, the authors presented an Open Source program at the National AALS Conference in which they explored the applicability of cognitive/developmental theories of play to our work as scholars and teachers. The authors sang, lectured on theories of play, and involved over 100 law professors in an exercise in which participant groups employed either visual art or music to explain the tort concept of "lost chance." In this article, we build upon that program and present an extensive analysis of the literature on childhood play, focusing on those aspects of the type of "play" which enhances development of creative problem-solving and innovation. We then explore the adult manifestation of this childhood cognitive activity, what John Dewey called a "playful attitude," assessing its implications for our scholarship and teaching. As it turns out, these implications are significant, as we detail in the last two sections of the article where we focus o...
Guided Play: Where Curricular Goals Meet a Playful Pedagogy
Mind, Brain, and Education, 2013
Decades of research demonstrate that a strong curricular approach to preschool education is important for later developmental outcomes. Although these findings have often been used to support the implementation of educational programs based on direct instruction, we argue that guided play approaches can be equally effective at delivering content and are more developmentally appropriate in their focus on child-centered exploration. Guided play lies midway between direct instruction and free play, presenting a learning goal, and scaffolding the environment while allowing children to maintain a large degree of control over their learning. The evidence suggests that such approaches often outperform direct-instruction approaches in encouraging a variety of positive academic outcomes. We argue that guided play approaches are effective because they create learning situations that encourage children to become active and engaged partners in the learning process.
The pursuit of play within the curriculum
Journal of Instructional Psychology, 2010
Play has been traditionally recognized as an activity within early childhood education, but in actuality, it has substantial importance to learners at all levels. Since the idea of play is abstract and has no pre-determined outcomes, some teachers feel uneasy about allowing students to play with concepts and materials, especially with the advent of increased accountability and scripted curriculums. However, discovery learning is one of the single greatest ways in which students develop critical thinking skills to solve academic problems ...