Play, learning and technotoys

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Play, learning and technotoys

• Lydia Plowman
• Institute of Education, University of Stirling
• lydia.plowman_at_stir.ac.uk

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Acknowledgements and sources

• Exploring mapping interactivity with digital
  toy technology (EPSRC/ESRC) www.stir.ac.uk/ioe/cac
  het/
• Rosemary Luckin, Sharon Airey, Daniel Connolly
• INTERFACE
• The technologisation of childhood?
• Alan Prout, Daniela Sime
• CULTURAL CONTEXT
• Interplay Play, learning and ICT in pre-school
  settings (ESRC)
• Christine Stephen, Joanna McPake, Susi Downey,
  Daniela Sime
• EDUCATION

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Outline of talk

• Brief chronological overview
• Selling play
• Play and learning

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A century of toys

• Meccano 1901
• Teddy bears 1902
• Lego 1932
• Monopoly 1936
• Scrabble 1948
• Scalextric 1952
• Barbie and Ken 1959
• Cluedo 1959
• Trolls 1961
• Spirograph 1965

• GI Joe/Action Man 1965
• Twister 1966
• Etch-a-sketch 1967
• Rubiks cube 1980
• Trivial Pursuit 1982
• (source BATR)

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• Nintendo Gameboy 1987
• Beanie Babies 1993
• Tamagotchi 1997
• Furby 1998

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Smart dolls

• My Real Baby, My Dream Baby, Amazing Babies ...
• Electronic pets
• Tekno, Poo-chi, Kitty, Meow-chi

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Christmas 2002 the top ten toys

• 1. LeapPad
• 2. Barbie Rapunzel
• 3. Beyblades

4. VJ Starz Karaoke Music Studio (Source BATR)
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Christmas 2002 the top ten toys

• 5. Baby Annabel
• She makes real sucking sounds and brings up
  wind. She yawns and breathes even when asleep.
• 6. Micropets
• 7. Dance Maker 2
• 8. Rapunzel horse and carriage
• 9. Weakest Link - electronic
• 10. Ready Steady Cook popcorn maker

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Predictions for Christmas bestsellers 2003

• Badge It Bandai (15)
• Barbie Swan Lake Mattel (20)
• Beyblades Radio Control Top Launcher Hasbro
  (30)
• Bionicles Lego (7)
• Boohbah Golden Bear (15)
• Bratz Winter Collection Bandai (25)
• Cranium ReCreation (25)
• LeapPad Learning System Leapfrog (30)
• Turtles Vivid (7)
• Yu-Gi-Oh! Upstarts! (7)

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Trends

• 1.88 billion toy, hobby and games industry in UK
  2001 (up 6 on 2000)
• Video games 28 total
• Increase in educational toys
• More trans-media licensing
• lunchboxes, pyjamas, magazines, films,
  television, software
• c. 25 of sales, particularly pre-school
• Collectible playground craze toys
• Beyblades, Micropets because being first
  matters
• (Source BTHA)

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Media concerns and technotoys

• Displace traditional forms of play
• Constrain childrens imaginations
• the toys stifle rather than nurture creativity -
  children exhaust the possibilities for play
  quickly and lose interest
• Reduce attention spans
• Adversely affect human interaction
• looking after robotic dolls and pets may diminish
  social skills
• a risk of attachment to toys that are programmed
  to act as if they are emotionally attached to the
  child
• Children need the human touch, not machines.
• (The Herald, 9 October 2003)

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Technotoys and consumers

• The need to market toys for children and adults
• the balance between play learning
• parents select on basis of educational value
• interactive storybooks, electronic cash
  registers, toy laptops
• technotoys are seen as a gateway to authentic
  computers
• Even if adults dont like them, they still buy
  them
• pressurised into buying certain toys that offer
  entry to a network of other children
• adults feel they dont have enough time to play
  with their children
• adults are susceptible to claims that toys
  promote cognitive development and nurturing
  skills.

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Selling play

• independent play
• mathematical
• musical
• linguistic
• motor skills
• co-operative play
• visual
• (Amazon.com)

• thinking power
• mental fitness
• practical knowledge
• personal emotional well-being
• physical development
• social skills
• (BTHA)

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Play and learning (1)

• spontaneous... timetabled
• pleasurable... serious
• exploratory... goal-directed
• diversion... targeted
• absorbing... unexciting
• entertainment... work
• pleien (O.E.) dance, leap for joy, rejoice
• play as hard fun, soft learning, stealth learning

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• Play and learning (2)
• What does learning mean?
• developing understanding out of experience (or
  study, or being taught)
• integrating that understanding into a mental
  model of the world
• understanding about self, others, the world
• Play can promote learning dispositions
• resilience in the face of uncertainty
• confidence to express ideas
• collaborative reflective problem solving
• Carr, M. (2001, 2002)

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Play and learning (3)

• Difficult to establish causal relationships
• Complexity in play is highly correlated with age
• It is an easy mistake to believe that the major
  purpose of play development is to contribute to
  other kinds of age-related development social,
  emotional and cognitive
• (Sutton-Smith, 1997)
• Why is play seen as so important for childrens
  development but as a diversion for adults?
• Play as a waste of time (educational
  conservatives) or play as a form of work
  (educational progressives)
• The rhetoric of progress
• benefits of play are transferable to development
  and learning
• The rhetoric of interactivity
• benefits of technology
• ...technology-supported play

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The manufacturers claims

• Fun functions to help your child learn...the
  ideal learning partner for children.The Actimates
  interactive learning system grows with a
  child...uses fun, challenging games and
  activities to help children master time concepts,
  language skills and more, said the developmental
  psychologist and lead designer in developing the
  Actimates learning system.
• Microsoft

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Play, learning teaching

• Some consensus between policymakers,
  practitioners, academics parents on play and
  learning
• Ideology surrounding play and learning ranges
  from the rhapsodic to the pragmatic
• Relationship between play and teaching
• no unified theoretical or pedagogical base to
  guide practice
• gaps between the rhetoric of play and actual
  practice
• (Wood Bennett,1997)

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CACHET

• Children play with the toys on their own terms
• some children preferred the toys in
  non-interactive mode and found the talking
  irritating
• interest in the toy diminished fairly quickly
• the toys were not generally integrated into other
  play activities
• The toys did not appear to promote engagement or
  time on task
• some benefit for younger children
• the toys help repertoire is very limited
• children often ignore or dismiss the toys help,
  favouring human sources

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CACHET interface and interaction

• Children can co-ordinate multiple interfaces
• not impressed by communication between toy
  computer
• possibilities of using tangible interfaces for
  delivery of help
• Leisure-oriented technology developments using
  speech and touch increasingly produce toys that
  exhibit a range of interface modalities
• Products can use familiar forms (cuddly toys,
  balls, dolls or construction bricks) which are
  computationally enhanced and so interaction can
  become more social in nature and less constrained
  by the need for the screen-based, programmed
  responses that can be a source of concern.

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