Learning Through Play

1
Learning Through Play

• April 25, 2009

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Overview of Session

• Introduction
• Classroom Perspectives
• Essential Qualities of Play and Playfulness
• Why is Play Important
• Cognitive Play
• Social Play
• Current Issues
• Reflections
• Summary

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Introduction

• In the Conceptual Age, in work and life, we all
  need to play. (Daniel Pink, 2006, p. 66).
• Standardized curriculum, high stakes testing, and
  disregard for value of play
• Tension between school and play.
• 21st century workforce skills call for
  creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving,
  teamwork, initiative, and self-direction.

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Classroom Perspectives

• Pre-school-Kindergarten
• First Grade-Second Grade
• Third Grade-Fourth Grade

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Essential Qualities of Play and Playfulness

• Enjoyable
• Internal control
• Internal motivation
• Internal reality
• Active, rule-bound, and meaningful

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Why Is Play Important

• Serves as a vehicle for development in all
  domains and learning, not as a method for
  teaching specific skills.
• Helps children makes sense of their world
• Develops social and cultural understandings
• Allows for expression of thoughts and feelings

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Why Is Play Important

• Fosters flexible and divergent thinking
• Provides opportunities to meet and solve problems
• Develops language, literacy, numeracy, and other
  concepts

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Types of Cognitive Play

• Functional
• Symbolic
• Constructive
• Games with Rules

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Levels of Social Play

• Solitary
• Parallel
• Associative
• Cooperative

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Current Issues

• Recess
• Diverse Learners
• Meeting Standards
• Integrating the Curriculum

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The Recess Debate

• Arguments Against
• A waste of valuable instructional time
• Encourages bullying and aggressive behavior
• Use PE to develop skills

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The Recess Debate

• Arguments For
• Rationale for breaks
• Council of Physical Education (2001) denounces
  idea of replacing recess with PE.
• Bullying occurs in many places outside the
  playground and accounts for only 2 of all
  bullying incidences.

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The Recess Debate

• One of the only times during the school day when
  children can interact with peers on their own
  terms.
• Learning benefits from distributed practice.
• Development of cognitive efficiency and how
  recess may facilitate learning in cognitively
  immature children.

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Diverse Learners

• Need for curriculum adaptation
• Opportunities for invented games
• Suggest easy out options, like banker,
  scorekeeper, batboy so that children can leave
  and re-enter a game easily.
• Modify materials to facilitate play like fewer
  spaces on a Bingo card or using pictures to show
  game rules

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Diverse Learners

• Developmental or Language Delays
• scripted play break down directions in language
  child can understand
• Visual Impairments
• feel objects, acknowledge changes in room, use
  visual or physical cues
• Autism Spectrum
• model play skills respect preference for
  particular area of the room, personal space,
  ability to tolerate an activity

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Teacher Reflections

• I realized I needed play in my classroom when
  the children began complaining of headaches and I
  was having no fun. I havent changed my
  curriculum objectives Ive just looked for
  better ways to make learning meaningful for
  children.
• I never thought that the absence of play could
  be detrimental to childrens development. As an
  elementary teacher, I struggle with my own
  beliefs that fluctuate between play-centered and
  teacher-directed learning experiences.

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Summary and Conclusions

• Play equals learning and development
• Dont just say play is important How we
  understand, use, explain, and have evidence about
  its importance for children to develop 21st
  century cannot be underestimated.

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Contact Information

• Joan Isenberg, Ed. D.
• jisenber_at_gmu.edu
• 703.993.2037