Play Research
Game Based Learning & Gamification NZ Research.
These readings clarified to me that I am introducing game based learning into my classroom. The playing of mathematical games as an additional pedagogical tool, it is not gamification.
The Cards I created could be called educational traditional games, but they are also Authored. Teachers and learners make their own cards and create their own games.
Therefore, I claim that the Card Games I am creating, and getting students to create, do not fit this model. They are not video games, and they are not traditional games. They are curriculum driven created games using the traditional form of cards in a new way.
Investigating the importance of play.
An increase in free play time can result in an increase in school performance. #Play4Life
Locating the research about play theory.
Image from:
Healthy play, better coping: The importance of play for the development of children in health and disease.
Nijhof, S. L., Vinkers, C. H., van Geelen, S. M., Duijff, S. N., Achterberg, E. M., van der Net, J., ... & van der Brug, A. W. (2018). Healthy play, better coping: The importance of play for the development of children in health and disease. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews.
The references at the end are worth investigating.
Brian Sutton-Smith - Play Theory
Wikipedia: Brian Sutton-Smith was born in Wellington, New Zealand in 1924. He trained as a teacher, completed a BA and MA, and was then awarded the first Education PhD in New Zealand in 1954.
During his long, productive life Brian became one of the most influential play theorists of the past 150 years, a list that includes Karl Groos, Johan Huizinga, Jean Piaget, Roger Caillois, and Erik Erikson.
Flow is the state of mind of play.
- Playful - confidence to try out new things.
- Stressed - revert to the tried and true.
Segregation by age is not natural. Play should be age mixed. Learning should be play, not work.
Dr Peter Gray
Wikipedia: Gray is a well-known critic of standard educational systems and is frequently invited to speak to groups of educators, parents, and researchers about children's needs for free play, the psychological damage inflicted on children through our present methods of schooling, and the ways in which children are designed, by natural selection, to control their own education
Play deprived people can become killers.
The National Institute for Play unlocks the human potential through play in all stages of life using science to discover all that play has to teach us about transforming our world.
Play Deprived Life – Devastating Result A Tortured Soul Explodes
The committee concluded that lack of play was a key factor in Whitman’s homicidal actions – if he had experienced regular moments of spontaneous play during his life, they believed he would have developed the skill, flexibility, and strength to cope with the stressful situations without violence.
Dr Stuart Brown
Pgpedia & TED Speaker: Stuart Brown's research shows play is not just joyful and energizing — it's deeply involved with human development and intelligence. Through the National Institute for Play, he's working to better understand its significance.
A transformation in education is possible. If we apply the understanding from the science of play – and provide our teachers the tools – the students will respond; they are primed for learning through play.
Quote from: http://www.nifplay.org/opportunities/education/
Current evidence suggests, that play optimizes learning. It is vital to infuse play into curricula and teacher education is vital.
John Cohn - American Engineer
My thoughts
Priscilla Allan Maths 797 Published.pdfPaulo Freire defines praxis in Pedagogy of the Oppressed as "reflection and action directed at the structures to be transformed."[13]
Through praxis, oppressed people can acquire a critical awareness of their own condition, and, with teacher-students and students-teachers, struggle for liberation.[14]
Original Model Links Flow with Play
Finland embraces Play
https://mathandmovement.com/finland-education-system/
- Finland supports the idea that teachers should do “whatever it takes” to help students learn, allowing them to personalize students’ educations to a remarkable degree.
- Another key aspect of Finland’s education is that they value play as an integral part of the school day. Finland’s model of education focuses on the importance of ‘play’ and ‘joy’ in education.
- There’s an old Finnish saying: "those things you learn without joy, you will forget easily.”
We know what students should be learning. How students learn is left to individual teachers pedagogy. The prescibed pedagogy involves teacher centred learning and constant assessment. I believe that play is a powerful learning tool which has not been seriously explored in the secondary school context.
Quote: What is culturally responsive teaching?
When the cultural knowledge and values of students from diverse backgrounds do not correspond or perhaps conflict with the expectations, values and knowledge of school, students who cannot or do not want to participate in the dominant discourse may be marginalised and fail.
