7/29/2019 Play as Curriculum

1/7

Play as curriculum :Play as curriculum May 19th, 2010

Play is natures curriculum :Play is natures curriculum Natural -demonstrated in mammals as well as humans (evenCrows) Evolves with age and aids in maturity of brain Some children have troubleunderstanding how I works (too Ludic)

Origins of word :Origins of word Anglo-Saxon plegan, which means "to strike or clap" (Oxford EnglishDictionary, 1986). Ludic comes from the French 'ludique', defined as play or play activity(Robert, 1986). Ludicrous = extremely foolish (OED)

Ludic :Ludic Actions not based on any biological need, where the intent is simple pleasure. Primalneeds (eating, sleeping, etc.) motivate behavior - play has nothing to do with any of theseneeds. (Berlyne, 1960)

What is play? :What is play? Hard to define: Myriad of behaviors Occurs in animals Teenage, becomesinternalized as imagination (Vygotsky) Continues into adulthood (Video games, sports)

(Berlyne, 1960) :(Berlyne, 1960) Need for arousal in central nervous system functioning. Central nervoussystem of an organism seeks to maintain an optimal level of arousal. When this level iselevated because of novelty, the organism seeks to reduce the arousal level by gettinginformation

Play face :

Play face Need to increase arousal might lead to conflict. Social signal has been devised toreduce the dangers of such arousal seeking. Play face" is used to reduce these risks, inboth humans and animals (Bruner, 1973).

Balancing act :Balancing act Between the need for stimulation and arousal, and the need to reduce thatarousal

Function of Play :Function of Play What do you think? Think- pair-share

1. Relaxation and recreation theory :

1. Relaxation and recreation theory Plato stated that the need for pleasure was a necessaryelement in the pursuit of knowledge (Edwards, 1967). Follows physical attributes - in orderfor muscles to grow stronger, we must rest

2. Play as surplus energy(Spenser, Erikson) :2. Play as surplus energy(Spenser, Erikson) Popularized by Spencer (1905), notion thatchildren have a certain amount of energy, and that the demands of the day not alwaysenough to use it all. When circumstances allow, play tendencies are stimulated, but afterenergy is used, tendencies subside.* Mammalians who do not need to feed or protectthemselves because their parents do it for them (Erickson, 1950). *Weakness in this theoryis that children will often play beyond the point of exhaustion (Rubin et al., 1983).

3. Cathartic Theory :

7/29/2019 Play as Curriculum

2/7

3. Cathartic Theory Play has the function of allowing organisms to work out pent-upemotions and frustrations (, 1950). Children will often go over unresolved events or repeatthe day's events with more satisfactory outcomes. Child uses his or her power over objects(both imaginary and real) to master life. Erickson

4. Recapitulation Theory (Hall) :4. Recapitulation Theory (Hall) Play reproduces the biological evolution (children first "swim"as in the frog, crawls like a quadruped, then ape like climbing, (Hall, 1905) Hall stated thatchildren pass through all of the developmental stages of the entire human race. wanderingtribes, the hunter, war, etc. Through play the child channels wild primitive urges into asituation of social life accepted in the social context (Smilansky, 1990).

5. Psychoanalytic Theory(Freud) :5. Psychoanalytic Theory(Freud) "Pleasure principle", first espoused by Freud (1922), moremodern approach describing the function of play as "wish fulfillment". Also symbolic of thesituation: If the child throws the object away, possible expression of revenge - "If you don'twant to stay with me, I don't want you."

6."macro/microsphere (Erikson, 1950) :6."macro/microsphere (Erikson, 1950) World shared with others; others are first treated asthings. Learning is necessary to discover what potential play can be admitted to fantasy,Macrosphere or "replication play. Microcosmic" world of toys, and what kind of play can beshared with others and forced upon them (Erikson, 1950). Erikson sums up that play is howchildren come to master their world - child's play is the infantile form of the human ability todeal with experience Like Freud, Erikson believes children replicate past events,constructing the situation where one can relive situations with positive outcomes

7. Practice TheoryPiaget :7. Practice TheoryPiaget Play as practicing motor ability Early play is sensory motor in

orientation (1945) Child masters the action, and can thus build upon this ability in everincreasing complexity of movement Three-month-old who "plays" with his voice 2. Practicingadult roles. Dramatic play to practice adult roles

Activity 1 :Activity 1 Compare and contrast theories (PMI)* Weaknesses? Strengths? Plus-Minus-Interesting (PMI)--considering the positive, negative, and interesting or thought-provokingaspects of an idea or alternative using a balance sheet grid where plus and minus refer tocriteria identified (de Bono, 1976; Janis & Mann, 1977);

Constructivism :Constructivism Vygotsky stated all play is social rule based Situation as expressed

psychologically through perception, and the perception as limited by the child's affective andmotor ability. Perception of the situation and the ability to follow rules and suppress theaffective develops with maturity

Social Constructivism :Social Constructivism Social interaction plays a fundamental role in the process of cognitivedevelopment. Jean Piaget stated development precedes learning Vygotsky felt sociallearning precedes development* * Vygotsky critiqued Piaget in 1934 Piaget replied in 1963

(Vygotsky, 1934/78) :(Vygotsky, 1934/78) Every function in the childs cultural development appears twice: first,on the social level, and later, on the individual level; first, between people(interpsychological) and then inside the child (intrapsychological).

7/29/2019 Play as Curriculum

3/7

Curriculum of play :Curriculum of play Leads to learning and mastery (Piaget) Imagination (leads to divergentthinking) Practice (leads to mastery) Communication (lead to thinking) Social learning (ruleand roles)

Learning Rules :Learning Rules Internally imposed rules prepare the child for externally imposed ones(games with rules) (Piaget, 1945) Rules and regulations implicit in all play (Vygotsky, 1978;Verba, 1990; Jordan et al. 1995). Child subordinates herself with rules that renouncefreedom. (Vygotsky, 1978). Play is not always Pleasurable (might lose)

Role of rules :Role of rules Sets of rules that participants are mutually aware of. Even in socio-dramaticplay, there are externally prescribed rules (Jordan et al., 1995). "What passes unnoticed bythe child in life becomes a rule of behaviour in play" (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 95).

Play to Imagination :

Play to Imagination Vygotsky states that imagination is play without action Play of the youngleads to the imagination of the adolescent. Imaginary situations develop abstract thoughtImagination can take the child to a higher level of thought than is available in everydayexperience, within the confines of rules of behaviour

Imaginary play: learning the rules of the game (and life) :Imaginary play: learning the rules of the game (and life)

Play as curriculum :Play as curriculum Play buy itself does not constitute curriculum (Moyles, 1989) How doesplay teach us? Can we use play to teach?

Piaget :Piaget Piaget (1945) saw play as a cycle: Children enter stage of development, go through aseries of different types of play The cycle repeats itelf at each new developmental stage at ahigher level of maturity, reflecting child's cognitive abilities in that stage.

Piagets stages :Piagets stages Functional play Symbolic play Games with rules. Constructive play serves asa transition from one type of play to the next.

Functional play :Functional play Sensory motor stage - just exploration (or exploratory) at first (playing withvoice) Functional play is the first true play Use of objects in play for the purposes for which

they were intended e.g., using simple objects correctly

Symbolic play :Symbolic play Child learns to replace desired objects with symbols (pretend play) In thepre-operational stage, symbolic play becomes dominant, but functional play still takes placewhen the child is presented with novel objects or situation.

Transitional play :The constructive transition involves the constructions of objects that facilitate the use ofsymbols (building a house out of blocks). Creating something Transitional play

Games with rules :Games with rules Games with rules are games with sensory - motor combinations orintellectual combinations in which there is competition (or cooperation) between members

7/29/2019 Play as Curriculum

4/7

(Piaget, 1945). Preset rules that are non-negotiable. Can be made by temporary agreement(spontaneous). May be symbolic but lost their imaginative content. Form of play that followsus to our adult lives (Smilansky, 1968).

Curriculum of PlayGrowth of social animal :Curriculum of PlayGrowth of social animal In 1932 Mildred B. Parten observed children anddeveloped a system for classifying play roughly following Piagets stages. Researchers laterfound not mutually exclusive children still engage in lower levels of play into adulthood

Slide 34:Unoccupied Play Child is not actually playing but watches anything that happens to catchhis interest. Continues into older stages and is one of the Codes of joining group play.

Slide 35:Solitary (Independent) Play Play by themselves and are not comfortable interacting withother children. Play apart within speaking distance Little interest in making contact.

Slide 36:Parallel Play Occupy space near others, but seldom share toys or materials. Conversation issolitary Attempts to communicate egocentric (one child may talk about a TV show whileanother interrupts with news about their birthday).

Slide 37:Associative Play Children lend, borrow, and take toys from others. Beginning to engage inclose personal contact Still consider their own viewpoint as most important. Children are notyet ready to participate in teams or groups Gradually learn how to communicate their needs.

Slide 38:Children working and playing together. Share, take turns, and allow some children to serve

as leaders of group. Negotiation of roles and rules Cooperative Play (highest form)

Chicken-egg enigma :Chicken-egg enigma Which comes first-play or cognition?

Clues :Clues Many children with Autism/Aspergers have trouble with play Some get trapped insensory-motor stage (stemming) Play therapy used for children to learn social cues Recentfinding that bilingual children score higher on simple tasks but bilingual children who playmore than one hour of video games per day score highest (why?)

Activity 2 :

Activity 2 Think Pair Share Which came first Evidence?

What skills beyond social? :What skills beyond social? Strategy (Chess, video games) Critical thinking (Clue, otherboard games, video games) More please . . .

Curriculum & Assessment :Curriculum & Assessment Remember importance of assessment? - Review last classspeaker How do we create play curriculum? How do we assess play?* * Creating needvery Vygotskian

Natures curriculum? :

7/29/2019 Play as Curriculum

5/7

Natures curriculum? Structure of Curriculum (Wood & Attfield, 1996) Planning (Definingaims and intentions) Organization (space, resources, time, adult role Implementation(Activities/experiences) Assessment (Loops back into learning) Evaluation

Wood & Attfield curriculum of Play :Wood & Attfield curriculum of Play

Structured play model :Structured play model Give them a topic via story read (e.g. what is a city country mouse,city mouse) Opportunity to play blocks, dramatic play (pre-think props) Task- Build a cityAllow for free play (assess talk) Children present their city Evaluate:was learningappropriateadapt or move on

Skills being taught :Skills being taught Negotiating and listening in a group Understanding planning and designBeing able to implement a plan Selecting and using materials Acting independently andcollaboratively Asking for assistance Creating, identifying and solving problems (QEP)

Remembering how the plan was carried out Reflecting on action Conscious awareness ofthinking process (metacogniton) Making and sustaining relationships with peers and adults

Activity 3 :Activity 3 How can we use these principles to create a curriculum of play Groups of 3 -4create a quick curriculum using the notions thus discussed for different age groups 4-5years; 6 -7; 8 10; 11 12; 13- 14

Bibliography :Bibliography Erikson, E.H. (1950). Childhood and society. New York: W.W. Norton. Freud, S.(1922). Beyond the pleasure principle. London, Hogarth Press. Freud, S. (1983). ThePelican Freud Library. (Vol. 1). Angela Richards (Ed.). Moyles, J. Just Playing? The status of

Play in Early Childhood Education. OUP: Bucks(1989) Piaget, J. (1945). Play, dreams andimitation in childhood. NY; W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. Parten, M.B. (1932). Socialparticipation among pre-school children. American Journal of Sociology, 27, 243 -269.Piaget, J. (1952). The origins of intelligence of children. NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.(Original work published in 1936). Smilansky, S. & Shefataga, L. (1990). Facilitating play: Amedium for promoting cognitive, socio-emotional, and academic Development in youngchildren. Maryland: Psychological and Educational Publications. Verba, M. (1994). Thebeginnings of collaboration in peer interaction. Human Development, 37, 125-139. Vygotsky,L. (1994). Thought and Language. Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyPress. Vygotsky, L. (1978). Society and the Mind. Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Instituteof Technology Press. Vygotsky, L. (1986). Imagination and creativity in Childhood.Unpublished English translation by F. Smolucha, Chicago, University of Chicago. (Original

work published 1930). Vygotksy, L.S. (1987). The development of imagination in childhood.In R. W. Reiber & A. S. Carton (Eds.), The collected works of L.S. Vygotsky (Vol. 2). (N.Minick Trans.). NY: Plenum. (Original work published 1932). Wood, E & Attfield, J. (1996).Play, Learning and he Early Childhood Curriculum. London: Paul Chapman Publishing Ltd

7/29/2019 Play as Curriculum

6/7

Play is :Play is Terri Longworth T&L 526 Spring 2010 University of North Dakota

PLAY :PLAY FOR THE FUN OF IT! TO LEARN TO EXPLORE TO DEVELOP

To change the world, start with one step. However small, the first step is hardest ofall.~Dave Matthews Band :To change the world, start with one step. However small, the first step is hardest ofall.~Dave Matthews Band What would you say if I told you that there is one simple thing youcan do to change the way children learn? What if I told you that you could give themopportunities to develop their physical, cognitive, language, social, emotional, reasoning,and problem-solving skills by adding one thing to their day? Would you think there is no waythat one thing can change all of that? Let me lead the way.

Play is :Play is An essential element in the development of young children. Without play, children

would not learn how to talk, read or write share or make friends build, create, explore,discover or problem solve succeed, fail and recover, become resilient seek or findrun, fall, get up, climbsoar! To a child, play is pleasurable, fascinating, and is a means ofexpression. Play itself is the means and the ends. To a parent or an educator, play is anopportunity to teach. Disappearingthere is an enormous amount of pressure put oneducators to provide better test scores. This means more drills, desk work and rotememorization, even in kindergarten. Play is highly emphasized in preschool and pre-kindergarten programs, but even then there is sometimes not enough time allotted. Earlychildhood does not stop at kindergarten. Research has shown the best way for youngchildren, birth through age 8 to learn is through play.

NAEYC Position Statement on Play and Developmentally Appropriate Practice (2009)

:NAEYC Position Statement on Play and Developmentally Appropriate Practice (2009)Rather than diminishing childrens learning by reducing the time devoted to academicactivities, play promotes key abilities that enable children to learn successfully. In high-leveldramatic play, for example, the collaborative planning of roles and scenarios and the impulsecontrol required to stay within the plays constraints develop childrens self-regulation,symbolic thinking, memory, and languagecapacities critical to later learning, socialcompetence, and school success. Because of how they spend their time outside of school,many young children now lack the ability to play at the high level of complexity andengagement that affords so many cognitive, social, and emotional benefits. As a result, it isvital for early childhood settings to provide opportunities for sustained high-level play and forteachers to actively support childrens progress toward such play.

The Power of Playby David Elkind :The Power of Playby David Elkind If we encourage and support childrens naturalobservation and classification powers, they will have a solid grounding to move intoexperimentation when they reach adolescence. Young people have a better chance ofapproaching science as a matter of play and love as well as work, when experimentation isnot pushed too early. (p144) Elkind, D. (2007). The power of play. Cambridge, MA:Da CapoPress

Supportive Research :Supportive Research Learning and play do not have to be contradictory; learning can occurduring times of play. When children transition into the primary grades, they should not haveto leave their childhoods behind. Appropriate instructional practices are as necessary in theelementary grades as they are in the preschool years. By examining the learning that takes

7/29/2019 Play as Curriculum

7/7

place when children are allowed to make choices, encouraged to explore new materials andideas, and given freedom to interact with one another, primary-grade teachers can betteradvocate for play as appropriate and effective for children's learning and development. Riley,Jeanetta G, and Rose B. Jones. Acknowledging learning through play in the primary grades:on the first day of the new school year, Micah walks into his 2nd-grade classroom. Heconsiders the rows of freshly polished desks, the neatly stacked workbooks, and the newlysharpened pencils on the shelf. Looking perplexed, he turns to his teacher and asks, 'Butwhere are the toys?'. Childhood Education. 86. 3 (Spring 2010): 146(4). Student ResourceCenter - Gold. Gale. University of ND/Chester Fritz Library. 9 May. 2010

Supportive Research :Supportive Research Kindergarten is a time of fairytales and dragons, and the time towonder if they are real or pretend. Dramatic play is an important way children sort out anddifferentiate between the two. Dramatic play gives kindergartners the place, license, andmeans to experiment with fantasy and even inhabit frightening characters or events. It is theprocess of trying on these magical characters that allows children to gain control over adisturbing situation and begin to develop a sense of independence. Five and 6-year-olds use

magical beliefs in dramatic play to help them manage the chaos of their inner and outerlives. Church, E. (2006). I have special powers. Early Childhood Today, vol. 20 issue 5, p30-33.

Supportive Research :Supportive Research Findings indicated that patterns in the preschoolers' profiles of playbehaviors reflected conceptual, procedural, creative, or socially oriented interests and thattheir personal interest orientations were related to ways they participated in emergent writingactivities. Row, D.W, Neitzel, C. (2010). Interest and agency in 2-and 3-year-oldsparticipation in emergent writing. Reading Research Quarterly, vol.45, issue 2, p169-195.

Slide 10:Play fosters belonging and encourages cooperation ~Stuart Brown, M.D. In play a childalways behaves beyond his average age, above his daily behavior. In play it is as though hewere a head taller than himself ~Lev Vygostsky Children learn as they play. Mostimportantly, in play children learn how to learn ~O. Fred Donaldson The playing adult stepssideward into another reality; the playing child advances forward to new stages of mastery.~ Erik Erikson The opposite of play is not work. Its depression. ~Brian Sutton-Smith