Role Of Play In Learning Research Articles

Play in predictive minds: A cognitive theory of play.

In this article, we argue that a predictive processing framework (PP) may provide elements for a proximate model of play in children and adults. We propose that play is a behavior in which the agent, in contexts of freedom from the demands of certain competing cognitive systems, deliberately seeks out or creates surprising situations that gravitate toward sweet-spots of relative complexity with the goal of resolving surprise. We further propose that play is experientially associated with a feel-good quality because the agent is reducing significant levels of prediction error (i.e., surprise) faster than expected. We argue that this framework can unify a range of well-established findings in play and developmental research that highlights the role of play in learning, and that casts children as Bayesian learners. The theory integrates the role of positive valence in play (i.e., explaining why play is fun); and what it is to be in a playful mood. Central to the account is the idea that playful agents may create and establish an environment tailored to the generation and further resolution of surprise and uncertainty. Play emerges here as a variety of niche construction where the organism modulates its physical and social environment in order to maximize the productive potential of surprise. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Gamification strategies in learning spaces: A brief toolkit

What is the role of play in learning? What ways can we as educators leverage our students’ extracurricular digital lives in meaningful ways in our digital and physical learning environments? What roles can the elements of game mechanics and game thinking serve towards these ends, especially in a blended learning environment? These are some of the initial questions that guide this brief gamification toolset, a series of practical considerations drawn from field experience and relevant research that may be helpful for teachers and administrators interested in exploring ways to gamify their own digital and physical learning communities or spaces.

Gamification strategies in learning spaces: A brief toolkit

What is the role of play in learning? What ways can we as educators leverage our students’ extracurricular digital lives in meaningful ways in our digital and physical learning environments? What roles can the elements of game mechanics and game thinking serve towards these ends, especially in a blended learning environment? These are some of the initial questions that guide this brief gamification toolset, a series of practical considerations drawn from field experience and relevant research that may be helpful for teachers and administrators interested in exploring ways to gamify their own digital and physical learning communities or spaces.

Valuable and Unessential: The Paradox of Preservice Teachers' Beliefs About the Role of Play in Learning

Using a basic qualitative methodology, this study explores the following research question, what are preservice teachers' beliefs about the role of play in learning? This study focuses on the beliefs of seven preservice teachers enrolled in an early childhood practicum at a small liberal arts university in south central Texas. Findings indicated that the preservice teachers believe that play is valuable and not essential to children's learning. Moreover, they seemed to privilege the learning in not-play activities over the learning in play activities. These findings suggest that early childhood teacher educators need to assist preservice teachers in confronting contradictions within their beliefs about play, educate preservice teachers about how play encourages academic learning, and teach preservice teachers how to assess children's learning during play.

Consensus or dissensus? Stakeholders’ views on the role of play in learning

Across cultures and eras, children have engaged in play as part of the process of growing and maturing into adulthood. Play has been recognized as an effective form of pedagogy to promote learning in the early years. However, beliefs about what play is and how it should be practiced vary across Hong Kong and in other countries. Because Chinese culture places a heavy emphasis on academic achievement, a play-based curriculum has not been widely implemented in the region. Through classroom observations and interviews with key stakeholders in early childhood education, namely parents, teachers, and principals, this study reveals the complexity of views on this matter and uncovers the root cause of the difficulties in supporting play in the Hong Kong kindergartens. These findings may help promote the play-based curriculum in Hong Kong and other countries where play is in crisis.

On Charitable Teaching

IN EARLIER WORK on the hermeneutics of charity, the author explored the relevance of Augustine's insistence on charity in reading Scripture for interpreters of non-biblical texts. This article shows how one might bring such charitable reading into the classroom and reframe the teacher's task in its light. The article discusses some implications for our understanding of teaching “methods,” close attention to students, the nature of syllabi, and the role of attentive playfulness play in learning.

Teacher Perception of Play: In Leaving No Child Behind Are Teachers Leaving Childhood Behind?

The value of play seems inherent to the understandings of early childhood, but teachers of young children in the elementary grades have rarely been studied as to their attitudes toward play (Wing, 1995). The research explored teacher perceptions of the role of play in learning and the implications for practice. The study involved 4 first-grade teachers from 2 diverse socioeconomic school settings. The pheno-menological work followed a qualitative format of interview with an analysis of related documents. Although the instructors held a common value for play in the development of young learners, they did not make a corresponding provisions for such in their classrooms with the exception of 1 participant. Varying perceptions of the definition and place of play resulted in differing levels of willingness to include child-initiated play that were spawned within the educational contexts. These perceptions led to the inductively realized outcome variables of instructional goals, student products, and classroom climate. Dewey's (1916) view of work and play, Bredekamp and Rosegrant's (1995) Continuum of Teacher Behaviors, and Ajzen and Fishbein's (1980) theory of reasoned action provided frameworks for deductively understanding the teachers' instructional decisions.