We may assume that play is something that is just for fun, for children to do, but play based learning is actually much more than that. It is important to be engaging when learning in a hands-on way because it allows students of various ages to grow in all different types of learning aspects. It also helps them to see education with a positive perspective because they can see that it can be something entertaining, relaxing, yet educational. Especially when students start their learning journey. Students will be able to learn how to work with their peers and how to communicate effectively with others of different backgrounds, learn new findings from one another and build their own communication skills. It can also help in their willingness to learn because students will see that learning does not need to be very structured but rather experimental and free. Personally, in my educational experience, I had art such as making out of clay a bird’s nest and eggs, and a bird in it that we painted. Additionally I used to have a center where we could dress up as different people who have various jobs. Like for example I dressed up as a surgeon. I had a cap and a white gown for Elementary School as a part of my play type of curriculum. By having an experience of play-based learning style in the past it helped me to see it as an impactful type of learning for students because it helps in creating an environment in the classroom that is exciting for the people who are the educators as well as the learners to see that learning can be enjoyable for everyone in the classroom because when you see that the students are having a great time learning new vocabulary and ways of communicating efficiently with their peers it shows that learning comes in different forms not just through a textbook and worksheets but through play as well. It also helped me as a child back then to see how birds grow, since they hatch from eggs that we could see in real life and in this instance reiterate this information by including the first stage of the bird growth by there being eggs in the nest with the bird that we made out of clay as well. Additionally, I also learned from the center that I played dress-up that there are certain jobs and that anyone can be who they want to be later in life.
Although, I believe it could be possible to have much more variety in the arts and other play based learning in classes.
An example of play being included in the classroom can be seen through social dramatic play. Students will pretend to have a certain job and try their best to follow through with it. This can be observed, for example, by children playing the role of a hairdresser and someone being the client. They can talk out what they want their hair to look like and even take turns playing each role.
Sociodramatic play helps students to learn to communicate efficiently with others in their class and in general. Also, social dramatic play is helpful in providing students a way of being able to do a task for a longer amount of time than if it would be seen as something unpleasant. For example in one of my Psychology classes I learned that students were able to pretend to be guarding something and that is why they could stand for such a long amount of time compared to when they were told just to wait for a certain amount of time. It adds creativity and supports children to be more engaged. Additionally, students learn through play how to remember information by talking with other classmates about topics when pretending to be a certain person. For instance, the students need to know the names of certain items: when pretending to be a teacher they would need to know the names of materials in a class. As Falk asserts, “… we call play help to develop the part of the brain that en-ables them to have what are referred to as executive functioning skills. Executive functioning includes the skills of self-control, memory (the ability to hold information and recall it when necessary), and cognitive flexibility (the ability to change and adjust mental effort) (Falk, 2018, p. 10). As can be seen, students learn valuable skills through play and depending on what they are required to do in a game, for example pretending to be a teacher, they will need to know the terminology of different topics taught in school, like in reading they will learn to pause at certain times and when to speak louder and quieter, etc.
Additionally, play based learning can be incorporated with general education classes, like English, Math, Social Studies and Science. For example, building with blocks to help with counting or creating what is expressed in a math problem to be better visualized. Similarly it could be seen in my own experience of Elementary School by having centers in the classroom that each student would be able to learn at. One of the centers was the writing center where we could write, as the name suggests. We wrote, for example, to our younger pen pals in a different school.
It is beneficial for students to learn in a play based way because by doing so students are not only exposed to different ways of communicating and working with their friends, by themselves, individuals of different cultures, but also they are able to learn many valuable skills. These skills consist of speaking, writing, typing on the computer, and creativity by imagining what they are going to include in their assignments, etc. Additionally, Parker, Thomsen and Berry asserted that not only is play based learning for children but for adults as well since they, the adults, might be helping the children in leading the play by guiding the students when playing.“Researchers have found five characteristics that embody educational play experiences: those that that are meaningful, actively engaging, joyful, iterative, and socially interactive,” (Zosh et al., 2017). Further, play has been recently redefined as a spectrum or continuum involving child-directed activity, and also adult-guided and adult-directed activity (Weisberg et al., 2013; Pyle and Danniels, 2016), bringing clarity to the adult and child’s roles in facilitating learning through play,”( Parker, Thomsen and Berry, 2022, pg. 2). As can be noticed kids and adults both through play based learning can help students who are children to grow and achieve various education milestones by being assisted with the help of adults if needed.
Although, it may be favorable to have sometimes adults helping when children play. I also believe it would be beneficial for more student-centered activity as expressed before because as I learned in my art education course it is valuable to allow students to be creative and do art without the intervention of adults. By allowing children to express their ideas by given choice in their assignments it allows students opportunities to learn how art can be pleasurable and interesting and it can also help in cooperation and social skills as expressed in my class. It also allows for students through play to learn about their classmates’ religions, cultures, backgrounds, etc, since students can work together with their peers in groups to create art and/or by themselves.
I have personally seen benefits of this in an activity I did in my art education with Professor Carpenter. My class did an abstract painting like Jackson Pollock and each of us were in groups, all of our abstract paintings came out different yet similar by being abstract. We could notice when the artworks were complete that the paintings reminded us of somethings that were either related to certain memories, our cultures, or something that came to mind based on the visual appearance that the parts of the painting looked like to us. It can be seen as asserted by Falk, that learning by playing allows for students to grow in their communication skills, as was seen in my art class, because we shared our ideas of how the paintings looked similar to things in our opinion. “Linked to executive functioning skills are other positive outcomes. These include increased language and communication skills, increased creativity and problem-solving skills, and increased ability to assume the perspective of others,”(Falk, 2018, pg. 10). By sharing our points of view on the artwork we created we can learn more about each other as students and show that even adults can learn through play based learning.
I also,learned in my art education class that everyone is creative. Creativity is important in art, for example in painting creativity is important in order to be able to think and transfer the idea into a masterpiece. Similarly as expressed by the author, Mader,“Now 89, Brown is the founder and past president of the National Institute for Play, and has spent much of his life studying play’s importance. While he cautions against drawing conclusions about outcomes for children who experience a lack of play, he said his findings in numerous studies since the Texas tragedy all underscore the fact that human beings – and, in fact, all mammals – have an innate need to engage in playful activities as a part of healthy development,”(Mader, 2022, pg. 1). It shows how playing is important not only for children but adults as well because it ensures that people are healthy.
Play based learning should be considered to be implemented in the beginning and later in life as well because it allows for the evolving of ideas, and inclusion of different children with different strengths and weaknesses in the classroom because play does not discriminate. It provides students an opportunity to engage in learning in an interactive way and despite it may be needing to be altered to fit different individuals needs it is possible to be done and work for everyone. As is asserted by the authors, Danniels and Pyle, “… Enactors endorsed child-centered support through observing and making considerations for children’s individual development and needs in play” (Danniels and Pyle, 2022, pg. 5). Sometimes children who need more support than others may also get the opportunity to play although supervision of an adult would be beneficial since then the students can benefit from it the most.
Play-based learning is necessary throughout all grades and even in college since it provides many advantages for everyone, no matter their age and experience. It contributes assistance to all individuals and creates a learning environment that is welcoming, rich in exploring, and creates a community of people who are like a family because they are allowing students to be expressive of themselves and encourages students to keep thinking deeply and thoroughly with materials, in the classroom setting.
References
Danniels, E., & Pyle, A. (2022, June 22). Inclusive play-based learning: Approaches from enacting Kindergarten Teachers – Early Childhood Education Journal. SpringerLink. Retrieved May 4, 2023, from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10643-022-01369-4
Falk, B. (2018). High-quality early learning for a changing world: What educators need to know and do. Teachers College Press.
Mader, J. (2022, November 17). The benefits of play are immense across all ages, research shows. The Hechinger Report. Retrieved May 4, 2023, from https://hechingerreport.org/want-resilient-and-well-adjusted-kids-let-them-play/
Parker, R., Thomsen, B. S., & Berry, A. (2022, February). Learning through play at school–A framework for policy and practice. In Frontiers in Education (Vol. 7, p. 751801). Frontiers Media SA.
VOICES OF PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS 