Play as Representational Practice

• In Event: Orchestrating Collaborative Play for Diverse Participation Across Contexts and Disciplines

Abstract

Purpose & Framework
Play is crucial for learning and development in part because it provides an opportunity for learners to explore representation, which is key to communication across disciplines (Vygotsky, 1978). We argue it is productive to move beyond viewing representation as part of play to viewing play as a representational practice (Authors, 2011). This approach highlights that representations such as graphs or skits do not have inherent, universal value or meaning, and instead focuses on how representations are created in social contexts where local norms and activities help define their meaning for participants (Authors, 2011; Greeno & Hall, 1997; Hall, 1996). For example, within a science classroom, we often see an expectation that a drawing of an organism includes accurate body parts such as a bee’s nectar stomach (Authors, 2007). In play, however, the local practice might be that bees can be represented carrying an unrealistic and yet fun bucket for holding nectar. Viewing play as a representational practice helps situate play along a spectrum with “free play” on one end, and teacher-promoted academic play at the other, and highlights the value of each.

Methods
We draw on data from two dramatically different studies to illustrate how our framework helps interpret the value of play within academic contexts across the lifespan (Perone & Göncü, 2014). Study 1 explores how elementary students learned by playing as bees within a mixed reality project (Authors, 2019). Study 2 demonstrates how undergraduates in an ancient history class explored key tensions leading up to the Peloponesian war through an immersive game where they took on the roles of historical figures (Authors, 2020). We use a representational practices framework that focuses on how learners negotiate “what” is being represented, “how” it is being represented, and “why” learners are representing it that way (Authors, 2011) combined with Interaction Analysis (Jordan & Henderson, 1995) to illustrate how participants leverage a mix of resources to represent the content they are exploring.

Results
Our results highlight how seemingly frivolous, play, and teacher-desired academic actions are both grounded in representational practices, thus positioning them along a spectrum rather than as a binary where play is either fun or academic. In particular, learners often use the imaginary world to supplement their emergent understanding, making this a productive move, rather than a transgression. For example, many of the participants in our studies engaged in over-exaggerated play-acting, including young children pretending to be an “old man” to represent slow particle movement, or an undergraduate making an impassioned speech while pretending to be incensed to explore historical tensions. In traditional classrooms these playful moves might be frowned upon, but we will illustrate how they serve as important building blocks or learning in our classrooms.

Significance
This work provides a framework for recognizing and developing a broader range of play-like activities as relevant for classroom learning.

Authors

• Joshua Adam Danish, Indiana University

• Xintian Tu, University at Buffalo - SUNY

• Zachary David Ryan, Indiana University - Bloomington

• Christina Stiso, Indiana University - Bloomington

• Morgan Vickery, Indiana University - Bloomington

• Mengxi Zhou, Indiana University - Bloomington