Raising student voices: Teachers’ support for student critical thinking through the Tech & Play Initiative in Kenya and Rwanda

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

The LEGO Foundation’s Learning through Play with Technology (Tech & Play), an initiative promoting learner-centered pedagogies and new digital tools, is working in Kenya and Rwanda. For this panel, a consortium of implementation partners and research partners has come together to share what they have learned about preparing teachers to use play-based learning models to support student voice, choice, and critical thinking. Both Kenya and Rwanda, like many African countries, have recently moved away from more traditional content-focused curricula to competency-based curricula to develop independent, critical thinkers and lay the foundation for a knowledge economy (Fleisch et al., 2019). Important questions have emerged. Given prior teaching approaches and curricula in Rwanda and Kenya, how do you help teachers move from those traditional pedagogical approaches to Tech & Play and the new competency-based curricula (CBC)? What instructional strategies work in the classroom to support student voice and choice?

The LEGO Foundation’s Tech & Play Initiative supports the integration of Learning through Play into formal education. Learning through Play was initially a framework for informal learning activities (Zosh et al., 2017), but the LEGO Foundation identified eight pedagogical models which support playful learning (Parker & Thomsen, 2019): active learning, collaborative and cooperative learning, experiential learning, guided discovery, inquiry-based learning, problem-based learning, project-based learning, and Montessori education.

The Kenya Play (KPLAY) program is currently focused on supporting learning through play and technology in the coastal Kenyan counties of Kwale and Kilifi. KPLAY is developed and implemented by IREX, with support from Humans Who Play and EduTab, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, the Teacher Services Commission and the Kenyan Institute for Curriculum Development. KPLAY trains local trainers in each county who then work with five to seven teachers per school to offer them training and support. KPLAY also distributes a set of materials and resources to each school (PlayLabs).

The Plug-in-Play program (PiP) in Rwanda aims at integrating tinkering, and coding using play-based approaches into the education curriculum. Working with the Rwandan Education Board, Right to Play (RTP) develops model lessons and step-by-step directions for teachers on how to integrate Learning through Play into science, engineering and technology (SET) subjects for upper primary (grade 4 - 6) students throughout the country.

The Tech & Play Research Collaborative, led by the Education Development Center (EDC), works with local research partners: Education Design Unlimited in Kenya; and Three Stones International in Rwanda. Over the past year, the implementing partners and research partners have been focused on the in-service trainings in each country. These trainings are meant to improve the programs and help teachers change their practice in ways that support greater learner autonomy and develop critical thinking skills.

On this panel, each presenter will discuss a number of key challenges and issues they faced in developing effective teacher training programs to promote playful learning and share the strategies they used to address those issues to help teachers. The issues discussed range from the need for a shift in teachers’ mindset away from a traditional conception of learning, to cultivating teachers’ own passion for learning, to strategies to support teacher learning beyond the in-service training. The solutions that will be discussed go beyond just the quality of the materials and trainers to rethinking the broader context of school leadership and resource availability that enable teachers to make changes.

Sub Unit

• General Pool

Chair

• Daniel Light, DRL Research Consulting

Individual Presentations

• Empowering Kenyan primary students as competency-based learners with Learning through Play with Technology (LtPT) - Sarah Bever, IREX; Lucy W Maina, International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX)

• Supporting Kenyan teachers to adopt Tech & Play pedagogies: The role of teacher attitude, peer learning and instructional leaders - Clara Njerū, Education Design Unlimited; Chebet Seluget, Education Design Unlimited

• Learning Through Play with Technology: Experiences of professional development employing play-based, learner- centered pedagogy to enable critical thinking in Rwanda - Claver Yisa, Three Stones International; Rodgers - KABAMBA, Right To Play