Tools for Playful Pedagogy: Formative Tools for Improving Teacher Practice in Learning through Play

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

Zosh and colleagues (Hirsh-Pasek et al., 2015; Zosh et al., 2017, 2018) have argued that the science of learning literature has coalesced around five characteristics that lead to learning, regardless of context (e.g., in formal schooling, in informal learning contexts, in neighborhoods and homes, and even on digital screens). These characteristics are: 1) joyful (child experiences pleasure, surprise, and positive emotions during play); 2) actively engaging (child is minds-on, consumed by play and resists distractions); 3) iterative (child builds on and adapts the play); 4) meaningful (child connects what is being learned to personal experience, existing understanding, and a greater understanding of the world); and 5) socially interactive (child’s interactions with others are part of the play experience). While there may be variations on this framework in different geographies and contexts, there is a growing consensus on the central place that play occupies in child development and learning.
The LEGO Foundation has supported numerous efforts around the globe, seeking to create stimulating, playful learning environments for children from birth througout their primary schooling years. This panel brings together evidence from several such efforts, focused particularly on giving educators practical, hands-on tools to help them improve their Learning through Play practice, and create stimulating learning experiences in their childcare settings and classrooms.
The first paper presents the Learning through Play Experience Framework (LEF), which was developed as a foundation for observing and understanding child experiences with learning through play. The LEF proposes that the manifestations of child experiences and behaviors will differ depending on the type of play applied in the classroom (teacher-directed, guided play, or free play), and experiences across the spectrum of the characteristics of play may range in intensity.
The second presentation shares the design and early emerging evidence from the piloting of a new set of formative tools under LEGO Foundation’s Play and Learning in Children’s Eyes (PALICE) project. This toolkit is intended to help teachers better understand the children’s expeirences of learning through play, as they apply them with children ages 3-12.
The third presentation shares the evidence from the validation and piloting of the new formative assessment developed by VVOB in Zambia, for early childhood education (ECE) teachers. The Instrument for Children’s Literacy Actualised Performance (I-CLAP) is a short formative assessment tool for ECE teachers to assess emergent literacy progress of ECE Learners through observation. The instrument uses six indicators to track learner’s progress over time. The six indicators include elements of holistic development as well as specific elements of language and emergent literacy development.

Sub Unit

• General Pool

Chairs

• Ciara Laverty, LEGO Foundation

• Fernanda Soares, FHI360

Individual Presentations

• The Learning through Play Experience Framework - Jennifer Zosh, Penn State University, Brandywine; Angela Pyle, OISE, University of Toronto

• Play and Learning in Child’s Eyes (PALICE): Formative tools to support teacher practice in Learning through Play - Carina Omoeva, FHI 360; Brian P Dooley, FHI 360; Angela Pyle, OISE, University of Toronto; Jennifer Zosh, Penn State University, Brandywine; Nikhit D'Sa, University of Notre Dame; Fernanda Soares, FHI360

• Quality of learning through play and the impact on child outcomes: two observation tools on emergent literacy development in Zambia - Joke Van Belle, VVOB - education for development; Benedict Mwango Chipalabwe, VVOB Zambia