Learning Through Play
May 26 2018
As a member of the junior team we visited The Nest an early childhood center in Clive.
This was a magical place inside the building was like visiting grandmas character cottage. It almost resembled a museum a window on a past era. Outside the grounds were purpose built and landscaped to provide endless choices for children to engage in imaginative play. This was also evident with the equipment inside as well. There was a peacefulness and tranquility about the environment and wondered if the environment was also impacting on the children's behavior as I noted they were calm. A further factor to note was the ratio of space per child and equipment.
Kimberly Crisp http://www.kimberleycrisp.com/ is The Nest it is her vision and her creation.Searching the web sit of the nest I was unable to find Kimberly's qualifications. However the nest is based on a well presented philosophy originating from Emmi Pikler Budapest.
We then visited Nelson Park School
Once again the stand out factors were the physical environments did not resemble a typical class room, the indoor out door flow was seamless and the outside play equipment was engaging most of the children. They had space. Very few children were actually inside. A teacher aide was employed to monitor the children outside and intervene when some coaching was necessary.
We were given a talk in the staff room as there was also a group from Palmerston North looking at play learning. We were given some handouts to take away as well. Reading these it is clear that the Key competencies and Values of our curriculum are at the core of play learning. This highlights the importance of developing ways of seeing these in action and capturing them and assessing them. nelson park ore undertaking a three year long inquiry in to play learning. From the hand out it is evident the have gathered robust data as a bench mark to compare with data gathered in 2019. To measure and evaluate the impact of play learning.
Research: Penny and Kimberly were mentioned in the hand out.
As well as Stuart Brown, John Holt
I was able to locate further info on Penny (once again Emmi Pikler philosophy, features strongly).
Stuart Brown - Physiologist and researcher of the importance of play, This is begining to be researched and understood. "play is more than fun" Has researched criminal and found a link between lack of play in early years and criminal behaviour. Also link between students who have not done stuff with their hands they have difficulity solving problems. and https://www.ted.com/talks/stuart_brown_says_play_is_more_than_fun_it_s_vital
KEY THINKING Play is a separate biological entity it has a function just like sleep and dreaming
It is hugely important in crafting and growing the brain
John Holt-John Caldwell Holt Interested in school reform and how young children learn. Unschooling proponent , Home schooling advocate and writer. "Learning all the time." How children fail" "How children learn"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-NgFN3gl3I
Penny Brownlee
She has an early childhood teacher and educator and she has a weebly. A feature of this Weebly is a collection of articles written by her. These are her ideas however she has supported her thinking with quotes from well respected people e.g Enstien and has quoted researchers.
A quick read of the article below also throws up questions about our environment and our equipment
Plastic - is improvishing a childs imagination and more open ended equipment seems to be urgently needed to engage a child's imagination.
https://penniebrownlee.weebly.com/uploads/1/0/4/3/10437917/cultural_blindness.pdf
Questions to investigate further - How does the physical environment impact on the child?
Do we need to be paying more attention to constructing tranquil zen like environments that have amazing indoor out door flow? What do I need to eradicate from my class? How do I ensure I am teaching the NZ curriculum and keeping achievement on track to meet the Eskdale school expectations? Can achievement expectations and the play philosophy sit together in harmony?
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