Is Play good teaching practise?

Why Minimal Guidance During Instruction Does Not Work: An Analysis of the Failure of Constructivist, Discovery, Problem Based, Experiential, and Inquiry-Based Teaching . By P A Kirschner, J Sweller & R.E Clark 2016.

In trying to define where play fits within well researched and proven teaching practice. I have been looking for Research to support play based learning as good teaching practise. This appears to be an area where further research is needed. This lack of research was also highlighted in  The Importance of Play By Dr David Whitebread 2012. In this paper Kirschner, Sweller and Clark highlight that recent research in how our brain works as well as learning research highlight that mininal guided learning is not effective especially for novice learners.

http://lexiconic.net/wheatfromthechaff/archives/840  Refer also to this blog C Welch

This reading is not directly about Play. It is about minimal guidance during learning. It looks at approaches similar to play based learning like Discovery learning.

"The advantage of guidance begins to recede only when learners have sufficiently high prior knowledge to provide internal guidance"

It sees true learning being made when there is a change to long term memory.
Cognitive loading very important. When cognitive load high - little is retained in long term memory. 
Learners must construct a mental representation or schema irrespective of weather they are given complete or partial information. Complete information will result in a more accurate representation that is also more easily acquired
It finds that learners learn best hen they are directly instructed and scaffolded.

Learners should be explicitly shown what to do and how to do it when learning new information-skills etc. This is also supported in Early Years Training (IY)
Classes where students all achieved their learning goals Teachers spent a great deal of time in instructional interactions with their students  The teachers simultaneously taught content and scaffolded relevant procedures, they modeled procedures for identifying and self checking important information,

This reading finds that low achieving learners often prefer a minimally guided learning situations but there is clear evidence to show this does not support them to learn. In fact often the opposite happens and the student moves backwards. Students may prefer minimally guided situations as guided instruction requires them to apply explicit attention driven effort and so some learners do not like the demand this makes of them.


The key point in this reading is that all learners learn more through guided instruction. This is especially true for low achieving students. High achieving students may not learn as much through unguided approaches but generally they do not move backwards.

What now for my practice

Implications for play based learning - children will need lots of direct instruction regarding relating to others and solving disputes needs to be time to rove and work on this with the children. To do the roving there will be less time for direct instruction in other areas!

Rich tasks in Maths will need direct instruction. It is good practice to intervene and ensure children are on the right track-i.e. prevent false starts

The Importance of Play

Reading 13 July 2018 - The Importance of Play By Dr David Whitebread 2012
Senior lecturer in psychology and education at university of Cambridge
Follow up on previous play research.
This reading pulls together research from many researchers.

All agreed that  play is highly important and influences children's social, emotional and cognitive development.
(pg31). Debate about use of play for other purposes e.g. educational goals as opposed to play being for its own sake. More research needed

Important to note at the foot of this cover it states this has been written for Toy industries of Europe (TIE) April 2012. There is also recognition for the need of further research

Keeping in mind the possibility that this research is biased towards commercial interests this was not evident when reading the paper. There are some interesting key point made in this paper. Also important to note very soon half of all the children in the world will be living in cities. 
"A rage of evidence has indicated that playfulness in children is both an indication of mental well being and is supported by it."
Play deprivation is mentioned however pg 28 states the evidence for this is not valid as its circumstantial or based on animal studies.

Play is difficult to define as it is multifaceted, spontaneous and unpredictable thus it is difficult to clearly understand the full potential - benefits of play in educational contexts.

Play is under threat as our society is changing
Earlier is better attitude of society regarding academic achievement -This is harmful to the provision and support for rich play opportunities
Curriculum standards set by governments
Increasing urbanization - lack of safe outdoor places to play -separation from nature
Over supervision - lack of risk taking -Risk adverse society - safety, germs, traffic, crime
Over scheduling-engagement in extra activities-reduces free time
Poverty- increased stress, results in less than optimal parenting
Low income stats show-low income households three time more likely to suffer mental health problems.
Parents often- lack time to engage in play with their children or to provide opportunities for children to engage in play with other children

Urbanization and the stressors of modern life are negatively impacting on children's play experiences - children are more heavily scheduled  and more supervised, during their leisure time than in the past.

Chudakoff (2007) documented a sharp decline in children's free play with other children across the western world.

Research that shows the area where children are allowed to range unsupervised has shrunk by 90% since 1970s (pg26)

Concern is growing that as children are over scheduled. over supervised and have decreasing amounts of time to play they will be adversely affected. This will most likely effect their independence skills, self reliance, independent mobility, resourcefulness and development.

Keep in mind this is a European context - However many of these factors are beginning to impact on NZ lifestyles.

Research says about play

Playfulness is strongly related to cognitive development and emotional well being. Play supports the development of language, abstract thinking, meta cognitive and self regulation.
Five types of play:
Physical play - includes active exercise and fine motor practice e.g. sewing, coloring, cutting, construction these are often solitary due to their absorbing nature help children to develop concentration and perseverance skills,
Play with objects, often encompass other forms of play simultaneously (e.g. children using objects may also be making up a narrative or drama), related to development of thinking, reasoning and problem solving skills. Children set themselves goals, challenges and monitor their progress, and consequently develop an increasing repertoire of cognitive skills and strategies. Play with objects also associated with children engaging in 'private speech' -as child commentates the activity-this appears to support self regulation and focus on task. Construction and problem solving play - is associated with dev of perseverance and positive attitudes to challenge.
Symbolic play,  drawing -supports ability to understand pictures, photos, diagrams, scale models, plans, maps etc
Pretense or socio dramatic play,- most researched and lots of evidence of the impact of this type of play on children's self regulation,self restraint, enhances social connections. Often children engage in 'private speech'
Games with rules. - Often invented by the children, card games, hide and seek etc -development of taking turns, understanding rules, sharing, understanding others perspectives. Computer games that are well designed and open ended or problem solving are ok.

A good balance of all types of play is considered healthy.
Playful children have secure emotional attachments to significant adults.
Children suffering from from severe play deprivation have abnormalities in neurological development -the provision of play can partially remediate this.
Play provides a trial and error environment where new behaviors, scenarios can be repeated and modified
Play develops problem solving skills
Strong relationship between play and emotional well being

N.B. Tamis- LeMonda and Bornstein (1998)  found infants ability to process information, strongly related to cognitive abilities and this predicted the amount of symbolic play a child engaged in a few years later.

Vygotsky- saw play as crucial to language development and self regulation - Recent research shows these are interrelated and together are very powerful predictors of a childs academic achievement and emotional well being

Has been clearly established that children develop meta cognitive and emotional awareness and develop strategies to control them very early in life-there are significant individual differences -these are established quickly and have long lasting consequences for achievement  and well being. These are learnt and can be taught and play is a powerful context fro their development 

Children need time, space and the independence to develop their own spontaneous and self imitated play activities. 
Richest play spaces are mostly natural and unplanned
Materials and toy are most effective when they are open and flexible and give child opportunities to be creative, have social interaction, have authorship and deep engagement.
Important that child perceives situation as playful.



Where to next for play?

I will continue to ponder the implications of this and continue to provide opportunities for children to engage n play within my class programmer - With a focus on supporting children to negoiate and resolve conflict and self regulate.  How will I do this Enzos choices, IY strateges especially role play of scenarios and problem solving-using puppets.

Leadership Inquiry - Student Agency

3 July 2017 Inquiry Team Presentations

The four teams presented their inquiries 
Student Agency Team - Reading: Principals Sabbatical Report
Bernie Leonard   St Josephs School  Temuka Term 3 2017
"How can school use student agency to optimise educational outcomes ."


NZC- Key competencies, about developing dispositions and sense of agency to empower the individual to understand and negotiate perspectives and values of others - aim of contributing to more productive and inclusive workplaces and societies Key Points
Looking at core business of Principals role -To manage the learning environment based on the science of how students best learn

Key Readings -Researchers he drew info from;

John Hatties - Visable learning Research
Dr Julia Atkin - paper From Values & Beliefs about learning to practice
Sir Ken Robinson - as a checkpoint for new direction
Also used -(midlab text-How the learning sciences inform the design of 21st century learning environments)   http://www.oecd.org/education/ceri/50300814.pdf


Student Agency
Is about students having the power, combined with chioces to take meanginful action and see the results of their decisions.
Ownership of learning shifts from teacher to the student
Enables students to have understanding ,ability and opportunity to be part of the learning design and to take action to intervene in the learning process to affect outcomes and become powerful life long learners

Key Three Attributes
1- Agency involves the initative or self regulation of the learner
(pre -requsite is the belief that their behaviour and approach to learning is actually going to make a a difference, i.e. A personal sense of agency.) Successful people act on their beliefs

2- Agency is interdependent - It  mediates and is mediated by the sociocultural context of the class room-Learners must develop an awareness that there are consequences for the decision they make and the actions they take. (N.B. sociocultural mediation -refer Vygotsky - sociocultural context is influenced by semiotic tools - language, maths system, numbers, music, art etc))
N.B. implications for Maori - (need to promote Maori enjoying sucess as Maori.)

3- Agency includes awareness of  responsibility for ones own actions on the environment and others (social contentedness dimension) Every decision a learner makes and action they take will impact on the thinking, behavior or decisions of others-and vice versa (idea of dialogic negotiation -attends to implicit intentions behind the speakers actual words -less competitive more likely to facilitate cooperation -triggers higher mental functioning) opposed to regular conversation -which attends to implicit intentions behind the speakers actual words.

Key - Teaching Approaches - socio constructionist and collaborative
Approaches to use enable this when they are used in an integerated way
Guided teaching - with learning goals, feedback and measurable outcomes
Action Learning - students determine objectives in collaboration with teacher - strong element of of learner self organisation and planning
Experiential learning -Where what is learned is determined by context and learners motivations

Agentic Learners  - Need to develop
The capacity to engage strategically in learning-without waiting to b directed
Take ownership and responsibility for their learning
Possess the skills to learn independently, without heavy dependence on external structures-direction.

Why -
traditional sucess in education system = people less likely to be entrepreneurial (Zhao,2012)
What was considered success is now a narrow view of learning
Society now needs adaptive expertise-people able to be innovative, flexible and creative in a variety of contexts.
Need to ensure and expect success for all
Learner orientated system -placing learners at the center of all decision making - provide support for all learners that is respectful and responsive to their individual preferences, needs, values, support active involvement of learners and their families in the design, and provision of what is learned and how it is leaner and where learning takes place-Ka Hikitia Accelerating success 2013-2017

Dr Julia Atkin
Focus your attention on
Your practise-actions -through a lens of core values-beliefs of the school and see these values and beliefs as guidelines for the action you take-i.e. your teaching practise
Key to always think 

• What do we value?
• What are the beliefs about learning that underpin a particular practice -are these beliefs reasonable based on current research about how we learn?
• How is our current practice helping us to achieve what we value?
• How will a new or different practice improve our ability to achieve what we value and believe

Very Important to imagine, trial and evaluate new or different practices as this is what enables true growth and learning. It is the experience of visioning and engaging in the process of evaluating your practices against what you believe and value

Keys to enable agentic learning - One Model to enable agentic learning in the class room

Relationships -quality relationships very important - balance care and expectation

At the start of a lesson

• Discussion -what we are learning and why
• What we already know shared
• Visual display following modelling or analysis of skills evident in a piece of work

During a lesson

• Sucess criterial and stratiges child is using decribed and on display visually
• Deliberate acts of teaching-modeling, analyzing, viewing etc
• Student working independantly or with teacher
• Individual conferences
• "Show me in your reading or writing where /when you are using the skill ... This demonstrates what you are learning.

After the lesson

• How did you go with your learning
• How do you know
• What are you able to do
• What did you find tricky?
• Peer and self assessment using a highlighter, ticking etc
• What are your next steps

Mapping student progress

• Visual map-e.g. I can sheets, hexagons
• Learning pathways -i.e. clear progressions 
• Formative assessment - against the id success criteria - id student achievement-learning
• What acelleration strategy is needed for those without mastery
• What are the next steps for those who have mastery

Celebrating success

• Sharing with parents
• Publishing etc

Keep in mind 

Students also need to be agents for fostering a stimulating and caring culture within the school

Sir Ken Robinson defines education as 

"to enable students to understand the world around them and the talents within them so that they can become fulfilled individuals and active compassionate citizens"

N.B. Research is finding-Students who is motivated in the classroom is more likely to be engaged in their community and positive community experiences improve engagement in school. Data is showing that student engagement in communities correlates with higher academic perfoemance

Inquiry Presentations - Blended learning

3 July 2017 Inquiry Team Presentations

The four teams presented their inquiries 
Blended learning Team - We explored the information from the website developed by this team
Lots of interesting information and ideas.
https://sites.google.com/eskdale.school.nz/eskdaleblendedlearning/home

Key Points
Blended Learning -Use media and the teacher (child does the work via video ) E.g they might watch a video about predictions so they understand the prediction concept - it is all pre-loaded, kids can always go back and watch it in their own time Flipped learning -. Definition re- degrees of flipped learning (on line learning off site = flipped) Mystery Science and Mystery Doug are both e.g.s of media that can be used in a blended learning context Wonderopolis is also another Sumdog Can support fostering of Agency as students feel they have control, choices and responsibility,-OWNERSHIP Contact with teacher and other students still important The technologly is being used to enhance learning and facilitate more targeted and individualised learning students can revisit and learn in one space at own pace

From this information what would I keep?

Mystery Science - Mystery Doug Storytime online N rich maths clips e.g utube clips to reinforce maths concepts -set provications for writing/topic/science

One change I am considering implementing because of this information?

Do more of the Mystery Science lessons - as follow up from watching Mystery Doug Investigate if I can use Khan Academy clips and utube when appopriate to pre -load math concepts Matheletics for year 1-2 investigate?

From this what questions do I have?

How to upskill myself and my technology capability to enable me to use more online learning tools to create an effective and rich blended learning environment?

What amount and how much technologly?

How much time on tech as - 1 individual engaged with the learning online in there own bubble - thought of balancing and ensuring kids stay connected to each other and have face to face contact with peers and teacher.

Appraisal Meeting Self Reflections

4 July Self Reflections - Linked to Apprasial

Inquiry Presentations Te Ao Maori

 3 July 2017 Inquiry Team Presentations

The four teams presented their inquiries
Te Ao Maori - Leadership Team
Tamara Bell - Core Education - Ed Talk 6 years ago -she set up (Te Mauna Po -Te reo online pd for teachers-Unable to locate) link to u-tube clip https://vimeo.com/50512203

Key Points

90-95% of all Maori students not achieving academically -or going on to further education - Maori having bad experiences at school. Ministry of ed has id this and there is a need to do better -Refer to -Kotahitanga Te Reo Maori curriculum document -gives good guidelines and info MAORI -achieving sucess as Maori = they are valued their language, culture, idenity is valued and they have a say a voice within the school. Important for Maori to know their own language and whakapapa and to be sucessful in the Maori world as well as within Pakeha world and widge global world. - Connections to whanau (strong relationship with whanau) important - for educators to be able to ensure Maori can be sucessful as maori i.e. to find out childs whakapapa and ensure child knows it. TEACHER - Is the person who makes the difference (refered to Russel Bishops research) RELATIONSHIPS -Teacher -Student connection-Whanau Student needs to know local - protocals, whakapapa etc as well as that of their own tribe -so too does the teacher Reaffirmed -philosophy with language is we are learning together.

What am I doing that fits with this?

Keep giving the language a go It does not matter if you get it wrong

What else can I add?

More teaching of the local history of the Ngati Kahunganu tribe and significance of Maori place names?")
https://teara.govt.nz/en/hawkes-bay-region/page-4
Read the curriculum document again thinking what /how I can ensure Maori children are learning as Maori N.B -I am Pakeha and will be thinking through my cultural lense

Questions I have from this new information?

Where do I go to find out more about the local whakapapa?
Would including more historic stories from tribes of children in my class afiliating with a particular tribal-area? Would families want to tell us their Whakapapa (or know their whakapapa?) - How would it be best to go about this, asking without embaressing or overstepping the mark? and how would it be best to be used in the everyday clasroom? Are all Whakapaka positive and self affirming?

Grandparents Day

Tuesday 3 July - Grandparents Day