Play More to Learn More
By Aleta Margolis, Founder and President
Listen to this week’s Hooray For Monday podcast to hear Jenna Fournel and Dina and Brooke of Education for Sharing discuss the meaning of play and offer concrete steps for integrating play into every school day.
For October’s online Inspired Teaching Institute – “Cultivating Curiosity: Raising Social Awareness” – Jenna was joined by Dina Buchbinder, founder of Education for Sharing (E4S), and her colleague Brooke Wallace. Dina and Brooke described E4S’ mission to “form better global citizens through innovative education based on the power of play.” They also shared concrete activities and advice teachers can use to infuse play throughout their instruction; see below for those insights!
And listen to this week’s Hooray For Monday podcast episode for highlights of Dina and Brooke’s conversation with Jenna. Watch the full webinar video to learn how to integrate strategies for nurturing social awareness into your own teaching.
Play fuels learning.
It is not news to any teacher that the instructional day is jam-packed, with a wide variety of standards and other requirements that need to be met. These demands often make us feel we need to choose learning or play. Dina advocates for reframing that binary:
“At Education for Sharing…we share with educators a play that is not the enemy of serious learning; it's actually a powerful catalyst. So when kids of all ages play, they're actually learning about key skills like cooperation, collaboration, strategy, negotiation, empathy – all the essential life skills that simply can't come from memorizing something.”
Play builds empathy.
The focus of October’s online Inspired Teaching Institute was social awareness, a capability Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) defines as “understanding the perspectives of and empathizing with others, including those from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and contexts.” During the Institute, Dina described how play nurtures empathy:
“One of [E4S’] most effective ways [of teaching empathy] is through role playing games where students also put themselves in someone else's shoes – whether it's a peer, community member, or even a tree. One game that I love is called the ‘Water Guardians.’ And as the students act as both protectors and consumers of a water resource, they soon realize that what they do actually affects the entire group and it's interconnected, sparking really beautiful and rich, deep conversations about: ‘What does empathy have to do with interdependence?’ and ‘What does it have to do with personal and collective responsibility?’”
Play is expansive.
When most of us consider the term “play” in relation to the school day, our thoughts likely go first to scaling a jungle gym at recess or maybe a game of “Heads up, 7-up” to calm post-lunch giggles. But Dina pointed out that her conception of play – what E4S teaches educators about play – is less about board games or the playground and more about the feelings it evokes. Dina says:
“Sometimes [play] sparks joy, not necessarily because you're laughing or smiling all the time, but it sparks joy because you discovered something or because you were able to solve a challenge – or because you are enjoying being at the challenge itself.”
Inspired Teachers know how to engage their students in Learning Through Play. Back in 2015, we were named a worldwide Champion of Learning Through Play by the LEGO Foundation, and we continue to teach educators and students through play today. The below three-minute video shows Inspired Teachers engaged in learning through play in their classrooms and in their own professional learning.
Wishing you a week of powerful and playful learning.