There is certainly an abundance of wonderful and compelling research that shows the potential of the powerful connection between play and learning but for me, the most actionable and useful findings came from getting hands on and exploring ideas with the children in my own class who were in the midst of it.
As Albert Einstein said…
Play is the highest form of research.
ALbert einstein
The broad base of evidence would strongly suggest playful learning can benefit all ages. While we often traditionally associate play with early childhood experiences, playful learning can also enhance engagement and understanding in older children and adults.
The research indicates play’s effectiveness in fostering well-rounded development, emphasising not only academic success but also the holistic growth of learners, making it a key element for us to explore in developing progressive educational practices.
In my experience, the best research is that which comes from the reflective practice which takes place in our own classrooms.
Personally and philosophically, I am a huge advocate for playful learning experiences, particularly in upper primary where I teach and where the more traditional and rote learning approaches can often dominate.
During the course of my research to create content for my CPD course Learning to Play; Playing to Learn, I discovered that there is less research than I would have hoped to see that looked specifically at play-based learning for children in the senior classes. This is despite playful learning being a big focus and a leading pedagogy in the new Primary Curriculum Framework.
I found there were few definitions and examples of conversations with older children on play-based learning that I felt had the depths and detail that I could draw from:
- Do they like learning through play?
- Does active learning and play-based learning cater to their preferred learning style?
- How did they see playful activities helping them to learn?
While I contemplated this, I realised that I had the answers sitting in my own classroom!
I contacted some of the parents of children in my class and asked for their permission to talk to their children in a small focus group to do my own research on the topic and what they had to say astounded me.
The full recording can be heard in my course, but the children were open and honest about their experiences of playful learning in 6th class, and it was overwhelmingly positive and personally reassuring to hear that playful learning is indeed the way forward.
The children spoke of the topics and concepts they had learned, and all had a clear anecdote as to why or how something stuck with them… the games we played, the projects they created, the books we used as stimuli, the thematic nature of the learning, etc.
They spoke about how their love for learning had been enhanced and how, in what was perhaps the key insight, how much they enjoyed taking responsibility and being active participants in their own learning.
The inclusivity of play was another key insight I gained. The children were of varying abilities and interests, however all spoke to the same level of success and engagement with their learning as they could often self-differentiate and adapt a project or task to suit their own ability and learning style while still accessing the content, completing the task and achieving the learning outcomes.
They particularly valued me sharing and clarifying the learning outcomes rather than instructing them through a process, as it allows them to self-assess and structure their progress and activity even when being playful.
More reflections on play centred learning from Gillian:
https://www.instagram.com/the_glitter_and_coffee_teacher