Principles of Play as a Construct for Learning - Report Example

Model of play Name Professor’s Name Course name Date Background According to Ridgway and Quinones (2012), early childhood development ECD is an important area in education that determines the kind of foundation a child establishes. Many approaches can be used to create orient children to the learning system, and it may depend on the curriculum of where the method is used (Quinones and Ridgway, 2015). One aspect that is universally accepted by all ECD teachers is that young learners are good at grasping content through active participation. For this reason, a ply-based curriculum has often been used as a model for teaching children. The pedagogical understanding of the play-based curriculum has changed and currently it is an essential component of the ECD. Play involves the young learners in some ways that enable them to understand the content and effectively apply lessons to daily lives. These plays may involve some methodologies, which aim to enhance learners grasping ability. As much as the concept of incorporating play in ECD may be complex, it has a significant contribution. Both complex and simple ideas can be relayed to learners through an innovative model. Teachers are required to conceptualize a proactive technique to improve learner participation. It is recommended that the children play be developed and maintained by the liberty afforded for play in the ECD setting. A good model should be able to maintain cultural identity and involve identical materials. The approach should be able to spark the children to think and react to the play, which forms the learning process. This paper will develop a model of play that will be used in early childhood education setting. Principles of play as a construct for learning The concept of play has attracted more attention in recent years to an extent that many curricula have adopted the approach (Whitebread, 2012). It is important to promote the awareness related to children play and contribute towards changing the attitude related to children play. Teachers must encourage and improve the allocation of time and space for the children play. Teachers are also encouraged children to portray their observation skills and creativity through play. Teachers must be able to distinguish the three types of the child plays namely culturally curtailed plays, culturally accepted plays and culturally cultivated plays (Ostrosky & Meadan, 2010). In developing plays, two factors are very important to consider, the environment and the social environment. These two factors determine children’s daily experiences that can be nurtured using a play approach. Context of participation It has been determined that in model of play, children play roles in specific context that may include the school, community or family (Quinones and Ridgway, 2015). In the play, the children are to interact in a way that they imitate a normal setting. For instance, in playing basing on a family setting, children take up roles of the various family members are expected to interact in a similar way as in families. Other settings like religious places and school setting can also be good models for developing children plays. In a school setting, children will take up roles of various people found in a school setting that they understand. The ability of children in mastering specific setting proves that they are capable of grasping the content involved in the context (Ostrosky and Meadan, 2010). As the children model specific member in a school setting, they are expected to imitate the interactions and behaviors of the characters they model. As far as communities and cultures may value the concept of play differently, the main aim of play in this study is to enhance the children’s learning process. Time allocation and resources that allocated for children to facilitate model of play is very important. The setting should tell more about the context of the play such as including books and pen in a school context. School setting plays model In selecting this context of model game, several factors were considered in terms behavior and interaction. The model was chosen since it has a formal mode of interaction that allows the young learners to imitate either teachers or students. The environment and the social parameters were closely considered in the selection process as recommended by Anderson and Bailey (2010). Other contexts such as family contexts were avoided as they are deemed to be varying from one family to another. A school setting was considered as a universal setting where the rules and expectation from teachers and learners are famous. The model play The model school play requires that teachers only provide guidelines to the children and not tell them what to say. Minimum interference is recommended to allow the children to exercise their creativity when role-playing. It is assumed that children have the ability to observe what happens around their environment and imitate (Lecture Week 11). Interference in role-playing limits the learner’s ability to respond critically or react to certain situation. Minimizing interference also allows children to use natural instinct as well as experience gained from observation. Teachers are only to act as moderators of the play and provide children room to display their capabilities to emulate interaction in the school context. Observation is the best way that teachers can help the children and only intervene in extreme cases. Model plan The design school play is intended to emulate a natural school setting where teachers and learners interact. All children must take up different roles of either teacher or learner is expected to emulate the characters that accompany the roles. As indicated before, the teacher will only play a part in setting up the team to model play and then allow freedom for the players to interact. The teacher has to help in setting up the environment that the learners will use to model. For instance, the teacher has to aid in the arrangement of the classroom model such as desk arrangement and availing writing material. School practices conditions for enculturation of the play Many activities that occur in the school setting that the children attend are directly responsible for determining how the children perform in the play. The everyday experience that the children encounter inside and outside classes are very important. These experiences determine the roles they play regarding communicating and interacting. The same applies to evident behavior from other people they are to emulate such as teachers and parents. For instance, a child imitating a principal is likely to copy the exact behavior of the later. Therefore, it is recommended that the teachers behave in a modest way, as this will directly contribute to the children role-play (Ostrosky and Meadan, 2010). Objects such as books and pens are common in a school setting which significantly becomes an affective, cultural object among the children. The tools are important in developing affective interest among the children (UNICEF, 2009). As the children interact daily in a school setting, it is believed that their creativity increases and can be applied to model play. Activities in the play The teacher will not take part in dictating the activities that the children play regarding telling the children on how to behave or communicate. The main aim of the teacher is to allow room for children to display what they understand regarding role-playing. From some children in class, the teacher will help in identification of the children who would imitate the teacher role. Few more children will be selected to mimic a parent or guardian role while the rest of the kids will play the role of children in a school. Motivation The school model has several factors that help motivate the children to take part in role-playing. The first factor that can prove to be a motivating factor is when a teacher has been given a high profile in the society, which makes children want to emulate. Another motivating factor is that the model plays shifts away from the boring formal learning. Formal learning may lock out some children considered as slow learners in a classroom (Government of Ontario., 2011). On the other hand, the play allows learners of all level of understanding to participate in the rules involved are few and not realistically punitive in nature. The freedom and desire to imitate various characters in a school setting encourage active participation. It should also be realized that, since the children are of the same age and class, they are comfortable with each other’s company, which also encourages participation. Interests Children are allowed to play roles of the characters they desire, as far the school context is required. It is advisable that the teacher allows children the freedom to choose the various roles they feel comfortable. For instance, a student willing to play the role of a teacher must not be forced to play the role of a parent. Such limitation directly contributes to limiting the creativity of the children when playing while the contrary would give children freedom (UNICEF, 2009). With more freedom of role, the mind is also expected to exercise the freedom of the mind as well as creativity. Engagement The model of engagement in the play requires the children to participate actively in the play. Children taking up various characters must try their level best to emulate such characters by trying to do what the real characters often do. Children have the freedom to fully engage their imagination and creativity while playing roles. Involvement The model play aims to involve all the children in active participation in a hypothesized school setting. The children are to get involved in interactions similar to those that occur in a real school setting. Personal reflection on children’s play The best way of learning is by doing, and this method can prove useful at all stages of learning. All categories of learners tend to grasp more content and perform better when active forms of learning are adopted. Children play an example of an experimental design suited for the young ones whose intention is to catalyze active participation and creativity. Through role-playing, children can prove their observation skills from their daily experiences. In addition, the role-playing technique provides a teacher with an opportunity to assess young learners from different perspectives. For instance, in role-playing, children may reveal certain aspects that they hide from their teachers. Such information can be very important to teachers. Advantages of play in child development According to Anderson and Bailey (2010), play help children develop a sense of confidence as they take roles in the play and interact with other kids. As a result, children are also able to establish good relationships among themselves that create a healthy and interactive class. Children have the opportunities to take on challenging tasks that they would not dare in real life experience. Such provisions in a play give the children a reason to believe in their abilities as well as acknowledge the weaknesses. Through play, children take part or learn on how to solve some social problems. In addition, play enables children to enhance their communication skills. All these gained advantages are essential for the initial stages of child development in the formal learning process. Conclusion ECD is a stage that requires creativity since it is a very critical stage in the development of a child. The significance of role-playing has gained so attained a lot of fame in modern systems, and many ECD teachers are encouraged to use the model. This paper has identified one unique model play that is intended to get the best out of the ECD children. The model requires children to emulate a school environment and play the various roles of characters within a school setting. The model is expected to spark a sense of creativity among the children as well as enhance their participation and observation skills. References Anderson, K. J., & Bailey, S. J. (2010). The Importance of Play in Early Childhood Development. Retrieved from A Self Learning Resource from the MSU Extension: http://store.msuextension.org/publications/HomeHealthandFamily/MT201003HR.pdf The government of Ontario. (2011). A Booklet for Parents: Learning to Play and Playing to Learn- Getting Ready for School. Retrieved from Early Child Development Resource Centre: http://www.beststart.org/resources/hlthy_chld_dev/pdf/school_readiness_english_fnl.pdf Lecture Week 11. (n.d.). EDF5024 Play and Pedagogy: Contexts for pedagogical play across home, community, and preschool. Ostrosky, M. M., & Meadan, H. (2010). Helping Children Play and Learn Together. Retrieved from Young Children: https://www.naeyc.org/files/yc/file/201001/OstroskyWeb0110.pdf Quinones, G., & Ridgway, A. (2015). Early Childhood pre-service students’ transitioning into discourses of professional practice. Retrieved from Australian Journal of Teacher Education, Volume 40, Issue 1 Article 8. Ridgway, A., & Quinones, G. (2012). How do Early Childhood Students Conceptualize Play-Based Curriculum? Retrieved from How to do Early Childhood Students Conceptualize, Volume 37, Issue 12, Article 4. UNICEF. (2009). Early Childhood Development Kit: A Treasure Box of Activities. Retrieved from Activity Guide (UNICEF) ECD Unit: http://www.unicef.org/earlychildhood/files/Activity_Guide.pdf Whitebread, D. (2012). The Importance of play. Retrieved from A report on the value of children’s play with a series of policy recommendations: http://www.importanceofplay.eu/IMG/pdf/dr_david_whitebread_-_the_importance_of_play.pdf Read More