play & creativity for complex learning

Play & Creativity for

Complex Learning

Prof. Alison James NTF PFHEA

Edinburgh Napier University20.06.2019

#enltconf19Finn StoneLEGO Stilettos

How do you define play?

“We all play occasionally, and we all know what playing feels like. But when it comes to making theoretical statements about what play is, we fall into silliness. There is little agreement among us, and much ambiguity”

Brian Sutton SmithThe Ambiguity of Play (1997:1)

Prof Alison James NTF PFHEA University of Winchester

https://www.museumofplay.org/about/library-archives-play/brian-sutton-smith

Play types…☟ ☟

• Interior/mental

• Collective/solitary

• Performative/interactive

• Contests

• Celebrations and festivals

• Dangerous/deep play

• Playful

Features

• Repetitive• Exaggerated• Reversed• Unusual• Attenuated• Physical


Common* principles of play

• Spontaneous/Undertaken freely

• Rewarding

• No end point

• Player is protected from consequences

• An indicator of well being

• Positive mood state

• Enough in itself

• Other world/space

Prof Alison James NTF PFHEA University of Winchester(*but not always the case in ‘educational play’)

• It’s fun and without predetermined purpose (Brown)• About rapture, flow, the magical and extraordinary (Ackermann)• It stands outside ‘ordinary’ life and absorbs the players in its

own space, according to its own rules (Huizinga)• It’s not a matter of idleness or diversion but about “taking reality

lightly” (Kane)• There are too many types of play to name them all (Fagen)• Can encompass pastimes, recreation, entertainment, hobbies

(Sutton-Smith)• Play is defined by context – not what we do but how we do it

(Nachmanovitch)• Has a serious purpose (Kristiansen & Rasmussen)

.

A global play group for women in which

‘We whole-heartedly promote periods of "recess" from the cares and duties of everyday

life in which Hatters gather for no other purpose than to play.’

https://www.redhatsociety.com/page/about_us

How can/does play support complex learning?

Johan Huizinga

It is central to navigating human

existenceOlder than culture

Animals knew how to do it

before civilisations emerged

Marian Diamond

brain size and enrichment

Stuart Brown

For funFor healthy brain

developmentTo ensure healthy

socialisation and combat deviancy

neoteny

Pat Kane

Play as a generator of originality,

growth and new development

Steven Nachmanovitch

for self expression and creativity:

“everything in nature arises from the

power of free play sloshing against

the power of limits”

Brian Sutton Smith

Survival:It is ambiguous andnot always innocent

7 (contrasting)Rhetorics of Play

Plato (allegedly)

One of the quickest ways of learning about someone

Gottfried Benn

Whoever wants to

understand much

must play much

Until recently play scholarshiphas mostly been outside HE



https://playandcreativityfestival.wordpress.com/

Using techniques from dolphin training in behavioural psychologyinventing board games to teach history or ward management in nursing

(Wardopoly) or for reinforcing concepts within wildlife conservation (zoology) Outdoor learning centres and pop up “playscapes” (diverse)Raft-building, sheep dog handling (team/leadership building)Pattern, magic and problem-solving in mathematics Playful public engagement activities led by students (chemistry) which

encourage audience participation Juggling in functional biology and plant science classesExploring conceptions of space using LEGO on an MA in Museum Curation

Cabinets of curiosities teacher ed./culture shoeboxes in dental educationPlay, games and invention for sports science and coachingWord play, places of wonder, theatre, games, escape rooms, simulation ….

Sustainability & Science in The Power of Play

Vet School: Worms & Waste

Staff and students constructed wormeries using recycle materials and looked after worms for two weeks

Activity encouraged discussion on recycling and empathy within the role of the veterinary professional

Next project is to knit a zoo…

(Boyd and Roe)

Incorporating play into science classes to boost curiosity:

Learning produces pleasure in the form of small doses of dopamine and is triggered when we are challenged by new, intriguing or complex learning. A means of countering students seeing science learning as fact absorption and regurgitation

(Palmer & Wheeler)


Arts and Management in The Power of PlayProf. Clive Holtham and Dr Tine Bech

Artist in Residency at Business School

• vital areas of management cannot be reduced to rational models and thinking, and need intuition

• Pedagogic rationale

• There was a strong interest in the business school in drawing on the residency to extend its existing arts-based management education and in turn, helping to improve the practices of business.

Spaces 2050

Creative Entrepreneur residency in Cass Business School, investigating how art, technology and play can create new systems of communication across the city and new ways of connecting with each other in public spaces

Residency explored how playful interactive spaces can help organisations innovate


Play with purpose

Play for experimentation

Play as failure

Play as freedom


[email protected]

https://engagingimagination.com

@alisonrjames

THANK YOU! ANY QUESTIONS? (If no time, find me later!)

mailto:[email protected]

https://engagingimagination.com/

play & creativity for complex learning

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