Why a Pedagogy of Play?
History - Purpose - Research
History
Purpose
Research
The history of PoP
The Pedagogy of Play project began at ISB in 2015, and has continued to grow and evolve ever since. From 2015-2023 we collaborated closely with our friends from Project Zero, a research organization based at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, hypothesizing experimenting, discussing, and asking questions about learning through play.
Many of the resources available on our PoP page are a direct result of the work undertaken by the work of ISB teacher-researchers.
In 2017, PoP expanded to South Africa and later to the United States, and other research sites. In each site, educators and researchers work together to explore culturally relevant models of playful learning.
The purpose of PoP: Pedagogy of Play
The positive effect of play on children’s intellectual, social, emotional, and physical development is well-documented, and we take it as given that bringing more play into the institutions tasked with nurturing these skills can only be a good thing.
In other words, the why of playful learning has been covered.
What we’re exploring, through PoP, is the how.
- How can a school balance the need for safety and order with the qualities of risk and chaos that make play such a powerful force for learning?
- How can teachers say “yes” more often to student initiative, without compromising curriculum goals and standards?
- How can administrators support teachers in stepping back to let students lead the way?
Research
While PoP research will continue to be in process, we take this opportunity to share two of the original working papers that highlight some emergent findings and hypotheses.
The first, Towards a Pedagogy of Play, situates the research in the fields of play and learning and presents promising theories around the objective and subjective nature of learning through play.
The companion paper, Playful Participatory Research, explores a new model of collaborative research and takes a deeper dive into the work with ISB.
You can download both papers below.
