Pedagogical Perspectives 2: Play, and Environments
Duration
- 1 Teaching Period
Contact hours
- Recommended 8 hours of study per week
On-campus unit delivery combines face-to-face and digital learning. For Online unit delivery, learning is conducted exclusively online.
Aims and objectives
In this unit students extend their understanding of the characteristics of and theoretical approaches to play and collaborative learning and their role in the curriculum. They explore how environments and resources can be used to promote children's active and authentic engagement in learning and their resilience and wellbeing. The unit details relationships between children's play and inquiry across the range of subject disciplines and learning areas and provides students with practical opportunities to analyse experiences that foster learning in early childhood.
The unit aims to provide students with knowledge about the complexity of play and the importance of physical environments and their contributions to curriculum in education programs and children’s learning in general, and particularly to children’s resilience and wellbeing. The aim is that this knowledge will underpin their teaching.
- Examine teacher’s roles in supporting and encouraging constructive children’s play indoors and outdoors
- Discuss and compare contemporary and traditional theories of play
- Critique and analyse play and understand its complexities, including cultural influences
- Identify key aspects and features of play environments that support learning for children aged 0-8 years of age
- Identify and analyse aesthetic and creative features of environments that invite engagement, active learning and constructive play
- Identify and analyse the role of nature, natural materials and outdoor playspaces in children’s play
Courses with unit
This unit is no longer offered
Unit information in detail
- Teaching methods, assessment, general skills outcomes and content.
Teaching methods
This unit is delivered fully online based around a model of participatory online learning.
Assessment
1. Discussion paper on designing and planning learning environments: 10 - 20%
2. Digital teaching and learning portfolio: 20 - 30%
3. 2000-word essay on contemporary theories or constructs of play: 50 - 70%
General skills outcomes
- Communication both oral and written
- Inquiry/research
- Critical thinking
- Use of communications technology and internet resources
Content
- Contemporary and cultural considerations with respect to children's play; an overview of the exploration of major theorists and theories
- Theories about and constructs of play
- Categories of play
- Scaffolding of children's learning: links with time, space, materials and interactions
- Pedagogy and play – the teacher’s role
- The environment as the third teacher – Reggio Emilia
- Setting up learning environments – theory of loose parts
- Indoor and outdoor play experiences
- Nature, natural materials and outdoor playspaces
- Selection and maintenance of learning materials and equipment
- Exploration of current understandings of the place of play in appropriate curriculum for children, in both school and prior-to-school settings
- Daily living experiences (routines) in early learning settings and their potential for learning
- Children’s transitions
- Promoting and encouraging children’s health
- Balancing safety and reasonable risk taking
- Implications for multi and single age groups
- Equity and inclusion in play
Study resources
- Recommended reading.
Recommended reading
Curtis, D., & Carter, M. (2003). Designs for Living and Learning: Transforming Early Childhood Environments. St. Paul, MN: Redleaf Press.
DeViney, J. (2010). Inspiring Spaces for Young Children. Silver Spring, MD: Gryphon House.
Dockett, S., & Fleer, M. (2003). Play and Pedagogy in Early Childhood: Bending the Rules. South Melbourne, Vic: Thomson.
Ebbeck, M. A., & Waniganayake, M. (2010). Play in Early Childhood Education : learning in diverse contexts. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
Edwards, S., & Cutter-Mackenzie, A. (2011). Environmentalising early childhood education curriculum through pedagogies of play. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 36(1), 51-59.
Elliott, S. (Ed.). (2007). The Outdoor Playspace Naturally for Children Birth to Five Years. Castle Hills, NSW: Pademelon Press.
Greenman, J. T. (2007). Caring Spaces, Learning Places: Children's Environments that Work (New ed.). Redmond, Washington: Exchange Press.
Koralek, D. G. (Ed.). (2004). Spotlight on Young Children and Play. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Yelland, N. (2011). Reconceptualising play and learning in the lives of young children. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 36(2), 4-12.
Young, T., Elliott, S., & Medlicott, G. (2003). Just Discover !: Connecting Young Children with the Natural World. Croydon, VIC: Tertiary Press.