Presented at TASP, ABQ

February 16, 2012

By Dorothy Justus Sluss

Organized sports

Pay for play (bouncy houses)

= are these “play” ?

ANCIENTS

AGON

Conflict

Competition

MIMESIS

Symbolic

recreation

CHAOS

Order/disorder

Chance

CLASSICAL

Plato: essential nature of man to play.  He discussed the “play leap” that occurs when children jump, skip and dance. 

Play was viewed as behavior

Children were viewed as miniature adults

Socrates

Aristotle (saw play as imitation)

ENLIGHTENMENT/ROMANTIC

Comenius – wrote first pic book

Locke – one of the first to recognize the value of materials – especially blocks – blocks with letters and picture on them (he invented)

Rosseau – nature wants children to be children before they are men…  “Emile”

Froebel – play is the highest expression of human development in childhood for it alone is the free expression of what is in a child’s soul.   Wrote “Mother’s songs, games and stories.” Wrote patty cake – “invented” circle time, block play – gifts… “Occupations” “Education of Man”  Froebel had specifc things he wanted them to do with the blocks – Patty Smith Hill wanted FREE play with the blocks.  Gifts = toys, Occupations = crafts

Froebel blocks were not standard unit blocks PRATT introduced unit blocks

Froebel was the first to say that play and learning are related. He was most responsible for the idea of nurturing play and he implemented the concept that play and learning are related.

Von Schiller – play as the spending of surplus energy, considered play an adult activity- more romantic approach

Pestalozzi – children should be free to explore and draw their own conclusions. First to use action as a way of learning wrote “How Gertrude Teachers her children” Begin with concrete and move to the abstract. Objects more important that ideas.

Play viewed as a mental activity

4 CLASSICAL THEORIES

Evolutionary theory/Surplus energy (Herbert Spencer)

Relaxation/Recreation Theory  (Moritz Lazarus)

Practice/Pre-exercise theory (Karl Groos) viewed play as civilized and modern, play as educational, unstructured play, play prepares for adulthood

Recapitulation theory (G. Stanley Hall) children recreate evolution through their play – different levels of play, father of American playground movement, monkey bars,

Humans as Players: (Johan Huizinga) civilization arises and unfolds in and as play…   he provided the first definition that is still used as a basis of play

(MODERN) CHILD STUDY MOVEMENT

Patty Smith Hill

Developed the idea of free play studied with HALL and disagreed with Froebel.

Caroline Pratt

Also disagreed with Froebel

Believed in free play

Developed the unit blocks – went to Sweden to learn how to cut them

Lucy Sprague Mitchell

Talked about here-and-now curriculum – why study elevators if they have never seen one? Been on one?

Student of Dewey

Worked with Pratt

Harriet Johnson

Research on how children used the patty smith hill and Carolyn pratt blocks

**any modern work to add to her work? Dissertation idea: recreate the patty hill block studies – replicate her work as dissertation…

John Dewey

In play the activity is its own end instead of its having ulterior result.  Process not product is his… - he unbolted the chairs from the floor! RADICAL

Susan Blow

First kinder in public school, st. louis, mo.

Mildred Parten

Focused  on the social interactions bet children during play activities

MODERN THEORIES

PSYCHOANALYTIC

Freud

Erikson (foundation for play therapy)

COGNITIVE

Piaget

SOCIOCULTURAL

Vygotsky

Arousal Modulation Theory

Berlyne = CNS wants to maintain a certain state of arousal

Ellis

Fein

Shultz

“Why People Play”

Communication Theory

Gregory Bateson

Cognitive Adaptive Theory

Jerome Bruner

Children are meaning makers

POSTMODERN

Deconstructivist/Feminist

Gail Cannella

The Trouble With Play (book)

Comment from audience:

Do Piaget’s stages apply to dual language learners???

Interdisciplinary

Brian Sutton Smith

Concerns that play is romanticized

Real play is not always pleasant

“The Ambiguity of Play” 1997

if we only approach the study of play with one lens we are limiting our understanding

BF Skinner has an aspect of play that was instrinctly motivated – we think about him as external rewards, etc. but there is a part of his work that pointed to the fact there is instrinsic motivation when children are allowed to play…..

DONE.