The Nelson article we read in class has us learn about a very interesting topic and issue brought up by Nelson himself. He proposed the idea that play in schools and educational curriculum, actual play, like working with the arts, music, etc., seems to have been ignored for a long while in an attempt to spend more time in the classroom, reading and learning. What's so interesting, is that what we learned is that "play" is one of the most important aspects and ways of education for furthering the advancement and the literacy of children. It was so interesting and so cool to learn that students and children can greatly benefit from the experiences they have when playing with their classmates. Whether its in the classroom, the playground, or even at home, children are able to develop real cognitive and critical learning abilities through the use of art and play. The skills and ideas that children learn through play scenarios are able to be related back to how they analyze and retain information in the classroom, proving that play time is more than an essential aspect in the development of education for children.
Hey Noah,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your reflection on Nelsen's article. Specifically, I agree with your phrasing about how we took "play", which is actually an essential educational tool out of the classroom. Furthermore, I also appreciated your commentary on how play scenarios can be connection to a child's analysis and classroom retention. This made me wonder, do you have any ideas on ways we could begin to reintroduce play back into the classroom environment? Or, for older children (such as high schoolers), what are some ways play could be incorporated into the curriculum? Thanks for sharing! I look forward to hearing your ideas.
Cam
Hi Noah,
ReplyDeleteI also found this article to be very interesting. I have been a preschool teacher for a couple years and always knew the importance of active learning for younger children because it helps develop their motor and cognitive skills. However, I had no idea it would still be so important for the older classrooms. Going back to when I was in elementary school, which was over 10 years ago, I can't remember any of my teacher using active play learning as a main educational tool. They were introducing large medicine balls to sit on instead of chairs, but that's about the only educational tool I can think of. If we were to visit an elementary school classroom today, what difference in educational tools would you see compared to when we were in elementary school? Do you think play in the classroom as an educational tool would be more prominent?