Children learn by watching, by listening, by example, by play. Only play allows “active, experiential involvement: testing and trying, manipulating variables, gathering data in many different contexts, and interpreting data to develop meaningful concepts.” (p.96)
PLAY - DEBRIEF - REPLAY CURRICULUM
Developing curriculum tasks for play-debrief-replay requires two steps:
Step 1 What’s the big idea?
Identify:
- Important concepts
- Concepts that can be built on
- Concepts with substance and value
Examples: Building and describing 3D objects; classifying living and non-living things; daily life
is influenced by the environment. (Notice that these big ideas are taken directly from
the BC curriculum package.)
“Choosing one focus, and carefully planning a sequence of activities that will teach one concept thoroughly, is the goal.” (p.98)
Step 2 Creating the Play Activity
- Based on the big idea, design an exploratory play activity that will stimulate children’s thinking
about the investigation.
- Ensure a good fit between the big idea and the play task.
- Incorporate higher-order thinking operations (comparing, observing, classifying, summarizing,
Interpreting, etc.) Try to “create a “thinking lens” through which knowledge is filtered, so that
students are cognitively processing information, instead of merely receiving it.”
The Teacher’s Role
Observe.
Be a reflective practitioner.
Reflective practitioners are “sometimes involved in active teaching or telling, while at other times they are
interacting with individual children and with small and large groups, such as seen in debriefing. Sometimes they are planning and inventing new strategies, testing them to see if they work. Other times they are
reflecting on action – observing from the sidelines as the children are actively engaged in learning tasks and mentally gathering data about what is happening and what next steps to take.”
Step 1 What’s the big idea?
Identify:
- Important concepts
- Concepts that can be built on
- Concepts with substance and value
Examples: Building and describing 3D objects; classifying living and non-living things; daily life
is influenced by the environment. (Notice that these big ideas are taken directly from
the BC curriculum package.)
“Choosing one focus, and carefully planning a sequence of activities that will teach one concept thoroughly, is the goal.” (p.98)
Step 2 Creating the Play Activity
- Based on the big idea, design an exploratory play activity that will stimulate children’s thinking
about the investigation.
- Ensure a good fit between the big idea and the play task.
- Incorporate higher-order thinking operations (comparing, observing, classifying, summarizing,
Interpreting, etc.) Try to “create a “thinking lens” through which knowledge is filtered, so that
students are cognitively processing information, instead of merely receiving it.”
The Teacher’s Role
Observe.
Be a reflective practitioner.
Reflective practitioners are “sometimes involved in active teaching or telling, while at other times they are
interacting with individual children and with small and large groups, such as seen in debriefing. Sometimes they are planning and inventing new strategies, testing them to see if they work. Other times they are
reflecting on action – observing from the sidelines as the children are actively engaged in learning tasks and mentally gathering data about what is happening and what next steps to take.”