Playing with Ideas about Play
Play! We all love it, but what is it? Plub delved into the literature around play and created this tour of play through a variety of lenses and in the context of a variety of disciplines. This resource is not meant to be exhaustive or comprehensive. Rather it is a sampling of different perspectives on play that help us think about our learning designs. We hope it will help you build your understanding of what play means in your work too!
As a companion to her Intro to Play, Plub also organized the different perspectives on play found in the research and arranged them into this mind map. This is just one way to visualize the giant concept that is play! You can use it as a browsable jumping-off point in learning about play research, or to start discussions with your playmates about what play means to you.
Story-based Maker Adventures
For her independent project, Plub developed one strand of story-based maker adventures to be run at her camp in Thailand, with the goal of promoting Girls in STEM. The experience started with a mysterious story about missing energy balls that had to be found in a dark place. To light their way during the search, kids worked with LED lights, batteries, and craft materials to build wearable bling that would light their way. Then they were off in search of energy balls! The playtest of this activity helped the team think about what future-ready skills emerge during experiences that combine narrative and engineering, and how best to facilitate this type of learning.
