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| Pedagogy of Play | |||||||||
| Play is at the heart of childhood. Through play, children learn how to collaborate, how to negotiate rules and relationships, and how to imagine, create, and dream. They learn to solve problems, think flexibly and critically, and communicate effectively. Whether playing with objects, engaging in pretend play, or tinkering with ideas and testing theories, children’s play is essential to their social, intellectual, physical, and emotional growth. But what do we mean by playful learning? How do we create the conditions in which teaching and learning through play thrive? Drawing on research from the Pedagogy of Play initiative at Project Zero, a research institute at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, presenters will discuss why we need a pedagogy of play and what it means to embrace play as a core part of learning in schools and early childhood programs. Participants will explore playful learning practices, see classroom examples of playful teaching and learning in action in early childhood classrooms, and consider strategies for bringing more play into their teaching and learning contexts. | |||||||||
| Jennifer Oxman Ryan | |||||||||
| Jennifer Oxman Ryan is a researcher and senior project manager at Project Zero (PZ), a research organization at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE). For nine years, her work on the Pedagogy of Play initiative explored what it means to embrace play as a core resource for teaching and learning. She has been with Project Zero since 2006, having researched and published previously on playful learning, maker-centered teaching and learning, young people's digital lives, and arts education. Jennifer has co-designed and instructed two PZ-HGSE online courses – a current mini-course called Let’s Play: Teaching Strategies for Playful Learning, and another exploring teaching and learning in the maker-centered classroom. She is co-author, along with Project Zero colleagues, of A Pedagogy of Play: Supporting playful learning in classrooms and school (Project Zero 2023) and Maker-Centered Learning: Empowering Young People to Shape their Worlds (Wiley 2016). Prior to working at PZ, Jennifer was a museum educator, professional development leader, and director of education for school/community partnerships. She lives in the state of Maine with a family of makers and players, ages 15 through 50. | |||||||||
| Megina Baker | |||||||||
| Megina Baker, Ph.D. is a Program Developer in the Boston Public Schools Department of Early Childhood, where she is a co-author of the play-based Focus on Early Learning curriculum and an education coach. Currently, Megina is leading coaching for the Playful Learning Institute, a statewide program to promote playful learning in Pre-K through 3rd grade public school classrooms in Massachusetts. Prior to joining BPS, Megina was a member of the Pedagogy of Play research team at Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a faculty member at Boston University’s Wheelock College of Education and Human Development. She was also the first Director of Teaching and Learning at Neighborhood Villages, a systems-change non-profit working to support the early childhood system in Boston and beyond. Megina received her Ph.D. from Boston College, where her scholarship focused on curriculum, teacher education, and multilingual learners. She is a co-author of several books, including the recent A Pedagogy of Play: Supporting playful learning in classrooms and schools (Project Zero 2023). A former preschool and kindergarten teacher herself, Megina has had the honor of leading numerous workshops and courses for educators over the past 20 years in the field. She lives in the Boston area with her Swedish-American family, speaking Swedish, singing, and playing the fiddle in her spare time. | |||||||||
| DATES: 28th & 29th September 2024, Hong Kong VENUE: ESF Discovery College Address: 38 Siena Avenue, Discovery Bay, Hong Kong Phone: +852 3969 1000 |
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