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Presentation made to the LTS conference on 'Play and Active Learning', 3 October 2009, by Pat Kane, The Play Ethic, http://www.theplayethic.com
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THE POWER AND
POTENTIAL OF PLAY:
2 STORIESPAT KANE
WWW.THEPLAYETHIC.COM
LTS ‘PLAY AND ACTIVE LEARNING CONFERENCE,
GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, OCT 3,
2009
My definition of play:
“play is taking reality
lightly”
(distilled from Plato, Schiller, Sartre, Huizinga,
Erikson, Winnicott, Baudrillard, many
others…)
Two big stories about the power and potential of play in
our society and culture
Play is the most natural thing we do
Play is the strangest thing we do
Play is the most natural thing we do (1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKQxpJRHGec
Play is the most natural thing we do (2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXXm696UbKY
Play is the most natural thing we do…
… because play is core to our development as social, cognitive and
emotional beings
…it’s a zone where we test out potential scenarios for living, without cost, without fear/with joy, because
we want to
Play’s the most natural thing we do
- sports and the arts- creativity in organisations- family & communal festivity- irony, jokes, flirtation- daydreaming, visualisation
..we constantly
“take reality lightly” - all day, every
day
…Play as way of realising our true nature as healthy, sociable, capable human beings
From “Building the curriculum - active learning”
Another story about play….Play is the strangest thing we do
When we think about who is a “player” (other than sports)…
Not very positive connotations…
For masculinity, politics or business…
Another story about play….Play is the strangest thing we do
Information and bio-technology - making our fantasies into realities… Will they be good fantasies? Who shapes the soul of the player?
Do we need a “play ethic?”
Only one story about play - like
sleep or nutrition, it functions to
generate human adaptability through
potentialising… what happens when
we have tools to make those
potentials real?
‘Active learning’ should be about shaping and forging
that play ethic
But you must be aware of the complex, ambiguous nature of play…
‘rough-and-tumble-play’ (boys), ‘mean girls’ (girls), bullying
how to distinguish between… - the necessary turbulence and negotiation and social learning of rough play - and hurtful dominance (see Stuart Brown, Play)
The challenge of play to active learning
A school - or a ‘shkole’?
The challenge of play to active learning
Shkole did not just mean “having time”, but also a certain relation to time: a person living an academic life could organise one’s time oneself - the person could combine work and leisure the way they wanted --- Pekka Himanen
The challenge of play to active learning
It’s not so idealistic…take
‘s
20% rule
A ‘ground of play’ at the heart of their
organisation…
Shouldn’t we prepare kids for this future?
Play for all stages of learning, not just “early” learning… why should it stop?
