Reinvigorating History Classes: The Importance of Play and Collaboration in Secondary Education

InnovatED.LA April 2014Presenter: Kelly Wall

Kelly.wall@viewpoint.orgClass website: www.thehistoricalworld.weebly.com

Viewpoint School, Middle School social studies

Play is more than just fun..

http://www.ted.com/talks/stuart_brown_says_play_is_more_than_fun_it_s_vital

“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” - Plato

“The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect

but by the play instinct.” -Carl Jung

“Whoever wants to understand much must play much.”

- Gottfried Benn

Share: How can you or do you incorporate a culture of “play” into your classroom?

Class dismissed… now recess!

Group Play Option 1:Build a Mayan Civilization in groups: Take on a social role and imagine your responsibilities and contributions as a peasant, priest, commoner or artisan. Break ground using Legos and implement your group’s vision.

Solo Play Option 2:Cell Phones From the Past:Imagine that a person from the past owned a cellphone. Who might they call or text? What apps would they have? Bonus question: What calls might they “drop” and why?

Where are you in this journey “to play”?

Novice: Are you interested in transforming your curriculum to be more playful? Next step: Planning.

Veteran: Have you already incorporated a culture of play into your classroom? Next Step: Reflection.

Curious Individual: Do you want to experiment and try out more playful approaches to learning?Next step: Explore.

Resources:

• ://www.theideaconference.com/#/knowledge-hub

• http://www.instituteofplay.org/about/

All hand-outs and lessons will be posted on my class website: www.thehistoricalworld.weebly.com