The current study examined the impact of experiencing either a guided play or direct instruction learning environment on causal learning, curiosity, and divergent thinking. Forty-three children (age 4- to 6-years) participated in an online experiment in which they completed a causal learning task in either guided play or direct instruction condition. Children also completed measures of curiosity and divergent thinking and a second causal learning free exploration task after which they were tested on their causal learning. It was predicted that children in the guided play condition would perform better than children in the direct instruction condition on a test of causal learning because guided play provides a balance of child agency and adult guidance that is optimal for supporting learning. Contrary to the hypothesis, children in the direct instruction condition performed better on the test of causal learning. This finding is likely due to the cognitive demands placed on children in the guided play condition. These demands were likely the result of completing the task in an online environment, and the current study has implications for learning and conducting research online. Based on prior research, it was also predicted that children in the guided play condition would outperform children in the direct instruction condition on measures of curiosity and divergent thinking, and that curiosity would also predict children’s causal learning. There were no effects of condition on either curiosity or divergent thinking, but curiosity did predict children’s scores on the test of causal learning. This finding suggests that curiosity is a powerful driver of children’s learning and deserves further investigation. / Psychology

This study was designed to assess the effect of Situational context on the playful behaviors of young preschool children ages 18 to 24 months. Playfulness was defined as a psychological construct involving the disposition of play (Rogers, Meeks, Impara, & Frary, 1987). Playful behaviors were observed and coded from videotapes of toddlers interacting with a teacher/experimenter in both assisted play and direct instruction conditions. The research question addressed was as follows: What is the effect of situational context (teacher interaction style) on the playful behaviors of toddlers as measured by the Playful Behaviors Observation Inventory (PBOI)? Data were analyzed using a 2 x 2 x 2 (Condition x Order x Gender) analysis of variance with repeated measures. In the direct instruction condition, children accomplished goals in more varied ways, invented more uses of objects, and attended longer than in the assisted play condition. Those who received the direct instruction condition first also persisted longer at goals than those who received the assisted play condition first. Although pretend play rarely occurred, the number of times children engaged in pretend play was also higher in the direct instruction condition than in the assisted play condition. Results of PBOI scales correlated with age showed an interesting pattern which was not significant but indicated a relationship between age and playfulness. Findings suggest that toddlers are more playful in direct instruction than in assisted play. However, it is difficult to determine from this study if direct instruction is developmentally appropriate for very young preschool children since the children in the late sensorimotor period are in a transitional period of development. It is possible that direct instruction was beneficial because of the age of the children in this study. Toddlers learn through repetition and imitation and need more direction. Results indicate that context has an important role and that imitation, not play, is characteristic of toddlers during the late sensorimotor period. / Ph. D.

There is an element of play within all of us. It is imagination and interaction that makes us human. In this digital age, it is evident that we are losing touch with our own ability to remain imaginative and explore new and different ways to physically interact with our environment. In this thesis, it is my goal is to design in a way that does not limit human abilities, but instead promotes the idea of play between our wants and needs as well as re-sparking our imagination. In this thesis exploration, I experimented with multiple scales of playful design. I will show you how I implemented the idea of play for the design of a kite, a toy, a furniture piece, and a building. All of these projects are examples of designs that could have been static elements, but instead were designed to be dynamic to complement our everyday dynamic lives. Enjoy! / Master of Architecture

Parents’ perceptions of how their children learn most effectively are crucial drivers in shaping both how they interact with their children and the broader educational landscape in which their children are raised. Recent shifts in educational policy reflect an increasing acceptance of playful learning principles, but methodological gaps have made it challenging to determine which principles drive parents’ attitudes, and how widely shared these perceptions may be across the globe. In the present set of studies, we surveyed parents in the United States and China – countries with purportedly very different cultural attitudes toward education – to assess parent’s perceptions of the connection between common childhood activities and playful learning. Study 1, in the United States, and Study 3, in China, used a between-subjects design to examine parents’ perceptions of 37 common childhood activities across play and learning conditions. Study 2, in the United States, and 4, in China, used a within-subjects design to dig deeper into parents’ perceptions of the overlap between play and learning in these same activities and how this overlap was associated with the characteristics of playful learning (Zosh et al., 2018). We found similarities between both cultures in their categorization of childhood activities as playful and learning. Furthermore, parents in both the United States and China positively associated most characteristics of playful learning with activities that they categorized as both play and learning and that joyful was associated with play, either alone or in conjunction with learning, while joyful was not associated with learning alone. / Psychology

LIMA, Francisca Josélia Inocêncio de . A criança e os artefatos lúdicos: um estudo etnográfico da cultura lúdica da rua. 2010. 125f. Dissertação (Mestrado em Educação) – Universidade Federal do Ceará, Faculdade de Educação, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação, Fortaleza-CE, 2010. / Submitted by Maria Josineide Góis (josineide@ufc.br) on 2012-07-10T13:56:01Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2010_Dis_FJILIMA.pdf: 21517219 bytes, checksum: af20bfaffbbc1991ea2e250fe69b7876 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Maria Josineide Góis(josineide@ufc.br) on 2012-07-10T14:17:36Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2010_Dis_FJILIMA.pdf: 21517219 bytes, checksum: af20bfaffbbc1991ea2e250fe69b7876 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2012-07-10T14:17:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2010_Dis_FJILIMA.pdf: 21517219 bytes, checksum: af20bfaffbbc1991ea2e250fe69b7876 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010 / This research, continuing to work “Between hands and machines: the logic of building of playful artifacts”, developed as scientific initiation in degree course, tried to understand the relationship of the children with the industrial playful artifacts and crafts artifacts from the modes of play in a specific cultural context, the street. The corpus was composed of the records of the observations of free playful activities developed by children and adults residents in the Coronel Fabriciano Street, in the Granja Portugal district in the periphery of Fortaleza. The use of the case study in education inspired ethnographic research methodology made possible to realize the cultural peculiarities of to play in the context studied. For the analysis of the corpus, we resorted to theoretical categories: modes of play, appropriated by Costa from manners of make of Cearteau, discourse as conceptualized by Bakthin and playful culture, from the perspective inaugurated by Brougère. The results of this study suggests that the nature of the artifacts and the context in which they organize the playful activities playing an important role in the differentiation of modes of play. However, the initiative of the child makes complex this relationships in that it dialogues child with the multiple discourses that pervade the playful practices partly account for the production of the play culture, acting both in dialogue with the previous generation as in the dissemination between peers. / A presente pesquisa, dando continuidade ao trabalho “Entre mãos e máquinas: a lógica de construção dos artefatos lúdicos”, desenvolvido como iniciação científica na graduação, procurou compreender a relação das crianças com os artefatos lúdicos industriais e artesanais a partir dos modos de brincar num contexto cultural específico, a rua. O corpus foi constituído pelos registros das observações das atividades lúdicas desenvolvidas livremente por crianças e adultos residentes na rua Coronel Fabriciano, no bairro Granja Portugal, na periferia de Fortaleza. A utilização do estudo de caso em educação de inspiração etnográfica como metodologia da pesquisa possibilitou perceber as particularidades culturais do brincar em função do contexto estudado. Para a análise do corpus, recorreu-se às categorias teóricas: modos de brincar, adequada por Costa a partir das maneiras de fazer de Certeau; discurso tal como conceituado por Bakhtin e cultura lúdica, na perspectiva inaugurada por Brougère. Os resultados deste estudo sugerem que a natureza dos artefatos e o contexto onde se organizam as brincadeiras jogam um papel importante na diferenciação dos modos de brincar. Porém, a iniciativa da criança complexifica essas relações na medida em que ela dialoga com os múltiplos discursos que perpassam as práticas lúdicas respondendo em parte pela produção da cultura lúdica, atuando tanto no diálogo com a geração precedente quanto na disseminação entre os pares.

Metoden Playful writing är utarbetad i Storbritannien utifrån deras läroplan. Metoden bygger på att elever via högläsning och guidad lek med byggande i grupp med 3D material får närma sig narrativt skrivande. Metoden bygger på multimodalt och kooperativt lärande. Syftet med vår studie är att undersöka hur pedagoger i Sverige uppfattar metoden Playful writings möjligheter och hinder med avseende på inkludering under narrativ skrivundervisning. För att kunna ta del av hur pedagoger uppfattar metoden behöver vi undersöka hur de uppfattar metodens olika delmoment. Vi har därför under hösten 2018 erbjudit två workshoptillfällen till pedagoger för att de ska prova på och bilda sig en uppfattning om metoden. Workshoptillfällena har utgått från vår tolkning av metoden utifrån den engelska handledningen. Efter workshopstillfällena har de deltagande pedagogerna fått en förfrågan om att delta i vår webbenkätstudie. Studiens 46 deltagare är överlag positiva till metoden. De anser att metoden ger elever möjlighet att öka måluppfyllelsen i narrativ skrift. Deltagarna anser också att metoden Playful writing har möjligheter att bidra till alla elevers delaktighet i undervisningen. I enkätsvaren framkommer fler möjligheter än hinder för metoden. Från första juli 2019 gäller läsa, skriva, räkna garantin i alla Sveriges skolor (Regeringskansliet, 2018). Personal med specialpedagogisk kompetens förväntas då tidigt bedöma elevers kunskapsutveckling. Personalen med specialpedagogisk kompetens skall också tillsammans med de pedagoger som arbetar i klasserna erbjuda inkluderande undervisningsmetoder. De metoderna erbjuder ett rikt utbud av variation i undervisningen som bidrar till en väl fungerande skrivundervisning. Utifrån resultatet i vår studie menar vi att Playful writing kan vara en inkluderande undervisningsmetod i narrativ skrift. / The method is developed in the UK and based on the UK curriculum. The method is based on pupils being able to approaching narrative writing by reading together and by guided play with building in groups using 3D material. The method is based on multimodal and cooperative learning. The aim with our study is to investigate how educators in Sweden perceive the method Playful writing opportunities and obstacles with regard to inclusion during narrative writing. To be able to find out how the educators perceive the method we need to find out how they perceive the different steps of the method. In the autumn of 2018, we have carried thorugh two workshop opportunities for educators to try and form an idea of ​​the method. The workshops are based on our understanding of the handbook Playful writing. After the workshops the participating educators have been asked to participate in our web survey. The 46 participants of the study are generally positive towards the method. They believe that the method gives pupils the opportunity to increase goal achievement in narrative writing. The participants also believe that the method Playful writing has the opportunity to contribute to all pupils' participation in learning. The answers in the questionnaire suggest that the method has more possibilities than obstacles. From July 1, 2019, reading, writing, counting the guarantee applies to all Swedish schools (Government Offices, 2018). Personnel with special educational skills are expected to assess pupils' knowledge development at an early stage. The staff with special pedagogical competence shall also, together with the educators working in the classes, offer inclusive teaching methods. These methods offer a rich diversity in teaching that contributes to a well-functioning writing instruction. Based on the results in our study, we suggest that Playful writing can be such a method.

Metoden Playful writing är utarbetad i Storbritannien utifrån deras läroplan. Metoden bygger på att elever via högläsning och guidad lek med byggande i grupp med 3D material får närma sig narrativt skrivande. Metoden bygger på multimodalt och kooperativt lärande. Syftet med vår studie är att undersöka hur pedagoger i Sverige uppfattar metoden Playful writings möjligheter och hinder med avseende på inkludering under narrativ skrivundervisning. För att kunna ta del av hur pedagoger uppfattar metoden behöver vi undersöka hur de uppfattar metodens olika delmoment. Vi har därför under hösten 2018 erbjudit två workshoptillfällen till pedagoger för att de ska prova på och bilda sig en uppfattning om metoden. Workshoptillfällena har utgått från vår tolkning av metoden utifrån den engelska handledningen. Efter workshopstillfällena har de deltagande pedagogerna fått en förfrågan om att delta i vår webbenkätstudie. Studiens 46 deltagare är överlag positiva till metoden. De anser att metoden ger elever möjlighet att öka måluppfyllelsen i narrativ skrift. Deltagarna anser också att metoden Playful writing har möjligheter att bidra till alla elevers delaktighet i undervisningen. I enkätsvaren framkommer fler möjligheter än hinder för metoden. Från första juli 2019 gäller läsa, skriva, räkna garantin i alla Sveriges skolor (Regeringskansliet, 2018). Personal med specialpedagogisk kompetens förväntas då tidigt bedöma elevers kunskapsutveckling. Personalen med specialpedagogisk kompetens skall också tillsammans med de pedagoger som arbetar i klasserna erbjuda inkluderande undervisningsmetoder. De metoderna erbjuder ett rikt utbud av variation i undervisningen som bidrar till en väl fungerande skrivundervisning. Utifrån resultatet i vår studie menar vi att Playful writing kan vara en inkluderande undervisningsmetod i narrativ skrift. / The method is developed in the UK and based on the UK curriculum. The method is based on pupils being able to approaching narrative writing by reading together and by guided play with building in groups using 3D material. The method is based on multimodal and cooperative learning. The aim with our study is to investigate how educators in Sweden perceive the method Playful writing opportunities and obstacles with regard to inclusion during narrative writing. To be able to find out how the educators perceive the method we need to find out how they perceive the different steps of the method. In the autumn of 2018, we have carried thorugh two workshop opportunities for educators to try and form an idea of the method. The workshops are based on our understanding of the handbook Playful writing. After the workshops the participating educators have been asked to participate in our web survey. The 46 participants of the study are generally positive towards the method. They believe that the method gives pupils the opportunity to increase goal achievement in narrative writing. The participants also believe that the method Playful writing has the opportunity to contribute to all pupils' participation in learning. The answers in the questionnaire suggest that the method has more possibilities than obstacles. From July 1, 2019, reading, writing, counting the guarantee applies to all Swedish schools (Government Offices, 2018). Personnel with special educational skills are expected to assess pupils' knowledge development at an early stage. The staff with special pedagogical competence shall also, together with the educators working in the classes, offer inclusive teaching methods. These methods offer a rich diversity in teaching that contributes to a well-functioning writing instruction. Based on the results in our study, we suggest that Playful writing can be such a method.

This study explored human-robot interaction where children got to play with the interactive social robot Romo. The focus of the study was to explore if children experienced the interactions with the robot differently depending on two parameters. The parameters used were thought to measure differences in experiences, attitudes and expectations towards the robot depending on whether the children were co-creators of the robot or merely had playful interaction with the robot. The results indicated that the children in both activity parameter groups had similar pleasurable experiences apart from four additional categories that were detected in the co-creation group. Something that indicates that the group of children that were given the opportunity to manipulate and form Romo’s behavior had a richer user experience compared to the group of children that only played with Romo. It was also noticeable that none of the children that manipulated and formed Romo’s behavior experienced it as direct learning. They saw the learning process more as being a playful experience and many of them expressed that they had taught Romo to do various things. The ability to edit Romo’s robotic motions and behavior, through an easy contextual-sign interface, inevitably allowed the children to understand physical and computational models through play. / Denna studie undersökte människa-robot interaktion där barnen fick leka med interaktiva sociala roboten Romo. Målet med studien var att undersöka om barnen upplevde interaktioner med roboten på olika sätt beroende på två parametrar. De parametrar som användes var avsedda att mäta skillnader i upplevelser, attityder och förväntningar till roboten beroende på om barnen var medskapare av roboten eller enbart hade en lekfull interaktion med det. Resultatet visade att barnen i båda aktivitets parameter grupperna hade liknande upplevelser av interaktionen med roboten förutom att gruppen som var medskapare av roboten hade ytterligare fyra njutbar upplevelser. Något som tyder på att den grupp barn som fick möjlighet att manipulera och forma Romos beteende hade en rikare användarupplevelse jämfört med den grupp av barn som bara lekte med Romo. Det var också anmärkningsvärt att ingen av barnen som manipulerade och formade Romos beteende upplevde det som direkt inlärning. De såg inlärningsprocessen mer som en lekfull upplevelse och många av dem uttryckte att de hade lärt Romo att göra olika saker. Möjligheten att redigera Romos rörelser och beteenden, genom en enkel kontextuellt gränssnitt, oundvikligen tillät barnen att förstå fysisk- och beräkningsbaserad modellering genom lek.

O desenvolvimento da competência leitora e escritora nem sempre ocorre na escola de modo pleno. Desse modo, os níveis de letramento, no ensino fundamental II, avançam lentamente. O estudante nem sempre consegue utilizar os recursos linguísticos para escrever textos e/ou interpretá-los. A presente pesquisa justifica-se pela intenção de sugerir atividades didáticas que de fato promovam o desenvolvimento das competências em leitura e escrita. Assim, foi estudado o letramento mediante as propostas que empregam os gêneros textuais como estratégia didática no ensino de língua materna. Por meio da elaboração e aplicação de atividades, o objetivo é verificar se a leitura e comentários orais decorrentes, bem como as atividades de escrita, auxiliam o estudante (sexto ano) a confeccionar poemas. A hipótese estabelecida é a de que uma proposta fundamentada na leitura (silenciosa, compartilhada) e nas rodas de conversa corrobora com a apropriação das características do gênero poema e, por conseguinte, viabiliza indivíduos agentes, que conseguem escrever textos com autonomia. A metodologia desta pesquisa organizou-se em cinco etapas: percurso histórico dos processos de aprendizagem em Língua Portuguesa, apresentação do gênero poema e suas especificidades, aplicação da proposta didática, coleta de dados (textos escritos pelos alunos individual e coletivamente) e, por fim, análise qualitativa dos dados. Fundamentou esta pesquisa os conceitos de letramento (Antunes, 2009; Kleiman, 1998, 2007; Rojo 2004, 2005; Soares 2002, 2004), os conceitos de dialogismo no texto literário (Bakthin, 2016; Fiorin, 2006), os conceitos do gênero poema (Bosi, 2000; Goldstein, 1999, 2006, 2007; Martins, 2008), os conceitos de agência (Bazerman, 2006), os conceitos de autoria (Possenti, 2007; Tfouni, 2015) e os conceitos de éthos (Amoussy, 2011; Discini, 2014). Concluiu-se que uma proposta didática bem fundamentada conduz o estudante a apropriar-se das características do gênero e a escrever poemas com traços de autoria. / The development of the reading and writing competences not always happen fully at school. Thus, levels of literacy at Middle School in Brazil, progress slowly. The student not always can use the linguistic resources to write texts and/or decode them. This research justifies itself through the intention of suggesting teaching activities, that, indeed, promote development of competences in reading and writing. Therefore, it has been studied the literacy through proposals that apply the textual genres as didactic strategies in the mother tongues teaching. By the means of elaborating and applying activities, the aim is to verify if the reading and resulting oral comments, as well writing activities, aid the student (6th grade) to write poems. The established hypothesis is that a proposal based on the reading (silent, shared) and on chat groups support the appropriation of the poem features and consequently facilitates agent individuals who can write texts with autonomy. The methodology of this research is organized in five steps: historical path of the Portuguese language learning process, presentation of the poem genre and its specificities, an application of the didactic proposed, gathering of data (texts written by students individually and collectively), and, finally, the quality analysis of data. Concepts of literacy based this research (Antunes, 2009; Kleiman, 1998, 2007; Rojo 2004, 2005; Soares 2002, 2004), concepts of dialogism in literary text (Bakthin, 2016; Fiorin, 2006), concepts of poem (Bosi, 2000; Goldstein, 1999, 2007; Martins, 2008), concepts of agency (Bazerman, 2006), concepts of authorship (Possenti, 2007; Tfouni, 2015) and concepts of ethos (Amoussy, 2011; Discini, 2014). To conclude, a didactic proposal well based conducts the student to appropriate oneself of the genre features and to write poems with traces of authorship.

Esta pesquisa investigou os modos como se constroem e se revelam relações e concepções pautadas no gênero, entre crianças do 5° ano do ensino fundamental I de uma escola pública da cidade de São Paulo, expressos nas aulas de educação física com o conteúdo dança. Caracteriza-se como um estudo descritivo exploratório com observação participante. A partir da tabulação e análise dos resultados obtidos por meio de respostas a perguntas de um questionário foi elaborado e posto em prática um plano de ensino, com a finalidade de intensificar a participação dos alunos e alunas no aprendizado de uma dança da cultura popular brasileira e desconstruir representações de estereotipia de gêneros vinculadas ao universo da dança e presentes no imaginário dos sujeitos pesquisados. O plano de ensino baseou-se na criação de enredos e gestos pessoais para a composição de coreografias, em ambiente devidamente estruturado, com personagens de perfis não hegemônicos de gênero; sua didática teve orientação lúdica, por ser esta uma via propiciadora da ruptura de paradigmas. Os resultados da pesquisa apontaram a predominância de representações de gêneros hegemônicos, por parte das crianças, fortemente marcados nas concepções sobre o ato de dançar. Quanto ao plano de ensino investigado, verificou-se que, além de suscitar nos sujeitos diversas possibilidades de ressignificações para pensar a relação entre gênero e dança, fomentou, também, a construção gestual da dança em questão, possibilitando, aos alunos e alunas, oportunidades de serem sujeitos ativos e criativos em seu processo de aprendizado da dança na escola / Initially, this research investigated how relations are conducted in terms of gender among children of grade 5 elementary school in the State of São Paulo, during physical education classes, with dance as its theme. Secondly, based on the results of this analysis, we sought to increase the participation of children in learning a dance with roots in Brazilian popular culture. The teaching program used a game orientated, in order to deconstruct hegemonic gender profiles, related to dance in the minds of these children. There was creating a nice environment to play with unusual situations in which the characters were controversial. Thus, it was intended that the sensations produced influences the dance moviments. This research is characterized as a descriptive exploratory study involved participant observation. The program investigated increase opportunities for children to think about the relationship between gender and dance, also promoted the construction of the dance gesture, making the students active and creative participants in the process of learning to dance