1. PLAY
Experimenting, Tinkering, Failing, Problem Solving
New Media Literacies
Debbie Brooks
Barrington Elementary School
NH Technology Leaders Cohort

2. Play doesn’t keep track of time
Time…Is this why play is leaving our classrooms?

3. Do you encourage play?
Learning in Motion

4. “Schools are currently still training autonomous problem-solvers, whereas students enter the
workplace, they are increasingly being asked to work in teams, drawing on different
sets of expertise, and collaborating to solve.” (NML’s White Paper)
“Schools are currently still training autonomous problem-solvers, whereas students enter the
workplace, they are increasingly being asked to work in teams, drawing on different
sets of expertise, and collaborating to solve.” (NML’s White Paper)

5. Play
“The
capacity
to
experiment
with one’s
surroundings
as a form
of
problem
solving.”
(NML’s White Paper)

6. Experiences ENCOURAGE wonder.

7. Play lowers the emotional stakes of failing

8. Have you noticed…………
“When children are deep at play they engage
with the fierce, intense attention that we’d like
to see them apply to their schoolwork.” (S. Osterweill
-NML’s White Paper)
Video of 3rd graders Problem Solving

9. Owl Dissection Curriculum Integration Project, Grade 2

10. QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
State finalist
Doodle for Google Contest - Grades 3 & 4

11. Collecting Data & Design

12. Out of the box thinking - open ended design project, Grades 3 & 4

13. Play as part of discovery can be difficult for some. I think we can all agree that
life is much richer when we allow ourselves to play.

14. Student Links
Wonderville
http://www.wonderville.ca/v1/home.html
KidWings Owl Dissection
http://www.kidwings.com/index.htm
Moneyville - Lemonade Stand
http://www.omsi.info/visit/featured/moneyville/activities.cfm - lemonade
World Problem Solvers
http://www.worldproblemsolvers.org/
Ed Heads - Activate your Mind
http://www.edheads.org/activities/simple-machines/index.htm
Games for Change
http://www.gamesforchange.org/
Study Jams
http://studyjams.scholastic.
com/studyjams/jams/science/ecosystems/water-cycle.
htm
Web 2.0 Cool Tools for Schools
http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com/Drawing+Tools

15. Break Out Activity…………
Please share an experience
you’ve had which involved
experimenting, tinkering, failing,
problem solving in the learning
process.

16. Video Links
Listed for Future Reference
Experimenting, Tinkering, Failing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Unjpo_WmXM8
Gever Tulley teaches life lessons through
tinkering
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvHViFc0ekw&feature=related
Learning about Chicks
http://www.schooltube
.com/video/0f585d946b854d13b460/Learning-About-Chicks
Learning with Rulers
http://www.schooltube.com/video/91d84db5236848a09c8d/Learning-with-Rulers
Expeditionary Learning Schools
http://www.schooltube.com/video/61bd217e4c43473e9869/Expeditionary-Learning-Schools-Roche
Viewed in Session
Learning in Motion
http://www.schooltube
.com/video/f475ded8d02cd6a29f08/learning
Puzzle Solvers
http://www.flickr.com/photos/411420
45@N04/4562170880/

17. Teacher Links
Use Games to Enhance Your Classroom Teaching - UNCW.edu
http://people.uncw.edu/ertzbergerj/msgames.htm
Lifelong Kindergarten
Sowing the Seeds for a More Creative Society
http://llk.media.mit.edu/mission.php
Doodle for Google Conest Information
http://www.google.com/doodle4google/
Institute of Play
http://www.instituteofplay.com/node/101
Learning through Play, David Elkind, Ph.D
http://www.communityplaythings.com/resources/articles/valueofplay/lear
ningthroughplay.html
Top 25 Websites for Teaching and Learning (AASL)
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/guidelinesandstandards/bestlist/bestwebsit
estop25.cfm
Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education
for the 21st Century
http://digitallearning.macfound.org/atf/cf/%7B7E45C7E0-A3E0-4B89-AC9C-E807E1B0A
Importance of Play in the Classroom
http://www.teach-nology.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1654