Play is serious learning - Fred Rogers http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaspi/12944421/
What’s necessary for Play? http://www.flickr.com/photos/onegoodbumblebee/1444006597/
Name the toy? Best selling toy worldwide ever ! 1 st known image of toy – 1648 painting 1 st sold as a commercial toy in 1940 Over 200 million sold each year http://flickr.com/photos/jupac/2675420204/
Friedrich Froebel created Kindergarten (1837 first school Kindergarten) 19 th century The name Kindergarten signifies both a garden for children, a location where they can observe and interact with nature, and also a garden of children, where they themselves can grow and develop in freedom from arbitrary political and social imperatives. In 1837, having developed and tested a radically new educational method and philosophy based on structured, activity based learning, Froebel moved to Bad Blankenburg and established his Play and Activity Institute which he renamed in 1840 Kindergarten ." The kindergarten was essentially tri-partite: toys for sedentary creative play (these Froebel called gifts and occupations ) games and dances for healthy activity observing and nurturing plants in a garden for stimulating awareness of the natural world It was a search for metaphysical unity , in which the potential growth to wholeness of the individual child within the natural world would fulfil an harmonious ideal within the mind of God. " Peter Weston in The Froebel Educational Institute : the Origins and History of the College Froebel's philosophy of education were based on the concepts of free self-expression, creativity, social activity, and motor ability and work.
Within 20 years of Frobeol’s death died in 1852 ( 1872) , Kindergarten was mandatory in western Eurpore for all childrem
Froebel developed a specific set of 20 "gifts" and "occupations" - physical objects such as balls, blocks, and sticks - for children to use in the kindergarten. Froebel carefully designed these gifts to help children recognize and appreciate the common patterns and forms found in nature. Froebel's gifts were eventually distributed throughout the world, deeply influencing the development of generations of young children.
Global Toy Sales Reached $71.96 Billion in 2007 and Expected to Top $86.3 Billion in 2010 Us = 30 billion 75 million children under 18 roughly $400/child
Learning 2.0 is the idea that blossomed from my thoughts and in developing the program I sought to remove the knowledge expert from the front of the class equation and capitalize on the two most important factors of any learning environment. That being have engaged participates ( notice these are not students, they’re participants who are engaged in their own learning) and motivation. Everyone needs some type of motivation to learn. So with the instructor removed from the classroom and the notion that participates would be engaged in charge of their own learning, I came up with some goals and fundamentals for this new program.