Teaching Through Games: the Playful Teacher Librarian
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Presentation from Andrew Walsh's session at the Librarians as Teachers conference held on 10th June 2015 in Birmingham.
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Teaching Through Games: the Playful Teacher Librarian
- 1. Photo by a_whisper_of_unremitting_demand - Creative Commons Attribution License https://www.flickr.com/photos/7596336@N05 Created with Haiku Deck Teaching through games: the playful teacher librarian Teaching Fellow / Academic Librarian @andywalsh999 http://innovativelibraries.org.uk
- 2. What is play? "Summing up the formal characteristic of play, we might call it a free activity standing quite consciously outside 'ordinary' life as being 'not serious' but at the same time absorbing the player intensely and utterly. It is an activity connected with no material interest, and no profit can be gained by it. It proceeds within its own proper boundaries of time and space according to fixed rules and in an orderly manner. It promotes the formation of social groupings that tend to surround themselves with secrecy and to stress the difference from the common world by disguise or other means.“ Huizinga (1955) Homo Ludens play is Apparently Purposeless (done for its own sake); Voluntary; has Inherent Attraction; Freedom from time; Diminished consciousness of self; Improvisational potential; and Continuation desire. Brown & Vaughan (2010) Play: How it shapes the brain, opens the imagination, and invigorates the soul.
- 3. • Good for exploring ideas • Safe • Creative • Inviting • Low risk (for participants) • Thinking with your hands So “play” is good for…
- 4. Playful examples… From: http://www.marchoftherobots.com/2014/03/02/leroy-the-robot-at-leeds-central-library/ A “Playful Leeds project” - http://www.playfulleeds.co.uk/ Scan of a 19th-century toy in public domain. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paper-doll-3.jpg From the Library A to Z. http://libraryAtoZ.org
- 5. Photo by Kalexanderson - Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License https://www.flickr.com/photos/45940879@N04 Created with Haiku Deck
- 6. What are games? Play with rules? “All games share four defining traits: a goal, rules, a feedback system, and voluntary participation.” McGonigal (2012) Reality is broken: Why games make us better and how they can change the world.
- 7. So “Games” are good for… • Good for active learning • Construct own knowledge • Expose people to new ideas • Reinforce facts by repetition • Memorable!
- 9. But how do I make games?!!! • Set learning objectives • Consider your key constraints • Decide on game mechanics • Pick a theme or feel for the game • Prototype • Playtest & improve (several times!) • Write the rules • Finish the design and print.
- 10. … and print them? • Game Crafter (https://www.thegamecrafter.com/) • Business card printers (http://uk.moo.com/) • SpielMateriel (http://www.spielematerial.de/en/) Or improvise a little more…
Editor's Notes
- “Teaching through games: the playful teacher librarian” Librarians have limited direct contact time to teach information skills. So how best to make use of that time? This session will introduce the pedagogy of play and games to participants. Different aspects of play and games can be used to teach facts through repetition, to encourage exploration and engagement with library resources, or to improve higher level information skills through critical reflection. Examples of games that can be adapted will be given and suggested approaches shared for attendees to create their own games.
- List some examples of using playfulness & creativity … leading onto Serious play?
- Explanation of serious play - brief background. Example of Lego Lit review - build your lit review (as it currently stands) out of Lego.
- Essentially games are what happens when you formalise play! Hard to describe, but we know what a game is when we see one… Great to bring more play (or fun?) into the library, but often more useful to be thinking about GAMES – that is when you start to enable better learning… On a sliding scale (more / less structure) between complete free play and simulations?
- Just treat like any learning object to drop into a session? Same strengths of lots of active learning objects, plus overlap with play benefits (safe, low risk, inviting etc.) BUT – largely about either “active learning” OR reinforcement by repetition.
- Essentially games are what happens when you formalise play! Hard to describe, but we know what a game is when we see one… Great to bring more play (or fun?) into the library, but often more useful to be thinking about GAMES – that is when you start to enable better learning… On a sliding scale (more / less structure) between complete free play and simulations?
- Quick summary of these workshops. Lots of these “games” aren’t fully blown games – they are what I’d think of as game like exercises. Fit more within the active learning /constructivtist ideas. Examples? Jigsaws, treasure hunt games, etc.? So could fit under the “gamification” umbrella. Some of the literature will suggest that this is “good” gamification! But typically, they’ll use game based learning “label” instead. I’m meant to be talking about “engagement” – so a word of warning here. Small games and game like activities (tabletop and electronic) are often created to try and increase student engagement – there is limited evidence that this works. Unless they are incredibly well done, they don’t necessarily increase engagement – what they are good for is those active learning opportunities… next slide.