Creativity/Play

"The connection between playing and learning is closely interconnected..."

I was really drawn to the ideas of education in the Rodriguez article, particularly how games should be used in education not to simply convey ideas in different ways but actually convey the playfulness of topics. It made me think of all the games we used to play in school--like flash card battles in math that were simply embarrassing instead of math because I couldn't do 87-23 as fast as the creepy kid in the corner. It was simply a tool to make us faster and better at a predefined skill and that was that. Play was a means to an end as opposed to something to spark curiosities.

The problem is that I dont know what play in a classroom SHOULD look like. I was thinking of the loose parts theory of education--where the more parts of something kids have access to, the better they can build and put together and the more creative they can be. Art supplies, for example: instead of just providing crayons, provide markers and pastels and chalk and paint and watercolors all at the same time and kids will end up figuring things out and creating more creative projects. I think this applies to things like language when we grow up: the bigger our vocabulary, the more grammar rules we know, the more we have read and heard, the better we can speak and write. The more pieces we have, the more we can play with language and be creative within that. I think this could relate to 'playing' in a classroom--giving kids pieces and letting them explore and play. Providing students with seeds in a science class, for example, and letting them do what they wish to get them to grow. Give them the parts--not for the sake of the plant at the end--but so they can actually play and watch with parts of science. As kids get older, I think it is important to let them draw their own conclusions and play with concepts through applying them to new and novel situations. This creates the "exploratory frame of mind" the article talks about in the performance and exploratory learning section. Knowing how to take your ideas and apply them to new situations creates creative adults. I guess I was thinking about creativity while reading about play and schools....when I think of someone who has a playful approach to science, I think of someone who is going to change things 20 years down the road. By playing with the loose parts of science (concepts, rules, cells, molecules, whatever) you can create something new. I think that creative people feel some sort of magic circle around them, too...maybe like a sense of flow? There are still constraints and rules, but there's freedom within those to create something new.

Also, one time I saw this TED talk on Creativity and Play and I think that's what came to mind when I was reading this part of the article. I think he says a lot of what the article says, but through a different lens. If you have half an hour to kill (haha yeah right), I think it is pretty good. There has always been a link in my head of "playing" with something and making something new and the article reaffirms that. (I don't know how I connect it all to gaming and technology YET, but I probably will tomorrow....)

(There are also other TED talks specifically about creativity and play, but I like this one best....)