Extracurricular course experience “Pedagogy of Play”
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17872307Keywords:
Educational practices, learning methodologies, play, playful learning;Abstract
Play is central to children's learning: how they form and explore friendships, how they formulate and test hypotheses, and how they make sense of their world. Much is known about how play supports learning, but little empirical research has explored what it might mean to place play at the center of formal schooling. In 2015, the Pedagogy of Play (PoP) research project began investigating the nature of playful learning in schools. Funded by the LEGO Foundation, the project focused on three fundamental questions that we have continued to explore in our university context through the extracurricular course: students understanding the value of play in learning, beyond playfulness, highlighting its role as a driver of child development; promoting an understanding of cultural diversity in forms of play; training future teachers in playful methodologies, and introducing social justice issues through play; inviting students to explore how play can be a vehicle for social change; advocating for play as the axis of holistic development; and implementing Playful Participatory Research (PPR), as a tool to investigate and improve educational practices.
Downloads
References
Ackesjö, H. (2013). Children crossing borders: School visits as initial incorporation rites in transition to preschool class. Revue Internationale de l’enfance Prescolaire International Journal of Early Childhood, 45(3), 387-410. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13158-013-0080-7
Álvarez Cifuentes, P., y Torras Gómez, E. (2016). Comunidades de aprendizaje: actuaciones para el éxito académico y la transformación educativa. Padres y Maestros / Journal of Parents and Teachers, 0(367), 6. https://doi.org/10.14422/pym.i367.y2016.001
Ball, S. J. (2021). The education debate (4.a ed.). Policy Press.
Bateson, P., & Martin, P. (2013). Play, playfulness, creativity and innovation. Cambridge University Press.
Bennett, N., Wood, E., & Rogers, S. (1997). Teaching through play: Reception teachers’ theories and practice. Open University Press.
Bermejo Rodríguez, J., y Toledo Lara, G. (2025). Hacia una comprensión filosófica del currículo: nuevas lógicas emergentes. Revista de Estudios Pedagógicos Contemporáneos, 1(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14677578
Bodrova, E., & Leong, D. J. (2015). Vygotskian and post-vygotskian views on children’s play. American Journal of Play, 7(3), 371-388. http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1070266.pdf
Broadhead, P., & Howard, J. (2010). Play and learning in the early years: From research to practice (E. Wood, Ed.). SAGE.
Cecchin, D. (2013). Pedagogical perspectives on play. En International perspectives on early childhood education and development (pp. 55-71). Springer Netherlands.
Dewey, J. (2007). Experience and Education. Free Press.
Gajardo Espinoza, K., y Torrego Egido, L. (2021). Análisis de una experiencia de prácticas cotidianas de democracia en educación infantil. Teoría de la Educación. Revista Interuniversitaria, 34(1), 139-165. https://doi.org/10.14201/teri.25174
Galán-Casado, D., Moraleda, A., Martínez-Martí, M. L., y Pérez-Nieto, M. Á. (2020). Sustainable environments in education: Results on the effects of the new environments in learning processes of university students. Sustainability, 12(7), 2668. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12072668
Gray, P. (2009). Play as a foundation for Hunter-gatherer social existence. American Journal of Play, 1(4), 476-522. http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1069037.pdf
Hedegaard, M. (2020). Children’s exploration as a key in children’s play and learning activity in social and cultural formation. En International Perspectives on Early Childhood Education and Development (pp. 11-27). Springer International Publishing.
Moreno Pizarro, J., y Planells Hernani, B. (2016). Propuesta para la implementación de la teoría de las Inteligencias Múltiples en el sistema de Educación Infantil en España. Revista Electrónica Interuniversitaria de Formación del Profesorado, 19 (3), 199-207. http://dx.doi.org/10.6018/reifop.19.3.267341
Pramling Samuelsson, I., & Johansson, E. (2006). Play and learning—inseparable dimensions in preschool practice. Early Child Development and Care, 176(1), 47-65. https://doi.org/10.1080/0300443042000302654
Vartiainen, J., Sormunen, K., & Kangas, J. (2024). Relationality of play and playfulness in early childhood sustainability education. Learning and Instruction, 93(101963), 101963. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2024.101963
Wheeler, A. (2023). Lego® Serious Play® and higher education: encouraging creative learning in the academic library. Insights, 36, 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1629/uksg.611
Wilson, D., Krechevsky, M., Mardell, B., & Rivard, M. (2013). Visible learners: Promoting Reggio-inspired approaches in all schools (1.a ed.). John Wiley & Sons.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Begoña Planells Hernani (Autor/a)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This journal provides immediate open access to all its content, following the principle that making research freely available to the public fosters a wider global exchange of knowledge. In line with this commitment, the articles published in the Revista de Estudios Pedagógicos Contemporáneos are licensed under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 — Attribution International License, which allows sharing and adaptation of the content, provided appropriate credit is given to the authors and the journal.
How to Cite
Similar Articles
- Maria Isabel Vilchez i Gallardo, Returning to transform: Identity reconstruction and resilience in the educational return trajectories of middle-aged women , The Journal of Contemporary Pedagogical Studies : Vol. 2 No. 2 (2026)
- Miguel Salgado García, Service-Learning and oral health education: a methodological proposal in vocational healthcare training , The Journal of Contemporary Pedagogical Studies : Vol. 1 No. 1 (2025)
- Benjamín Barón-Velandia, Daniel Nofrid Rocha Jiménez , Mauro Grossi Pasche , Cristián Cofré León, Samir Esteban Pérez Suárez, Gamification in a COIL project for industrial engineers , The Journal of Contemporary Pedagogical Studies : Vol. 1 No. 1 (2025)
- Isabel Melcón Pérez, Phonological Awareness for Strengthening literacy in Primary Education: An Educational Innovation Proposal , The Journal of Contemporary Pedagogical Studies : Vol. 2 No. 2 (2026)
- Rubén Madrigal-Cerezo, Natalia Lara Nieto-Márquez, Diana Cembreros Castaño, Assessing Teachers' Competence in Artificial Intelligence and Critical Thinking: Development and Validation of the AIFOR-Crit and AIPRE-Crit Questionnaires , The Journal of Contemporary Pedagogical Studies : Vol. 2 No. 2 (2026)
- PhD. Benjamin Barón Velandia, Research practices: an analysis from the epistemological horizon and theoretical corpus , The Journal of Contemporary Pedagogical Studies : Vol. 1 No. 1 (2025)
- Gonzalo Adrián Espejo Marín, Functional diversity in students and the use of ICTs: an innovation proposal , The Journal of Contemporary Pedagogical Studies : Vol. 1 No. 1 (2025)
- Javier Bermejo Rodríguez, Gustavo Eduardo Toledo Lara, Toward a philosophical understanding of the curriculum: emerging logics , The Journal of Contemporary Pedagogical Studies : Vol. 1 No. 1 (2025)
- Cristina Serván Melero, Researching from the margins of qualitative educational research. , The Journal of Contemporary Pedagogical Studies : Vol. 2 No. 2 (2026)
- Camino Sánchez Ortiz, Addressing diversity through educational technology: an intervention in multigrade classrooms in early childhood and primary education , The Journal of Contemporary Pedagogical Studies : Vol. 1 No. 1 (2025)
You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.