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RE: [xmca] Playing to Learn
Hi, Wagner:
IN ENGLISH :
LEV SEMENOVICH VYGOTSKY. Imagination and Creativity in Childhood. In: Journal of Russian and East European Psychology, vol. 42, no. 1, January–February 2004, pp. 7–97. (Thanks Dorothy Robbins, I have a PDF copy, If you wish).
IN RUSSIAN:
Л.С. ВЫГОТСКИЙ. Воображение и творчество в детеском возрасте. Психологический очерк. Книга длия учителя. 3е издание. Москва, Просвещение, 1991. (L.S. VYGOTSKY. Voobrazhenie i tvorchestvo v deteskom vozraste. Psykhologicheskii ocherk. Kniga dliya uchitelya. 3th izdanie. Moskva: Prosveshchenie, 1991.)
You can download this in e-book here: http://www.koob.ru/books/superlearning/fantasy_and_creation.zip ("Dejavu Reader" required)
IN PORTUGUESE (TRANSLATED FROM RUSSIAN BY ZOIA PRESTES, commented by ANA LUIZA SMOLKA):
http://www.editoraatica.com.br/catalogo/?i=9788508126118
Best.
> Subject: Re: [xmca] Playing to Learn
> From: mcfion@gmail.com
> To: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> Date: Mon, 8 Feb 2010 11:31:35 -0200
>
> Interesting article...
>
> I want to do my PhD research on something like this (the use of games in
> education and its influence in the development of the higher
> psychological functions - scholarship suggestions accepted). Many of the
> things proposed by her already appears in the book "La imaginacion y el
> arte en la infancia" from Vygotsky (don't know the name in english or
> russian)...
>
> And this kind of thing is not so imaginary... In Denmark there is a
> boarding school that tries to implement some ideas like these (i don't
> know their theoretical framework)... They use roleplaying games as
> background for their educational practices. For those who wants to know
> more about this school there are two articles:
>
> Article about Danish school (page 12):
> http://www.solmukohta.org/pub/Playground_Worlds_2008.pdf
>
> Another article:
> http://knutepunkt.laiv.org/2009/book/ElementsOfHarryPotter/
>
>
> But, despite few exceptions, i think that parents and even some kids are
> not interested in something like this... In Brazil the good education is
> that who makes the young to pass the university exam test. This kind of
> education proposed by Susan demands a lot more resources, better
> educators, and small classes (most public schools here have about 40
> people per class... but some private ones can reach 200). The
> government, in a "market way of thinking", wants more people with
> diploma (diploma in not equal to good or even real education) expending
> less every year. They are not interested in real good human formation...
> It is not good for the government or the corporations...
>
> I see some projects like this of Susan working, but only in small
> private schools with a no profit policy (generally these schools are
> formed by association of educators and parentes, and all the profit is
> reversed to improve the school)
>
> But how to make this work in a larger scale? How make the people and the
> governments to listen? Vygotsky wrote his book in 1930, and he was not
> the only ane... In Brazil we have Paulo Freire also stating that formal
> education must have a true meaning and use for those who are engaged in
> it.
>
> Don't know if my ideas are clear, but here are my 2 cents
> contribution...
>
> Wagner
>
>
> Em Seg, 2010-02-08 às 06:03 -0500, Peter Smagorinsky escreveu:
> > MY Times Op-Ed Contributor
> >
> > Playing to Learn
> >
> > o
> >
> >
> >
> > By SUSAN ENGEL
> >
> > Published: February 1, 2010
> >
> > New Marlborough, Mass.
> >
> > THE Obama administration is planning some big changes to how we measure the
> > success or failure of schools and how we apportion federal money based on
> > those assessments. It's great that the administration is trying to undertake
> > reforms, but if we want to make sure all children learn, we will need to
> > overhaul the curriculum itself. Our current educational approach - and the
> > testing that is driving it - is completely at odds with what scientists
> > understand about how children develop during the elementary school years and
> > has led to a curriculum that is strangling children and teachers alike.
> >
> > In order to design a curriculum that teaches what truly matters, educators
> > should remember a basic precept of modern developmental science:
> > developmental precursors don't always resemble the skill to which they are
> > leading. For example, saying the alphabet does not particularly help
> > children learn to read. But having extended and complex conversations during
> > toddlerhood does. Simply put, what children need to do in elementary school
> > is not to cram for high school or college, but to develop ways of thinking
> > and behaving that will lead to valuable knowledge and skills later on.
> >
> > So what should children be able to do by age 12, or the time they leave
> > elementary school? They should be able to read a chapter book, write a story
> > and a compelling essay; know how to add, subtract, divide and multiply
> > numbers; detect patterns in complex phenomena; use evidence to support an
> > opinion; be part of a group of people who are not their family; and engage
> > in an exchange of ideas in conversation. If all elementary school students
> > mastered these abilities, they would be prepared to learn almost anything in
> > high school and college.
> >
> > Imagine, for instance, a third-grade classroom that was free of the laundry
> > list of goals currently harnessing our teachers and students, and that was
> > devoted instead to just a few narrowly defined and deeply focused goals.
> >
> > In this classroom, children would spend two hours each day hearing stories
> > read aloud, reading aloud themselves, telling stories to one another and
> > reading on their own. After all, the first step to literacy is simply being
> > immersed, through conversation and storytelling, in a reading environment;
> > the second is to read a lot and often. A school day where every child is
> > given ample opportunities to read and discuss books would give teachers more
> > time to help those students who need more instruction in order to become
> > good readers.
> >
> > Children would also spend an hour a day writing things that have actual
> > meaning to them - stories, newspaper articles, captions for cartoons,
> > letters to one another. People write best when they use writing to think and
> > to communicate, rather than to get a good grade.
> >
> > In our theoretical classroom, children would also spend a short period of
> > time each day practicing computation - adding, subtracting, multiplying and
> > dividing. Once children are proficient in those basics they would be free to
> > turn to other activities that are equally essential for math and science:
> > devising original experiments, observing the natural world and counting
> > things, whether they be words, events or people. These are all activities
> > children naturally love, if given a chance to do them in a genuine way.
> >
> > What they shouldn't do is spend tedious hours learning isolated mathematical
> > formulas or memorizing sheets of science facts that are unlikely to matter
> > much in the long run. Scientists know that children learn best by putting
> > experiences together in new ways. They construct knowledge; they don't
> > swallow it.
> >
> > Along the way, teachers should spend time each day having sustained
> > conversations with small groups of children. Such conversations give
> > children a chance to support their views with evidence, change their minds
> > and use questions as a way to learn more.
> >
> > During the school day, there should be extended time for play. Research has
> > shown unequivocally that children learn best when they are interested in the
> > material or activity they are learning. Play - from building contraptions to
> > enacting stories to inventing games - can allow children to satisfy their
> > curiosity about the things that interest them in their own way. It can also
> > help them acquire higher-order thinking skills, like generating testable
> > hypotheses, imagining situations from someone else's perspective and
> > thinking of alternate solutions.
> >
> > A classroom like this would provide lots of time for children to learn to
> > collaborate with one another, a skill easily as important as math or
> > reading. It takes time and guidance to learn how to get along, to listen to
> > one another and to cooperate. These skills cannot be picked up casually at
> > the corners of the day.
> >
> > The reforms suggested by the administration on Monday have the potential to
> > help liberate our schools. But they can only do so much. Our success depends
> > on embracing a curriculum focused on essential skills like reading, writing,
> > computation, pattern detection, conversation and collaboration - a
> > curriculum designed to raise children, rather than test scores.
> >
> > Susan Engel is a senior lecturer in psychology and the director of the
> > teaching program at Williams College.
> >
> >
> >
> > Letters
> >
> > Using Talk and Play to Develop Minds
> >
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> > Published: February 7, 2010
> >
> > To the Editor:
> >
> > <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/08/opinion/l08teach.html#secondParagraph>
> > Skip to next paragraph
> >
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> > Eleanor Rudge
> >
> > Re "
> > <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/opinion/02engel.html?scp=1&sq=playing%20t
> > o%20learn&st=cse> Playing to Learn," by Susan Engel (Op-Ed, Feb. 2):
> >
> > I agree that our schools should try to develop our children's ability to use
> > their minds constructively rather than trying to fill those minds with facts
> > they will never use. But there's a problem.
> >
> > It's hard to test thinking skills, and education needs tests. Without them,
> > it cannot be managed. Teachers cannot tell how well students are doing.
> > Principals cannot tell how well teachers are doing. And governments cannot
> > tell how well schools are doing.
> >
> > So, until we develop good tests to measure student thinking skills, our
> > schools will probably continue to try to fill their students' memories with
> > facts. Perhaps the Department of Education could do some constructive
> > thinking about that. Peter Kugel
> >
> > Cambridge, Mass., Feb. 2, 2010
> >
> > .
> >
> > To the Editor:
> >
> > "Playing to Learn" is simply one of the best opinion articles ever to appear
> > in The New York Times, at least during the 50-plus years I've been reading
> > it. It is smart, succinct, powerful and vitally important.
> >
> > Anybody with authority over elementary school systems, classrooms or
> > children should commit to doing everything needed to put it into effect
> > without delay. Those in authority who don't agree should tell us why, with
> > substantive explanations, not excuses or fingerpointing. Penn Rhodeen
> >
> > New Haven, Feb. 2, 2010
> >
> > The writer, a lawyer, is a lecturer at the Yale Child Study Center.
> >
> > .
> >
> > To the Editor:
> >
> > As a Bank Street College graduate, I agree with many of the points Susan
> > Engel makes in her essay, especially regarding play, literacy, children
> > constructing knowledge, and the importance of collaboration and cooperation.
> > But I fear that much is missing from her proposed curriculum. Her goals are
> > simply too few and too narrow.
> >
> > Most important: social studies! Where is it?
> >
> > In addition, in any mathematics curriculum, including early childhood,
> > children are capable of learning much more than the four basic operations.
> > Where are geometry and early algebra? What about logic, measurement and
> > estimation?
> >
> > Yes, let us make elementary education less tedious and more engaging, but
> > there is no need to constrict the curriculum as drastically as this.
> >
> > Deborah Dunnell
> >
> > Alstead, N.H., Feb. 2, 2010
> >
> > The writer is a retired early childhood educator.
> >
> > .
> >
> > To the Editor:
> >
> > As the debate about education reform rages on, I appreciate Susan Engel's
> > vision. But I do see some problems with her processes and prescriptions.
> >
> > A main challenge we face is preparing students for their future. That future
> > includes an increasingly technological workplace where science, technology,
> > engineering and math opportunities will predominate.
> >
> > The short shrift given math in Ms. Engel's schema is emblematic of why the
> > United States is lagging behind many countries in math and so many
> > technology jobs are leaving this country.
> >
> > Curriculum is something that should be developed by teachers, not imposed on
> > them. No one knows a student's needs better than his or her teacher.
> >
> > What should be determined from on high is the standards - in other words,
> > what students should know and be able to do. Leave it to the teachers to
> > figure out how to get there. Sam Jones
> >
> > Westport, Conn., Feb. 3, 2010
> >
> > The writer is a math teacher.
> >
> > .
> >
> > To the Editor:
> >
> > I agree with Susan Engel's suggestion that elementary school curriculums
> > should emphasize, among other things, class discussion and verbal
> > expression. Far too often teachers and administrators regard their primary
> > task as managing children as a group, rather than engaging them
> > intellectually as individuals.
> >
> > The results for intelligent children often include chronic boredom and
> > disdain for the very adults who vaunt their authority.
> >
> > Educators of young children frequently underestimate, and sometimes seem to
> > fear, their own students' critical and analytical faculties.
> >
> > Gregory J. Shibley
> >
> > North Palm Beach, Fla., Feb. 2, 2010
> >
> > .
> >
> > To the Editor:
> >
> > As an educator and the mother of a child in her final year of elementary
> > school, I found Susan Engel's essay to be powerful and insightful.
> >
> > Another crucial area of play about which too many schools forget is time at
> > home. Despite solid research showing that homework in elementary school,
> > apart from reading, offers no benefits and can, in fact, be detrimental,
> > children arrive home exhausted and with too much homework.
> >
> > They are left with little time to partake in nonacademic activities that are
> > also necessary for their development, much less what we all need and no
> > child should be without: relaxation.
> >
> > Jennifer Trachtenberg
> >
> > Wynnewood, Pa., Feb. 2, 2010
> >
> > The writer is a high school guidance counselor.
> >
> > .
> >
> > To the Editor:
> >
> > In "Playing to Learn," Susan Engel imagines her ideal third-grade class, in
> > which students spend lots of time reading, writing and playing, and a little
> > time on math. As a third-grade teacher for the past 10 years, I agree that
> > third graders certainly need all of these experiences.
> >
> > But nowhere does Ms. Engel acknowledge that children universally crave
> > learning about something - whether it's sharks, World War II, China, fossils
> > or baseball.
> >
> > Children want and need knowledge of the world they live in, and not just
> > skills.
> >
> > Miriam Sicherman
> >
> > Brooklyn, Feb. 2, 2010
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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>
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