“ We already believe play is an important part of childhood learning , but we ’ re hoping to see it here in a super-rich way that can be the next step to seeing what it could look like in other spaces .”
Katrina Bartow Jacobs
Bartow Jacobs : One thing Tegan has been doing is offering up provocations to the kids in the form of materials , often connected to the text but not always . It ’ s just something she thinks they find engaging or supportive .
Increasingly , she ’ s been looking at how kids engage with certain materials . Some of the kids in one of the rooms got really interested in building crowns , so she brought materials that would support that and helped them construct the basic crown , since they did not know how to do that . Then she brought out tape and material and paper to decorate . Then some of the kids were using that material to make pop-up books , which was not one of the goals but was really interesting to see .
Q : Is there an end product with this research ?
Bartow Jacobs : The goal I had with Hatch and with Jill Sarada was kind of a memo of understanding around shared skill sets . Hatch provided us with their materials and training and supported us with provocations and some of their frameworks . In return , I am trying to do an evaluation of Playlab , like what are the benefits of this kind of time and space in schools ? As I said , I ’ m increasingly learning what this will look like in very different school contexts and really attending to that variation . Without that , it won ’ t paint as clear of a picture .
The goal in the end is an evaluative report of what kind of learning we see in these spaces and whether or not it promotes kinds of learning that are different from other ways . How does it change how the teachers know and see ? I think at some point we will interview the kindergarten teachers and ask how they feel about Playlab , how it helps them know and understand their kids . My hypothesis will be very different here , where play is a critical part of the day , from somewhere like Faison , where maybe it ’ s much more seatwork . A teacher may see much more of a difference when a student has some agency .
An internal goal is for us to refine what we want this space to look like in 2024 , when we open Playlab to third grade . We ’ re really excited to think about what might be the same and very different in upper elementary , which will be unique and more innovative in some ways .
Q : How does having the AnjiPlay materials available change things ?
Bartow Jacobs : I think Ms . Ambrose is trying to use the AnjiPlay materials , but it seems like bigger-body , physical play lends itself more toward collaboration , because it ’ s almost like a necessity , like “ I can ’ t move this without you .”
I did experience one day that some kids were making a rocket ship out of the materials and one of the kids had to use the bathroom . So they were like , “ Oh no , we have to wait for him !” They knew he had put in lots of effort . So I did see a moment of social awareness and social collection there . Mostly we ’ re seeing partner or side-by-side play or conflict resolution and negotiation .
One of the questions that came out of getting the AnjiPlay materials was the conception that when resources are limited , how does that change the tone of play ? That ’ s something that AnjiPlay talks about : how the scarcity of resources causes conflict . How do you have enough materials or just not too many children playing with the same thing where it becomes a problem ?
Q : How do you think that limited resources will contrast with third grade ?
Bartow Jacobs : In some ways , kindergarten is okay with the play being ephemeral , where something they make is there and gone . But I think third grade is going to want more time to developmentally dig into things .
What ’ s interesting to me here is the documentation piece . I ’ m really interested in what the teachers are documenting and the kids are documenting and reflecting , because so much learning occurs in lessformal spaces . Where is the learning happening , and how do we help teachers and students recognize when learning is happening ?
We already believe play is an important part of childhood learning , but we ’ re hoping to see it here in a super-rich way that can be the next step to seeing what it could look like in other spaces . ■
FALK LABORATORY SCHOOL | UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH 31