Search results for "playful"
showing 10 items of 13 documents
Playfully Coding
2017
This paper describes a framework for successful interaction between universities and schools. It is common for computing academics interested in outreach (computer science evangelism) to work with local schools, particularly in countries where the computing curriculum in K-12 is new or underdeveloped. However it is rare for these collaborations to be ongoing, and for resources created through these school-university links to be shared beyond the immediate neighborhood. We have achieved this, through shared resources, careful evaluation, and cross-country collaboration. The activities themselves are inspired by ideas from the Lifelong Kindergarten group at MIT, emphasizing playful exploratio…
A Playful Experiential Learning System With Educational Robotics
2020
This article reports on two studies that aimed to evaluate the effective impact of educational robotics in learning concepts related to Physics and Geography. The reported studies involved two courses from an upper secondary school and two courses from a lower secondary school. Upper secondary school classes studied topics of motion physics, and lower secondary school classes explored issues related to geography. In each grade, there was an “experimental group” that carried out their study using robotics and cooperative learning and a “control group” that studied the same concepts without robots. Students in both classes were subjected to tests before and after the robotics laboratory, to c…
The Real World in a Geographical Imagery: World of Warcraft as Playful Cartography?
2017
World of Warcraft (WoW) is an extremely well-known and wide-spread virtual universe, populated by millions of people living, as of 2014, in 244 different countries, and so coming from different cultures. The game can be considered the final result of a half-century of growing interest in fantasy and virtual worlds; starting from Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. In the passage from book to videogame, fantasy has become an immersive experience that captures the player and forces him or her to revise their idea of how the world works. Everyone can read these worlds as simple games or, rather, through multifarious levels that show the connections between reality and virtuality. Our paper aims a…
Designing Playful Inquiry-Based Mathematical Learning Activities for Kindergarten
2018
This study addresses issues related to the process of designing mathematical activities for kindergarten based on the constructs of playful learning and inquiry. The mathematical activities were designed for 5-year-old children in a Norwegian kindergarten setting. In order to address this design process, we focus at issues of mediating design principles and ideas to kindergarten teachers, who are the ones to orchestrate and implement the mathematical activities with children. The study is situated within a design research methodology in which observations, written and personal communication have been used as sources of data. Our analysis shows that the kindergarten teacher closely followed …
Robotic and virtual World Programming labs to Stimulate Reasoning and visual-spatial Abilities
2013
Abstract The individuals’ cognitive skills, academic performance and their relationship with programming of robots or virtual learning environment is a topic of particular interest in the area of human-robot interaction. This paper presents a pilot study performed on a group of 36 lower secondary school students involved in a 32-hours laboratory based on the combination of LEGO Mindstorm NXT and Microsoft Kodu Game Lab (KGL) and aimed at programming first a robot and further a more complete virtual world based on a narrative-designed scenario. The findings of the research will be discussed in the light of the effectiveness of using robotics and virtual world programming as a meaningful and …
Interpretation, Negotiation, Play
2022
Augmented reality (AR) picturebooks combine printed children's literature with augmented reality. This study examines the shared reading of the Finnish AR picturebook Mur, eli karhu (2016) by Kaisa Happonen and Anne Vasko. The main aim of the study is to explore the playful reading experience of three Finnish families with children between the ages of 4 and 6. Three main categories of engagement with the book are discussed in the article: interpretation, negotiation, and play. The findings of the study suggest that children are skilled users of mobile digital media but may not understand the content of AR without parental mediation. In addition, parents and educators are required to have su…
Sport and Quality of Life
2022
Negli ultimi trent’anni lo sport ha assunto un significato molto rilevante nella vita delle persone e, seppure con notevoli differenze, sia nei paesi a sviluppo economico avanzato, sia in quelli in via di sviluppo. A livello individuale, esso ha costituito un’area di investimento identitario quando ha assunto la forma di sport spettacolo del quale fruire, alimentando la pratica del tifo e il fandom o costituendo il modello di uno stile di vita vincente; ma anche quando ha assunto la forma di pratica del tempo libero attraverso la quale tenersi in forma, facendo crescere, in questo caso, la diffusione di una cultura della salute e del benessere. Si tratta di due modalità di approcciare al co…
"Let's do this together and see what we can come up with!" : Teachers' Views on Applying Game-based Pedagogy in Meaningful Ways
2015
Game-based pedagogy offers a promising approach to renewing school education and making it more engaging. However, teachers’ ways of using game-based pedagogy have been rather traditional, not making use of its full potential. This paper presents initial findings on the experiences of teachers who participate in a project that aims to promote the meaningful use of game-based pedagogy. The findings suggest that game-based pedagogy could indeed play a key role in changing traditional practices in schools. Game-based approaches can support differentiated instruction, enhance pupils’ motivation and effort, provide new perspectives to assessment, and transform traditional roles in the classroom …