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Cognition, Thinking & Understanding

What do thinking and learning look like, and under what conditions do they thrive? What is understanding and how does it develop? These and similar questions about the nature of human cognition have animated Project Zero inquires for several decades, beginning with early work in the nature of creativity and intelligence, to more recent work that emphasizes a performative view of understanding, a dispositional perspective on thinking, a focus on ‘visible thinking,’ and an exploration of the cultural forces that support good thinking. Over the years, Project Zero research initiatives in these areas have yielded a variety of frameworks and practices that help educators understand, design, and document powerful learning experiences in a range of disciplines and settings.

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Article

The Evolution of Passion Day

A resource from Pedagogy of Play

The Evolution of Passion Day

A resource from Pedagogy of Play

September 2016 saw the introduction of a new ritual at ISB: Passion Day. Differing from the typical school day, during Passion Day children plan and choose activities to participate in. They may spend the day skateboarding, playing chess or reading a book. This picture of practice chronicles how the Passion Day ritual is evolving in the Food Lab (a teaching kitchen in the school) because of middle school teacher Lene Holm Christensen’s reflection on choice and her desire to make the day “more passionated.” How Passion Days contributes to the school’s culture of learning through play is also considered.

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Article

The Influences on Playful Learning for Adults

A resource from Pedagogy of Play

The Influences on Playful Learning for Adults

A resource from Pedagogy of Play

The genesis of the January staff meeting

While there are numerous opportunities for adults to gather at ISB, such as weekly grade-level team meetings and informal conversations, whole-school meetings occur only six times a year. These meetings, which take place in the evenings, involve a significant expenditure of time and resources. All 80 school employees – from teachers and administrators to cooks and janitors – participate. Per Danish law, staff is paid overtime at one and a half times regular salary for their attendance.

Head of School Camilla Fog feels that these meetings are an important part of the school culture. At the start of the school year she outlines the topics for each staff meeting. Camilla begins planning for the January meeting in mid-December, creating a preliminary agenda and getting feedback from her leadership team colleagues Sue Oates and Kathy Bilgrav. Reviewing the plans, Camilla worries that the update about the budget is “so boring.” She consults the indicators of playful learning to consider how to include more choice, delight and wonder in the meeting.

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Book

Children Are Citizens Book 2017

A resource from Children Are Citizens

Children Are Citizens Book 2017

A resource from Children Are Citizens

People from all around the world know about Washington, DC. They talk about it, write about it, draw it, and make movies and TV shows about it. But almost always, we hear only the opinions and ideas of adults.

For this book we invited some of our youngest citizens—preschoolers, kindergartners, and first graders from DC Bilingual Public Charter School, Sacred Heart School, Seaton Elementary School (DCPS), E.W. Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School, Sunshine Early Learning Center, and J.O. Wilson Elementary School (DCPS)—to tell us what they think of our city. We asked them to share their ideas in order to help other children (and adults) learn about what is important about DC. We asked their teachers to help students research the city and discuss their ideas with classmates and children from the other schools. Each teacher guided the children in different ways. The result is Washington, DC: "What People Like Most is in This Book!,” a title suggested by the children that conveys their connection to their city. In this book you will find a set of descriptions, theories, and stories—shared in pictures, words, and photographs—that are thoughtful, informative, and sometimes surprising. As Sergio Spaggiari, a veteran educator from Reggio Emilia, Italy, notes, "It seems that for cities to be understood and appreciated, they should be talked about in stories." You can learn a lot about our city from the stories in this book.

Jim Reese

Director, The Professional Development Collaborative at

Washington International School

On behalf of the Children Are Citizens coordinating team: Mara Krechevsky, Ben Mardell, Nathalie Ryan, Joanne Seelig, Stacy Steyaert, and Tim Wright

Use the resource links on the right to view the full book.

Children Are Citizens Book 2017

Article

Playful Participatory Research: An emerging methodology for developing a pedagogy of play

A resource from Pedagogy of Play

Playful Participatory Research: An emerging methodology for developing a pedagogy of play

A resource from Pedagogy of Play

The Pedagogy of Play project aspires to change the way that educators, family members, and policy makers think about play and learning through play, and to offer tools and resources for those wishing to systemically bring more playful learning to schools. This endeavor requires both a solid understanding of what is meant by play, playful, and playful learning, and an exploration of the structures, strategies, and systems that encourage (and sustain) the integration of ideas around play into the school experience. To these ends, the Pedagogy of Play research initiative is centered around four core research questions:

What is the relationship between play, playfulness, and learning through play?
How can a pedagogy of play be adapted to address different disciplines, age levels, and cultural contexts?
What are the aspects of a school culture that promote learning through play and the experiences, rituals, tools, and spaces (e.g. celebrations, documentation, maker spaces) that support a culture of learning through play?
How can school leaders empower teachers to increase playfulness and learning though play?

We address these questions through a new research model called playful participatory research, a collaboration among Project Zero (PZ), the International School of Billund (ISB), and the LEGO Foundation. This paper serves to describe this methodology and share some of the ideas that have emerged from the first year of the ISB-PZ research partnership.

Use the resource links on the right to download the full paper.

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Article

Toward a Pedagogy of Play

A resource from Pedagogy of Play

Toward a Pedagogy of Play

A resource from Pedagogy of Play

Making room for playful learning in school can be difficult. Formidable tensions exist between playful learning and the way pedagogy is currently structured in most schools. Educators often differ in how they value playful learning practices and their understandings of the nature of play. For, what is playful to one learner may not be experienced as playful by another. To those who view play as a central pathway for learning, resources such as time, space, and materials can seem in short supply. To those who see play as silly and off-task, encouraging playful learning can run counter to educational policies that emphasize efficient coverage of the curriculum.

We believe that a pedagogy of play—a systematic approach to the practice of playful learning and teaching—is needed to bridge these tensions. Creating and operationalizing such a pedagogy requires a school culture where playfulness is celebrated, examined, made visible, and better understood as a powerful pathway of learning. Indeed, bringing play into a central role in a school entails creating a culture that values the core tenets of play: taking risks, making mistakes, exploring new ideas, and experiencing joy.

The purpose of this paper is to share ideas that are emerging from a recent research initiative called a Pedagogy of Play that explores how playful learning can assume a central role in school.

Use the resource links on the right to download the full paper.

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Cognition, Thinking & Understanding

Resources

The Evolution of Passion Day

The Influences on Playful Learning for Adults

Children Are Citizens Book 2017

Playful Participatory Research: An emerging methodology for developing a pedagogy of play

Toward a Pedagogy of Play

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Projects

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Project Zero Open House 2016

Project Zero Classroom 2015

Project Zero Perspectives: Zeroing in on Learning

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