Curriculum Flexibility and Autonomy

Annex A. Student narratives on playful learning

Collected from FG3 Playful Learning workshop (03/01/2022)

Manuel (Portugal)

Manuel, an 18-year-old student from Portugal, believes that playful learning can be used to bridge generations and build relationships. At his school, he joined the chess club where he was taught how to play by the older students until the 7th grade, at which point he started teaching younger students. Not only did he learn how to play chess, but he found the experience of transitioning from a mentee to a mentor formative. He talks about how using play as a peer learning tool has the potential to build communities. Through the game, students developed relationships not just across grades, but also across schools through participating in inter-municipal and national tournaments. Manuel expresses how peer learning combined with chess helped him develop social and relational skills which he believes all students should learn. Games can also be the starting point for engaging the entire community in learning. Manuel gives the example of how a project in his community collected traditional outdoor games that children's parents and grandparents played when they were little. The initiative was run by the school in partnership with the municipal youth department. Over a weekend, a historian led a tour, explaining the history of their city with stops where the old-time games were set up. Manuel still remembers the experience clearly: “It culminated in a day of play between people of different generations and the learning turned out to be much more than just the games”. By using games as a starting point, the whole community was engaged in the school’s history lesson.

Kazuma (Japan)

Kazuma, a 19-year-old student from Japan, talks about how a game helped him find a new appreciation and understanding for his culture: “One of the games I enjoyed when I was a student that left an impression on me was a unique Japanese card game called Hyakunin Isshu. I played it when I was in elementary school, and it was a wonderful time for me to learn about Japanese traditions, as I was able to experience the beautiful Japanese language and scenes.” In the Japanese card game, each card is a classical 5-line poem (tanka) and is matched with a corresponding character or picture. The game requires you to be able to recognise the poems fast, and Kazuma talks of how he was able to train his memorisation skills when memorising the 100 poems to win Hyakunin Isshu. While classical literature can often seem intimidating Kazuma found that being introduced to the old Japanese language through a game was much less daunting. As he started to enjoy the game, he also enjoyed learning about Japanese literature and tradition, and he believes that games can be a great introduction to topics that students might otherwise find intimidating or uninteresting. However, Kazuma stresses that in schools that already struggle with resources, it can be hard to find the time for teachers to develop and incorporate games: “I grew up in a rural public school system until high school. In this environment, the number of teachers and the subjects they can teach is limited. Therefore, I feel that to incorporate play into learning, first of all, the school teachers need to be understanding and have enough time.” He points out the challenges that may arise at the interconnection of incorporating playful learning as well as new skills and knowledge into the curriculum at the same time: “I don't think it is something that can be fixed by teacher training. I believe that the current business of teachers is largely due to the increased needs of students and society like learning programing, inquiry learning, and so on.” Kazuma stresses that such changes need time, resources and more hands-on deck in order to be successful and will not happen on their own.

Sophia (Denmark)

Sophia, a 17-year-old student from Denmark, believes that playful learning can create a needed sense of purpose and achievement in the classroom. Sophia shares how incorporating games specifically at the end of lessons can significantly improve student engagement: “If you know that what you do in the class becomes part of a game or competition at the end of the class, you have an immediate reason to follow along. When all the knowledge you are learning right now, can also be put to use right now, that is when you feel like the class has a clear purpose. In that way, games can create immediate gratification from learning. You should not have to wait until the end of the year when you do good on an exam to feel gratification from your learning.” Sophia believes that small games and playful exercises can give a small sense of achievement which students need to stay motivated. She also stresses how games teach her to use her knowledge in different contexts and thereby help her become a more agile and fast thinker. For instance, in her German class, they often play “quiz and swap” where the students each get a card with a question. When two people meet they must answer the other’s question before they can swap cards and move on to a new partner. The first to have gone through every card wins. In this game, Sophia finds that she learns how to use the new phrases and vocabulary she has learned in a real conversation. At the same time, focusing on helping each other out to answer the questions as fast as possible makes the students try their best to negotiate meaning between them which is key to learning a new language. For games to be engaging, she thinks that it needs to make everyone feel like they are participating. On the contrary, she thinks that a bad game allows students to hide themselves away at the corner of the room. Moreover, she emphasises teacher engagement and how teachers can motivate students by being engaged themselves: “A playful teacher is contagious,” she says.)

Clara (Indonesia)

If Clara, a 13-year-old student from Indonesia, could create a new curriculum, she would incorporate more playing. Online classroom games such as Quizizz, Kahoot, Blooket, Quizlet and Nearpod have been a staple in many of her classes, especially, when teaching was moved online during the pandemic. She talks about how the competitive nature of the game would make them eager to answer questions as fast as possible and, in parallel, make them learn and understand the material better without realising it. Playing games also gives both the students and teacher new energy. However, she stresses how some games are better suited for certain subjects: “[the best type of game] differs through subjects as each subject has its own methods/ ways of teaching in order to deliver the material at its best potential”. For instance, she finds that online ranking or racing games would be suitable for subjects that involve a lot of memorising such as language classes or social studies. Conventional games like collaborative plays or board games are easier to incorporate into mathematics. Thus, she highlights the importance of selecting games that naturally fit into the nature of the different subjects. She believes that some subjects are easier to “play” with than others, but that all subjects can be “played” with when considerate of the right type of game.

Tara (Indonesia)

Tara, a 13-year-old student from Indonesia, thinks that her teachers should use more games in the classroom because she finds that friendly competitiveness helps her learn. “In games, we become competitive about learning, that way we end up learning more in order to try to get to first place”. Especially in language classes, she finds that games help take away the fear of speaking a foreign language in front of the whole class. Focusing on a game allows you to practice the language without worrying about being perfect. She thinks especially younger students would benefit from incorporating more playful learning. She highlights that making mistakes in-game sessions is less stressful. She highlights how the pace of the game is important to reap the benefits of playful learning. For instance, if the teacher sets a slow pace the students are quick to get distracted and disengaged. She talks about how games should not just be used to repeat material: “You also want to learn something new, instead of what you have learned before” and that new material can keep the game engaging.

Alice (Ireland)

Alice, a 16-year-old student from Ireland, finds that the difficulty of the game is central to its success: “If it is stuff that you already know, it will be repetition and you will get bored. If the content is too difficult, the game will be too hard and you become unmotivated”. She also finds that the student atmosphere matters: “Even if you are motivated, if no one else is the game will not be enjoyable or work, especially if it's a team game.” Teachers who are able to motivate students by incorporating more playful learning are generally also more popular among the students she finds. Moreover, Alice stresses that games all too often are used only at the end of chapters or revision for tests, but not as actual learning tools. While games like Kahoot are fun because you feel engaged as the name pops up on the screen, she believes that playful learning has much greater potential beyond simply being a revision tool.

Devina (Indonesia)

Devina, a 15-year-old student from Indonesia, thinks teachers and students are major parts of why she enjoys games in the classroom: “It’s nice to see that the teachers are making an effort to make the classes more fun, and that makes me more motivated to learn too.” In addition to the teacher's efforts, it is important for students to contribute to the games because the participation of everyone matters in playing a game. In short, teachers and students joining in to play classroom games make Devina more motivated to learn.

Charleine (Indonesia)

Charleine, a student from Indonesia, believes that students' preferences and moods are one of the key factors in creating a successful playful learning experience. Charleine’s teachers use Pear Deck to gauge the students’ preferences and moods at the beginning of the class and can adjust the rest of the class to how the students are feeling. She thinks that in the best classrooms the teachers listen to the students' thoughts to help them make decisions and there is a good balance between games and textbooks.

Felicia (Indonesia)

To Felicia, a student from Indonesia, playful learning is not always about games. She talks about how one of her mandarin teachers from 4th grade did not play a lot of games, “...but her way of teaching itself was very playful. This made the material much easier to understand”. Pointing out that students do not necessarily want to play games all the time, she thinks that playful learning is also about taking student preferences into greater account. She believes in co-creating the classroom together as students and teachers.