Play has a particularly important and significant role in the formative classrooms. It is an integral part of the learning input and has never to be considered external to a learning situation. Teachers need to be adequately trained to adopt play as a pedagogy in transaction of curriculum and in clarifying concepts to ensure effective understanding.
Play as a pedagogical strategy can help in improving cognition, optimal emotional responses, accepting credible and valid feedback for improvement of performance. At the formative stage it is wonderful tool to enhance the quality and effectivity of relationships.
Play as a strategic pedagogical intervention will help in effective cognition, cognitive consolidation, cognitive response to non-curricular domains and in expanding the horizon of knowledge from known spaces to unknown spaces. It eliminates fear for learning, adventurism in learning, compulsive learning, forced learning and threatened learning.
What are the advantages of play-way method in formative classrooms?
How could teachers adopt play for effective formative learning?
Play could help in improving and consolidating integrated sensory coordination and responses. E.g. Eye-eye coordination, eye-ear coordination, eye-hand coordination, eye-ear coordination and the like.
The most critical part of the play way method is personal involvement of the teacher or the parent so that there is a free intercourse of emotions, feelings and dialogues so that learning environment is liberated and offers a conducive environment and opportunity for joyful learning
Parents also have a significant role in empowering the learning profile of their children before they enter into the formal schools. The NEP has said this in no uncertain terms. “Preparing the child” to go to the school by providing a conducive learning environment at home is an important indicator in the NEP.
Play helps in ensuring the following in the learner:
Cognitive competencies
Emotional competencies
Kinesthetic competencies
Listening competencies
Communicative skills
Inter-personal skills
Intra-personal skills
Organized behaviour
Discipline and self-regulation
Respect for law and rules/regulations
Planning and readiness
Transformational exercises must be carried out to make the teachers and parents understand the emerging approaches to implement the curriculum more meaningfully.
Schools would do well to revisit their idea and concept of play in schools beyond the routine games or as an exercise that is instrumental to fun and enjoyment. The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct” says Carl Jung.