Depression markers in young children's play: A play questionnaire for teachers of young children

In this chapter, we discuss the design decisions made when creating the game mechanics and rules for BioSim, a pair of game-like participatory simulations centered around honeybees and army ants to help young children (ages kindergarten through third grade) explore complex systems concepts. We outline four important design principles that helped us align the games and simulations to the systems thinking concepts that we wanted the students to learn: (1) Choose a specific and productive focal topic; (2) Build on game mechanics typically found in children's play; (3) Purposefully constrain children's play to help them notice certain system elements; and (4) Align guiding theories to game rules, and vice versa. We then highlight how these guiding principles can be leveraged to allow young children to engage with complex systems concepts in robust ways, and consider our next steps and goals for research as we continue to iterate and build on these games.

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Nature by Default in Early Childhood Education for Sustainability

Australian Journal of Environmental Education ◽

10.1017/aee.2015.44 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 32 (1) ◽

pp. 57-64 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Sue Elliott ◽

Tracy Young

Keyword(s):

Early Childhood ◽

Early Childhood Education ◽

Young Children ◽

Human Nature ◽

Education For Sustainability ◽

Children's Play ◽

Childhood Education ◽

Children’S Play ◽

Transformative Engagement ◽

Historical Antecedents

AbstractThis essay critiques the relevance of historical antecedents about children's play in nature and how these historical and political mechanisms create cultural rovoked by Taylor's (2013) exploration of the pervasive influence of romanticised images of innocent children in nature and our own experiences of never-ending ‘nice’ stories about young children in nature, here we trouble how nature experiences may or may not preclude children's meaningful and agentic participation in sustainability. We question is engagement with nature, a tangible and easily accessible approach in early childhood education (ECE) promoting a ‘nature by default paradigm’ and potentially thwarting a fuller transformative engagement with sustainability. Thus, we argue the case for shifting our frames beyond idealised romanticised notions and human–nature dualisms to a ‘common worlds’ (Haraway, 2008; Latour, 2004; Taylor, 2013) frame guided by collectivist understandings within connective life worlds. Such a shift requires a significant recasting of ethical human–nature understandings and relationships in ECE.

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Designing BioSim

Decision Management ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-1837-2.ch018 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 382-400

Author(s):

Naomi Thompson ◽

Kylie Peppler ◽

Joshua Danish

Keyword(s):

Young Children ◽

Complex Systems ◽

Army Ants ◽

Design Decisions ◽

Children's Play ◽

Game Mechanics ◽

Children’S Play ◽

Games And Simulations ◽

Participatory Simulations ◽

Important Design

In this chapter, we discuss the design decisions made when creating the game mechanics and rules for BioSim, a pair of game-like participatory simulations centered around honeybees and army ants to help young children (ages kindergarten through third grade) explore complex systems concepts. We outline four important design principles that helped us align the games and simulations to the systems thinking concepts that we wanted the students to learn: (1) Choose a specific and productive focal topic; (2) Build on game mechanics typically found in children's play; (3) Purposefully constrain children's play to help them notice certain system elements; and (4) Align guiding theories to game rules, and vice versa. We then highlight how these guiding principles can be leveraged to allow young children to engage with complex systems concepts in robust ways, and consider our next steps and goals for research as we continue to iterate and build on these games.

Download Full-text