Future teachers learn importance of play in classroom
Thursday, October 27, 2016 2:00 AM
News
Pittsburg, KS
As she prepares for her future career in elementary education, there is one particular lesson that junior Sam Weibel is keeping in mind.
“Play isn’t necessarily a bad thing,” Weibel said. “In a lot of different ways, play can be a very beneficial thing in the classroom. When students have fun, they learn.”
That very concept was at the heart of a lesson taught by Pittsburg State College of Education instructor Amy Bartlow on Wednesday, Oct. 26.
Using LEGO bricks that were donated to the program by LEGO Education, Bartlow’s students designed instruction activities that would meet the developmental needs of students in grades kindergarten through fifth grade.
Each group of students was assigned an academic area – math, reading, science, etc. – and the students were tasked with designing and presenting an activity that focused on various methods of teaching. The overall goal, Bartlow said, was for the activity to be fun for elementary students.
“Play is an important consideration in learning activities,” Bartlow said, “because play motivates and engages students in experiences that aid brain development in the areas of language, physical development, social and emotional development and cognitive development. By focusing on the needs of students in a specific grade level, pre-service teachers are applying their knowledge of play in order to directly impact and influence academic goals and developmental areas.”
Junior Alex McCormick said hands-on activities such as these are good lessons on just how beneficial play can be.
“We use the world ‘play,’ but it’s really a lot more than that,” she said. “The elementary students who would participate in these activities may see it as play, but it’s also really helping them develop cognitive and emotional skills. That’s why having fun in the classroom is so important. It engages the students in a fun way that captures their attention while also expanding their minds.”