Can I design for play? How pedagogues design for children’s play situations in school

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyse how pedagogues are designing for children’s play situations in schools. Based on design-based research and play design methods, the paper analyses three empirical examples using three theoretical concepts: play order, reflection in action and improvisation. A core argument of the paper is that the way in which pedagogues constantly observe, improvise and reflect on pedagogical practice is evident in how specific play designs are carried out. It is the capacity of professional pedagogues who understand play and children’s perspectives and who consciously think about what they do while doing it, acting in the situation based on a specific reflection. This paper contributes to design for play activities, which are being developed in conjunction with the field of development within design practices and design research.

Keywords:

• Play design
• pedagogy
• play order
• improvisation
• pedagogical reflection
• school
• after-school activities

Acknowledgements

Thanks to all the children and pedagogues who participated in the research project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The project is funded by Independent Research Fund Denmark.

Notes on contributors

Anne-Lene Sand

Anne-Lene Sand is a associate professor at Design School Kolding in the Design for Play programme. Sand holds a PhD in children and youth culture and a master’s degree in educational anthropology. She has done extensive research on young people and self-organised practices in urban space and is currently working within the field of design, pedagogy and play. Central themes in her work are materiality, space, rhythms, improvisation and embodied and sensory practices. Sand has a strong interest in methodologies and aims to develop new context-sensitive methods.

Helle Marie Skovbjerg

Helle Marie Skovbjerg is a professor at the Design School Kolding and a research leader in LAB Design for Play and the projects ‘Can I Join’ and ‘Playful Learning Research.’ Skovbjerg’s contribution to play research is the mood perspective—a universal human perspective on play—which, through near-empirical studies, focuses on participants’ possibilities and experiences and the forms of exercise’s connections to situations. The mood perspective has most recently been unfolded in the books On Play (Skovbjerg 2021) and Framing Play Design (2020) by Skovbjerg.

Jens-Ole Jensen

Jens-Ole Jensen is an associate professor at VIA University College and head of the research programme Body, Sports and Movement at the Research Center for Pedagogy and Education. He is interested in existential and phenomenological dimensions of children’s participation in play and movement in day care, school and leisure. His research is practice oriented and has been studying the joy of movement, meaningfulness in movement, wild and dangerous games and the importance of space and architecture for play and movement.

Hanne Hede Jørgensen

Hanne Hede Jørgensen has a candidata magisterii in literary history and dramaturgy. Hanne is employed as an associate professor at University College in Århus and is affiliated with the Research Center for Pedagogy and Education. Hanne is particularly interested in children’s play participation, children’s experiences of being in play and the importance of educators in play environments in schools and day care.

Tilde Bekker

Tilde Bekker is a professor of digital technologies for playfulness and motivation. Bekker is interested in designing playful interactions between multiple people and multiple objects in contexts of play, health and learning. Bekker’s research interests include designing intelligent playful solutions for children and older adults, developing and evaluating design techniques for involving users in (early) design and providing support for design practitioners for selecting and tailoring design techniques to specific design projects.