TY - JOUR
T1 - Teenagers learn through play too
T2 - communicating high expectations through a playful learning approach
AU - Johnston, Olivia
AU - Wildy, Helen
AU - Shand, Jennifer
N1 - Funding Information:
Open Access funding enabled and organized by CAUL and its Member Institutions. This paper was written with the support from the Australian Department of Education Research Training Program.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).
PY - 2023/7
Y1 - 2023/7
N2 - Play-based learning is an approach used in early childhood education that is well supported by research on its varieties and effectiveness for young children’s learning. Play-based learning meets the developmental needs of young children, but new research presented in this paper suggests that teenagers learn through play too. The experience of 25 Year 10 students in three Western Australian government schools was drawn upon to generate grounded theory about how students experience their teachers’ expectations of them, which included findings that playful learning approaches communicated high teacher expectations. The students were shadow-studied in their classrooms and interviewed at the end of each day. Teachers were appraised as having high expectations when they included a playful learning approach, characterised as creative, exploratory, hands-on, fun and non-didactic. The students reflected that this led to increased motivation and academic success. A foundation for conceptualising play in teenagers’ education is provided, suggesting how secondary school educators can harness play and communicate high expectations for learning through their pedagogical approach.
AB - Play-based learning is an approach used in early childhood education that is well supported by research on its varieties and effectiveness for young children’s learning. Play-based learning meets the developmental needs of young children, but new research presented in this paper suggests that teenagers learn through play too. The experience of 25 Year 10 students in three Western Australian government schools was drawn upon to generate grounded theory about how students experience their teachers’ expectations of them, which included findings that playful learning approaches communicated high teacher expectations. The students were shadow-studied in their classrooms and interviewed at the end of each day. Teachers were appraised as having high expectations when they included a playful learning approach, characterised as creative, exploratory, hands-on, fun and non-didactic. The students reflected that this led to increased motivation and academic success. A foundation for conceptualising play in teenagers’ education is provided, suggesting how secondary school educators can harness play and communicate high expectations for learning through their pedagogical approach.
KW - Adolescent learning
KW - Constructivism
KW - Play-based learning
KW - Playful learning
KW - Secondary education
KW - Teachers’ expectations
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85130754065&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s13384-022-00534-3
DO - 10.1007/s13384-022-00534-3
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85130754065
SN - 0311-6999
VL - 50
SP - 921
EP - 940
JO - AUSTRALIAN EDUCATIONAL RESEARCHER
JF - AUSTRALIAN EDUCATIONAL RESEARCHER
IS - 3
ER -