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Describes play workshop experiences that give educators a deeper understanding of play-based learning and illustrate the power of play.
Play Practice: Engaging and Developing Skilled Players, Second Edition, provides an alternative to traditional sport instruction. This innovative and authentic approach to teaching sports combines contemporary theory with the experience of practical and reflective work in real sport environments. Coauthors Alan Launder and Wendy Piltz, both with wide-ranging experience as players, teachers, and coaches, expand and update the play practice approach they presented in the first edition and show how it can be used to help improve sport skills for players of all ages and abilities. This flexible model of sport pedagogy can be applied as a whole or one element at a time. It covers a wide range of team and individual sports, including archery, table tennis, flag football, snow skiing, cricket, and track and field. Plus, you’ll find a wealth of field-tested ideas for working with diverse learners in schools and communities. The second edition highlights the significance of key terms such as games sense, technique, resilience, and fair play. It also provides new information relating to the complexity of learning and addresses the difficulties beginners face in the learning process. The second edition of Play Practice integrates a thorough analysis of skilled performance with an understanding of the conditions under which people best learn. It also shows how the strategies of simplifying, shaping, focusing, and enhancing can help you create situations to maximize learning and positively influence the attitudes of learners. Over 130 illustrations and photos demonstrate specific approaches, ideas that can work for multiple sports, and ways to apply the approach with beginners through elite players. Summary sections in each chapter help you quickly identify and review key topics. And two bonus chapters about the origins, evolution, and theoretical bases for Play Practice are available free for download at www.HumanKinetics.com/PlayPractice. Play Practice is based on the idea that an individual’s commitment to achieving mastery is a powerful motivator for learning. Learn to harness these motivators and create enjoyable practice situations in which learners young and old, whether resistant beginners or highly motivated professionals, are encouraged to strive for excellence.
Combining the research talents of many long-standing members of the Association for the Study of Play, this work provides discussions of the theory and applied value of play, as well as ongoing research from America, Australia, Taiwan, and Korea. The developmental and educational theories of Lev Semenovich Vygotsky are analyzed in several chapters. The world's premiere play scholar, Brian Sutton-Smith, continues his seminal play theory work, following up on previously presented findings and constructing a developmental theory of play based on emotions. Chapters address: • Play as a parody of emotional vulnerability • Learning to observe children at play • Symbolic play through the eyes and words of children • The activities of children at recess in middle school Professors, teachers, scholars, and university students interested in early childhood education, child development, play theory and practice, and preschool and elementary education will find this volume of interest.
A unique companion to professional play practice! All play professionals are united in their belief that play is important for children’s development – and there are inherent characteristics of play that underpin professional play practice across contexts. Providing an overarching concept of play, drawing together the evidence base across disciplines and linking theory to practice, The Essence of Play is the ideal handbook for all those working with children. Play acts as a natural resource for children to meet physical, intellectual and emotional challenges and this book, unusually, considers play from the perspectives of children rather than adults. It provides a baseline of shared knowledge for all play professionals, exploring the fundamental value of play rather than a ‘how to’ approach to practice. It considers: the therapeutic potential inherent in play; how play reflects and promotes physical, emotional, intellectual, linguistic and social abilities; the emergence of different types of play skills and why these are important; cross-cultural patterns in play, gender, atypicality and adversity, highlighting the relevance of these issues to professional play practice; the benefits of utilising play for assessment and other professional practice issues such as ethical play practice, balancing risk with health and safety and the creation and management of boundaries. This text is designed for students and practitioners working with children across the helping professions, including early years education, play therapy, playwork, childcare, social care, nursing and allied health. Each chapter provides directed reading and small reflective tasks to encourage readers to digest key issues.
The long-awaited new edition of NAEYC's book Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs is here, fully revised and updated! Since the first edition in 1987, it has been an essential resource for the early childhood education field. Early childhood educators have a professional responsibility to plan and implement intentional, developmentally appropriate learning experiences that promote the social and emotional development, physical development and health, cognitive development, and general learning competencies of each child served. But what is developmentally appropriate practice (DAP)? DAP is a framework designed to promote young children's optimal learning and development through a strengths-based approach to joyful, engaged learning. As educators make decisions to support each child's learning and development, they consider what they know about (1) commonality in children's development and learning, (2) each child as an individual (within the context of their family and community), and (3) everything discernible about the social and cultural contexts for each child, each educator, and the program as a whole. This latest edition of the book is fully revised to underscore the critical role social and cultural contexts play in child development and learning, including new research about implicit bias and teachers' own context and consideration of advances in neuroscience. Educators implement developmentally appropriate practice by recognizing the many assets all young children bring to the early learning program as individuals and as members of families and communities. They also develop an awareness of their own context. Building on each child's strengths, educators design and implement learning settings to help each child achieve their full potential across all domains of development and across all content areas.
No matter what you have tried so far, there is a better way. There is a better way to practice so you lower your scores and have more fun. The better way means learning to go beyond your comfort zone on the range so you are in your comfort zone on the course. The better way means combining the mental and physical aspects of golf to create habits of excellence. Practice to Learn, Play to Win uses the latest research in brain science to supercharge your golf. The better way to golf starts with great practice and ends with great scores.
*** SPECIAL LAUNCH PRICE GOES AWAY MARCH 1ST *** If you''re a Self-Taught Guitarist wanting to play songs without spending all your time practicing, this may be the most important book you ever read... But first a warning: this book is NOT for everyone... This isn''t one of those "practice until your fingers bleed" or "cram confusing theory into your mind" type of guitar instruction books. There are plenty of those available (i.e. practice scales & exercises for hours per day and feel guilty if you don''t). When I first decided to learn to play guitar, I read all the guitar books for beginners and focused on developing a lot of areas like scales, theory, and exercises that promised me one day I''d be able to play the songs I loved. The problem is, when you approach practice like that, you have a lot of "stuff" to practice, but you usually have no REAL MUSIC to show for it, ending up with what I call Mountain Climber Syndrome. You feel like eventually, your hard work is going to pay off, everything will come together, and you''ll finally be able to play songs. Why not play songs right away instead? The simple, three-step system in this book requires a slight shift in the way you think about practicing, but leaves you with lots of songs, confidence, and a lifelong skill you can use any time you want to learn the songs you love ON DEMAND. With that said, let''s jump right in... Practice Less, Play More! is about getting immediate results from your guitar. This means ONLY focusing on the things that help you play songs (both BEFORE practice & AFTER practice). The idea is to divide your guitar practice into 3 phases: The first phase focuses on priming your mind so you have the right mindsets & techniques to learn songs quickly and all of the right materials to get the most out of your practice sessions. The second phase focuses on practice technique, showing you exactly how to break a song down and quickly program each part into your fingers. Far too few guitar practice books explain this clearly! The final phase focuses on the best mindsets & techniques to use when you switch out of Practice Mode and are actually playing songs, so you can play them as effortlessly as possible and have a blast doing it. It is called "Practice Less, Play More!", because you are constantly building momentum (and your song Playlist) without having to endure hours of mind-numbing practice. It is actually an easier, less-stressful approach to playing guitar. Not only that, this book shows you: How to get songs to performance-quality within days... You should practice guitar parts over & over until you master them, right? WRONG! (find out why in Chp 7) How to create a practice routine you enjoy and can actually stick to (even if you have a super busy schedule) When is the best time to practice for long-lasting results 5 ways to cut your practice time in half and virtually guarantee you make progress each time you pick up your guitar What to think about while you''re playing songs (the answer may surprise you) How to reduce the amount of mistakes you make and exactly what to do when you make one (most Beginners are doing the opposite!) One practice method you should NEVER use if you want rapid results on guitar Say goodbye to guessing what to practice next and finally build a Playlist of songs you''re proud to play on guitar! The book is an easy read and will feel like we''re just chatting, as I tell you my best stories from on & off tour and show you my best strategies for learning songs. Order Now Before The Price Increases ***All proceeds from this book are being used to create new programs for cancer patients and their caregivers. Thank you for your support!
This new edition covers a broader variety of disciplines including exercise science, kinesiology, movement studies, physical education, sport science and sport studies.
Play is an underlying theme of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) but it is often a challenge for practitioners to provide a play based curriculum. This book investigates the values and beliefs that underpin play and demonstrates through case studies how play opportunities can be observed, planned and assessed in a meaningful context for the child. Organized into four sections that mirror the EYFS, this book takes you through the curriculum framework demonstrating how play underpins each of these principles and is the common thread that links them together. Chapters include: - celebrating children′s play choices - ways to work with parents - inspiring environments for inspirational play - the role of play in supporting key relationships - creative play for flexible learning Incorporating the voices of Early Years practitioners, this book takes the unique approach of analysing the academic theory, showing how this can be put into practice and then suggesting activities to facilitate reflective practice and professional development. Useful to all those studying on any Early Years course, the book is particularly relevant to those leading practice in early years settings and those working towards Early Years Professional Status (EYPS).
This book helps support developmentally sensitive nursing and allied health practice by integrating the therapeutic powers of play into child and adolescent health care service provision. It is designed to link play, child development, neuroscience, biopsychosocial and attachment theories with the biomedical model of health. Nurses and allied health professionals work with children aged between 0-18 years and with diverse childhood illnesses, injuries, diseases, disorders, and conditions, and are therefore in a prime position to understand and support children through potentially painful and traumatic health care experiences. Understanding of the role of play and the application of the therapeutic powers of play in communicating with children and families has the potential to significantly optimise paediatric care. The theory and play based strategies, tools and techniques presented in this book assist nurses and health care professionals to engage with children in an age-appropriate manner and ‘speak’ with children through their natural language of play, to enhance comprehension, coping, resiliency, and healing. Play is recognised as a sequentially developing ability and can be aligned with the child’s age and stage of life. Play based approaches can be placed on a continuum from fully child led or non-directive play to adult facilitated educative play. Medical information can be tailored according to the various points along this continuum to inform clinical reasoning and to help children prepare for procedures, recover from medical interventions and / or make sense of their diagnosis. Whilst this book is directed at nurses and allied health professionals who work with children and their families, it may also be a valuable resource for medical and other professionals in community or educational settings to work systemically as a team. The book takes the reader on a journey to illustrate various professional and therapeutic roles in how to playfully engage children through a range of case vignettes.
