Category: Schools & Learning
Agency in Play: Making Space for Children’s Agency With Learning Through Play
6 December 2021
This short animation summarises a new theoretical paper written by the Play in Schools & Learning team that explains the role of play in supporting children’s agency in their learning. How can you make space for children’s agency in their learning? By including play! Play develops children’s motivation and self-regulation, both of which support children’s […]
School Break Times & Young People’s Social Lives in England
16 June 2021
In this lunchtime webinar, PEDAL was joined by Dr Ed Baines from the UCL’s Institute of Education. School breaktimes are important social play settings for children and young people. In the past decade there have been changes to schools and education in England, reports of increases in structured school clubs, and concerns about school food, […]
PEDAL September Speaker Series: Play in the Pandemic
4 January 2021
This webinar was part of our September Speaker Series, recorded in September 2020. These lunchtime sessions aimed to bring together academics, practitioners & policymakers to discuss some of play research’s key issues virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic. Professor Sara Baker was joined in this webinar by Helen Dodd, Professor of Child Psychology at the University […]
PEDAL September Speaker Series: The Way We Play – Potential in Play
28 September 2020
This webinar was part of our September Speaker Series, recorded in September 2020. These lunchtime sessions aimed to bring together academics, practitioners & policymakers to discuss some of play research’s key issues virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this session, speakers focused on the potential of play in interventions, and also during the pandemic, for […]
PEDAL September Speaker Series: The Way We Play – Play in Challenging Settings
25 September 2020
This webinar was part of our September Speaker Series, recorded in September 2020. These lunchtime sessions aimed to bring together academics, practitioners & policymakers to discuss some of play research’s key issues virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic. This webinar focused on how play can manifest in challenging settings, and was chaired by Dr Jenny Gibson. […]
Reconstructing readiness: Young children’s priorities for their early school adjustment
8 January 2019
This video provides an overview of the Children’s Thoughts about School Study (CTSS). CTSS was integrated into the evaluation of a community-led initiative called Preparing for Life (PFL) run by the UCD Geary Institute. The PFL aimed to improve levels of school readiness for children living in several disadvantaged areas of Dublin, Ireland. In the […]
PEDAL Seminar: Not Too Early, But Just Right! – Unleashing the Power of Science in Early Childhood
12 July 2018
Professor Daryl Greenfield is a Professor of Psychology and Pediatrics at the University of Miami. His work is positioned at the interface of research, policy and practice at the international, national and local level. His research examines school readiness with at-risk and dual language learners, with a specific focus on early science education. Science has […]
A Prescription for Play: Why play fosters social and cognitive development
18 May 2018
Join PEDAL for a public lecture by world-renowned psychologist Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, evaluating the evidence for the importance of free play and guided play as a catalyst for learning in social and cognitive development. Kathy explored why play, particularly guided play, might offer a successful midway position between the warring factions of playful and didactic approaches […]
PEDAL | BBC Breakfast report on playful writing
26 September 2017
Acting Director of PEDAL, Dr David Whitebread, is interviewed in a BBC Breakfast report on playful approaches to learning and ‘playful writing’ in schools. This report was originally recorded in February 2017.
PEDAL Workshop: Pedagogy of Play Workshop
26 September 2017
PEDAL invited Ben Mardell (Project Zero, Harvard University) and Camilla Uhre Fog (Head of the International School of Billund) to share with teachers at the University of Cambridge Primary School their experience of working together to develop a Pedagogy of Play. Through the work of the teachers at ISB, this collaboration has managed to define […]