In this article, the author draws on contemporary science to illuminate the relationship between early play experiences, processes of self-development, and the later emergence of the fractal self. She argues that orientation within social space is a primary function of early play and developmentally a two-step process. With other people and with…

This article explores the potential of play in the teaching of college composition. Drawing primarily on the theoretical framework of D. W. Winnicott, the author describes how he used ludic pedagogies to provide first-year writing students a "potential space" in which to explore a range of course elements including composing conventions,…

Most mammals play, but they do so in a dangerous world. The dynamic relationship between the stresses created by their world and the activity of play helps to explain the evolution of play in mammals, as the author demonstrates in evidence garnered from experiments that introduce elements of fear to rats at play. The author describes the resulting…

Play is an essential part of young children's lives. This symposium highlights the integral role of play in young children's mathematics learning and examines the teacher's role in facilitating and extending this. Papers examine key tenets of play, contributing to theoretical understandings and presenting data on teacher's perceptions of play and…

A class of 3- to 5-year-old children in a child care center in the midwestern United States chose to study a car wash as a group project. This article discusses how the project evolved, describes the three phases of the project, and provides the teachers' reflections on the project. Photos taken during the project and children's sketches are…

Making schools for the deaf inclusive settings for deaf students with disabilities is important for their all-around development. The consequences of disregarding this need may be severe. In this article, the author describes a boy's experience at Kendall Demonstration Elementary School (KDES) which shows it is possible to make inclusion at a…

Digital game-players devote a large amount of their time to discovering rules hidden in the code and discoverable through empirical study, experiments, and developing or rediscovering the mathematical formulae governing the code. They do this through their own independent play as they test areas, gear and abilities, through data mining using…

"Learning through play" in early childhood education is widely advocated, but studies show that play is not easily enacted in classrooms. The quality of learning through play has been questioned in various countries, especially when learning outcomes are a global concern. This paper examines how one teacher implemented learning through…

It is generally accepted in the fields of both education and psychology that play can help young children cope with troubling circumstances in their lives. It would be logical to assume that play activities may be ideal for assisting children whose families have immigrated to the United States in adjusting to the puzzling, and even frightening,…

This article describes a phenomenological study of filial therapy with monolingual, Spanish-speaking mothers living in the United States. Four mothers participated in a 5-week training in filial therapy. Data from the interviews revealed four emergent themes. These include (a) challenges in integrating play therapy skills in everyday life, (b)…

Objective: Video games are used in medical practice during psycho-education in chronic disease management, physical therapy, rehabilitation following traumatic brain injury, and as an adjunct in pain management during medical procedures or cancer chemotherapy. In psychiatric practice, video games aid in social skills training of children with…

Pivotal response teaching (PRT) is an empirically supported naturalistic behavioral intervention proven to be efficacious in the education of children with autism. This intervention involves loosely structured learning environments, teaching during ongoing interactions between student and teacher, child initiation of teaching episodes, child…

This report summarizes GENERATE, a pilot research project conducted by 12 artists and their children 3-14. Simply put, these artist/art educator/parents allowed their own children unlimited access to their studios, materials, equipment and workspaces for two years. During that time the children were able to work alongside their parents on making…

This study examines the role that context plays in links between relative balance, or mutuality in parent-child interaction and children's social competence. Sixty-three toddlers and their parents were observed in a laboratory play session and caregiving activity (i.e. eating snack). Mutuality was operationalised as the relative balance in (a)…

Background: Traditional disability categories may reveal little of the functional characteristics and social competence of a child. Objective: To compare the social competence of typically developing children, children with established disabilities and undiagnosed children identified by a functional approach to be in need of special support.…