Pre-recorded Presentation Abstracts|

Preservice Teachers’ Playful Mindset and their Disposition Towards Play.

Ruth Guirguis and Jennifer M. Longley

Play and playfulness are often associated with and perceived to be appropriate if implemented in the early childhood classroom Nonetheless, there is a misconception that play and playfulness end as the individual becomes an adult and enters college. Nevertheless, it presents a conceptual framework for understanding the development of play and adult learning. Play practitioners and researchers have continued over the past decade to focus and report both qualitative and quantitative data on the vast and interconnected learning components that exist through play in Early Childhood Education (ECE) (Johnson, Chirstie & Wardle, 2005; Bodrova & Leong, 2008; Miller & Almon, 2009; Tominey & McClelland, 2011). While the current literature discusses these key benefits of learning through play, there is a disconnect in the streamlining of play as a pedagogical tool once students enter higher education. This session will describe the curricular and environmental aspects that can be introduced to pre-service teachers to ensure they are being prepared to teach and assess through play. The session will also implement aspects of supporting a flexible mindset among students from diverse backgrounds.This presentation will focus on how to implement play and playfulness in the higher education classroom that is culturally inclusive This session will describe the curricular and environmental aspects that can be introduced to pre-service teachers to ensure they are being prepared to teach and assess through play The session will also implement aspects of supporting a flexible mindset among students from diverse backgrounds

How Parents Appraise Risky Play: Development of a New Measure

Rana Alarawi

Risky play is defined as “thrilling and exciting forms of play that involve a risk of physical injury” (Sandseter & Kennair, 2011, p 258) It is associated with activities such as climbing, jumping, and downhill racing Risky play can result in improved resilience, physical health, and risk-management skills (Brussoni et al , 2018) However, increased focus on injury prevention and safety regulations have resulted in a decline in risky play (Brussoni et al , 2012) While current research has focused on adults’ tolerance of risk in play, much less is known about how parents appraise risk and what influence their decisions regarding children’s engagement in ‘risky’ play activities Purpose: this pilot testing examined the validity and reliability of the Risk Appraisal questionnaire Procedure: 48 parents with one or more children above 3 years answered the survey Results: Rasch analysis revealed good evidence for internal reliability (0 80) and person reliability (0 94) Analysis of item fit (94 1%) and person fit (98%) confirmed to Rasch model assumptions Principal component analysis of residuals revealed observed variance (44 6%) closely matched expected variance (45 1%) However, unexplained variance for the first contrast suggested possible multidimensionality (eigenvalue = 2 5) Discussion and Implications: results supported the questionnaire as a useful tool for measuring factors impacting parents’ appraisal of ‘risky’ play. To improve measure accuracy, several suggestions were made. For parents, this tool can be a useful foundation for understanding contexts influence their decisions as well as for providing more risky play opportunities for their children.

Children'sVoicesandSpacesofPlayatBrambleNetworkandInventorsPlayground ElboussaidiFatimazahra Play-basedlearningisavitalaspectofachild’sdevelopment.Playisthemeansbywhichtheyexpressthemselves andexploretheenvironmentaroundthem.Parentsandcaregiversneedtogivemuchattentiontoprovidingan enablingenvironmentforplaytohappen.Whilemany schoolsandlearningcentersunderstandthisresponsibility, thevaryingdifferencesinhowachildaccessesplaycansignificantlyshapetheirexperiencesandagencyin meaningfulways.Theresearchquestionsofthisstudytrytoexplorebothinitiatives(Inventors’Playgroundand BrambleNetwork)andanswerifthereisanimpactoftheplay-basedlearningmethodinfosteringthe implementationoftheinitiatives'activities.Ingeneral,theobtainedresultswillrevealanevaluationfromthe studentsandteachersaboutplaybasedlearning,mainlyintermsofteamwork,creativity,andresiliencyin upskillingstudents.Datafromtheseprojectshasdemonstratedthevalueofconsideringchildren'svoicesand perspectiveswhendesigningandplanningspacesofplay Byfosteringasenseofagencyandparticipation,and providingchildrenwithaccesstoarangeofsafeandinclusiveplayspaces,wecansupporttheirdevelopmentand well-being.Furtherresearchisneededtobetterunderstandthewaysinwhichdifferenttypesofplayspacesimpact children'sexperiencesandoutcomesandtoidentifystrategiesforpromotingequitableaccesstoplayopportunities forallchildren.

The Art of Play: Engaging a Partner School’s Kindergarteners in Process-Oriented Art & Play Activities

Denise Farrelly and Julia

Morris

Funded through the President’s Promoting Students’ Sense of Belonging Award, students and faculty from the Education Program worked together to facilitate play-based art activities for kindergarteners from P.S. 958 in Sunset Park. The children enjoyed engaging with our preservice teachers through scientific inquiry including digging for and examining worms and natural materials, music and movement through song, story, and instrument construction, visual arts through colorful painted murals, marble paintings and textural collage, and weaving yarn on a giant loom. Our friends at Materials for the Arts joined in on the fun with recycled materials for creating superhero capes. We will share photos and feedback from our students on their experiences facilitating this exciting event.