How Playful Learning Can Help Leapfrog Progress in Education

Center for Universal Education at The Brookings Institution. 1775 Massachusettes Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20036. Tel: 202-797-6048; Fax: 202-797-2970; e-mail: cue@brookings.edu; Web site: http://www.brookings.edu/about/centers/universal-education

N

14

LEGO Foundation

Play; Academic Achievement; Educational Innovation; Student Centered Learning; Inquiry; Interpersonal Relationship; Foreign Countries; Low Income Students; Elementary School Students; Children; Technology Integration; 21st Century Skills; Skill Development; Game Based Learning; Financial Support; Nongovernmental Organizations; Program Effectiveness; Experiments; Competency Based Education

Canada; India; Brazil; South Africa; Finland; Kenya; Mexico; United Kingdom; Australia; Colombia; Uganda; Nigeria; Chile; Spain; Argentina; Thailand; Germany; Rwanda; Tanzania; France; Austria; Pakistan; Indonesia; China; Peru; Turkey

Humans are born with the natural ability to gain skills through play. Children learn about social norms, roles and responsibilities, and language through curiosity-driven, playful interactions and activities. Learning through play harnesses the power of children's imagination and inspires active engagement with the material. The Center for Universal Education at Brookings, is studying innovations that strive to improve education. If the education sector stays on its current trajectory, half of all youth around the world entering the workforce in 2030 will lack basic secondary-level skills they need to thrive--from literacy and numeracy to critical thinking and problem solving. It is believed that leapfrogging, or rapid nonlinear progress, is needed to change this trajectory. Education that allows students to leap forward in learning should incorporate experimentation and iteration, helping students make meaning of what they are learning, and engage with others in doing so. These types of student-centered, playful learning experiences are an essential component to leapfrogging in education because without them young people will not be able to develop the full breadth of competencies and skills they need to thrive in a fast-changing world. This paper is the first in in a series of Leapfrogging in Education snapshots that provide analyses of a global catalog of education innovations. Of the nearly 3,000 innovations captured in the catalog, two-thirds involve playful learning, which represents the largest category of innovations that were recorded. [Support also provided by the BHP Foundation.]

ERIC

2019

ED597321