ARC Laureate Fellowship: FL180100161

Pop-up STEM PlayWorld preschool age children

The Five Characteristics of a Conceptual PlayWorld

Pedagogical characteristics Pedagogical practices that are planned

Selecting a story for the Conceptual PlayWorld

▪ Working with understandings of the context of children’sdevelopment and their interests (Friendship, adventure,Night sky - experience of observing stars andconstellations, the sun, astronauts and astronomers)

▪ Selecting a story that is enjoyable to children and adults(How to Catch a Star - children experiencing thedrama of wanting to catch a star - the solar systemoutside the scope of Earth; The Boy’s/The Girl's (themain character) enthusiasm and persistence to solvethe problem of how to catch a star)

▪ Building empathy for the characters in the story (Childrenexperiencing the drama of the child in the storywanting a friend - the child dreamed that the starmight become a friend).

▪ A plot that lends itself to introducing a problem situation tothe children (How to meet a star?)

ARC Laureate Fellowship: FL180100161

▪ Being clear about the concept and its relation to the storyand play plot to be developed (Understanding star typesand stages of the star life cycle - using characteristicsand properties to identify a star; imagining stars ashot balls of gas)

Designing a Conceptual PlayWorld space

▪ Creating different spaces that give opportunities forexploring both concepts (Exploring star classifications,investigating star types and life cycles, exploringonline images or using online observatory websites,observation skills e.g. make a telescope, constellationcards/viewing; and role-play being an astronomerusing a telescope seeing our new friend the star in thesolar system) and social and emotional development(Empathy with The Star not knowing its name,identity, age or type; empathy for The Boy/The Girlwho won’t give up!)

▪ Designing different opportunities for child initiated play inways that develop the play plot further or explore conceptsand make them more personally meaningful (You canmake the main character ‘The Girl’; you can introducethe new character of Astronaut Mae - inspired by reallife astronaut Mae Jemison - who in this CPW lives onthe international space station, and has a passion forastronomy and observing the properties of stars; howdoes Astronaut Mae identify a star?)

▪ Planning different opportunities for representing children’sideas and expressing their understandings (Drawing orpainting the stars in the solar system; compare,classify and chart star types and stages of life cycle;make a model of the different types of stars; make astop motion video showing the stages of the star lifecycle; interview The Star)

Entering and exiting the Conceptual PlayWorld space

▪ Whole group enters the Conceptual Playworld (Enteringthe spacecraft to visit the solar system; exiting thespacecraft to return to Earth)

▪ All the children are in the same imaginary situation(Pretending to be in the solar system together asastronomers observing stars)

ARC Laureate Fellowship: FL180100161

▪ Children choose characters as they enter into theimaginary situation (be different types of stars e.g.signaled by wearing fabric to show size and colour, orbe The Boy/The Girl, astronaut Mae, astronomers)

▪ Teacher is always a character in the story or acting as ahuman prop (e.g. such as the Sun, a dwarf star or asupergiant star in the solar system role playing theirvarious characteristics)

Planning the play inquiry or problem scenario

▪ Children have enough knowledge to be able to solve theproblem – introduced inside or out of the imaginarysituation (role playing The Boy/The Girl meeting TheStar and asking it questions to identify the type andstage of life cycle; observing the night sky with familythinking about stars as big balls of gas)

▪ The problem scenario is dramatic and engaging (The Starwants an identity and The Star wants a friend. Whattype of star is he/she? How old is he/she?)

▪ Problem scenario is not scripted, but a general idea of theproblem is planned (e.g. The Star sends a message“Please help me”, the message could be transmittedand received via radio waves. See below for exampleof message.)

▪ Being clear about the concepts that will be learned fromsolving the problem situation (Stars are big balls of gas,There are different star types and life cycle stages -this can be identified based on characteristics of thestar such as size, colour, temperature and luminosity)

▪ Concepts are in service of the play (the solar system;space travel; star life-cycle; types of stars - Role-playing The Boy/The Girl meeting different types ofstars embodying the various features, role-playingastronauts and astronomers)

Planning teacher interactions to build conceptual learning in role

▪ Teachers working in interactional pairs: Teachers are notalways the same character. Roles are not scripted e.gEducator A in role as The Star with No Name, invitingchildren to be other stars - e.g Sirius, Polaris, ProximaCentauri; Educator B with the children in role as

ARC Laureate Fellowship: FL180100161

astronomers helping The Star with No Name; Educators could also be The Boy/The Girl, Astronaut Mae)

▪ There are different roles teachers can take: Teachers plantheir role for the PlayWorld to be equally present with thechildren (e.g. “Let’s explore the solar systemtogether”), or to model practices in role (e.g. “I’m a RedDwarf star - I’m reddish, small, cool in temperatureand dim compared with the other types. I’m hard toobserve in the night sky”), or to be needing help fromthe children (e.g. “Show me how a star is born”). Theirrole can also be as together with the child leading(primordial we) (e.g. “Let’s pretend to travel to spacetogether”) where they literally cradle the child or holdtheir hand and together act out the role or solution

▪ Conceptual intentions are planned: Planning of who willhave more knowledge and who will be present with thechildren to model solving the problem

Letter from the star transmitted and received via radio waves:

Dear Children,

I heard that you love stars. I am a star, a big ball of hot gas. Please come on a space adventure to the solar system and meet me. You can meet some of the other stars too. You can’t meet all of them because there are billions! My friend, the Sun, is also a star. There are dwarf stars and supergiant stars. They are all different sizes and colours. Some are new, born out of giant gas clouds, and some are at the end of their life cycle, exploding, supernovae!

I need your help! I don’t know what type of star I am. And I don’t know how old I am. Please come and help me figure all of this out. My friend Mae, an astronaut, will fly you up in her spacecraft.

Love, The Star With No Name

ARC Laureate Fellowship: FL180100161

Fleer, M. (2017). Digital PlayWorlds in an Australia context. In T. Bruce, M. Bredikyte & P. Hakkarainen (Eds.), Routledge handbook of play in early childhood (pp. 289-304). UK: Routledge Press, Taylor and Francis Group.

Fleer, M. (2017). Scientific PlayWorlds: A model of teaching science in play-based settings Research in Science Education, 49(5), 1257-1278 DOI: 10.1007/s11165-017-9653-z

Fleer, M. (2018). Conceptual PlayWorlds: The role of imagination in play and imagination in learning, Early Years, doi.org/10.1080/09575146.2018.1549024

Fleer, M. (2019). A tapestry of Playworlds: A study into the reach of Lindqvist’s legacy in testing times, Mind, Culture, and Activity. doi.org/10.1080/10749039.2019.1663215

Fleer, M. (2019). Conceptual PlayWorlds as a pedagogical intervention: Supporting the learning and development of the preschool child in play- based setting, Obutchénie, v.3|n.3 doi.org/10. 14393/OBv3n3.a2019-51704

Fleer, M. (2019). The role of subjectivity in understanding teacher development in a Scientific Playworld: The emotional and symbolic nature of being a teacher of science, in Fernando. González Rey, A.M. Martinez, and Daniel M. Goulart (Eds.). Theory of subjectivity: New perspectives within social and educational research, Springer: Dordrecht, The Netherlands

Fleer, M. (2018). Conceptual Playworlds: Foregrounding imagination and creativity as foundational for children’s learning, Monash University Working Paper: https://www.monash.edu/conceptual-playworld

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