Laugh and Play and Learn Along the Way

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As a child and as a voracious reader, I happened to come across a book called Games People Play: The Psychology of Human Relationships. It was a bestseller of its time, and has informed much of human resource theory since its publication. People, it said, play games. Our transactions with each other are games. (Not repeating what is in the book, if you haven’t read it, please do. It is a slim, small one). I have always wondered: Where did we learn to play these games, when did it all start?

Almost as an answer, a poster became very popular around the same time. It was called ‘All I Needed to Know I Learnt in Kindergarten’. I still remember the glossy red apple, the scroll-like visuals and the lovely pop-psychology-level content. It felt right, even reassuring to know that we were all equipped for life because we had fought, shared, loved, danced and done what all toddlers do naturally. We were fine. Who needed school now, we could cope with life, some said. There was a grain of truth there: One often learns more at play than one learns during formal learning.

Play has been used for learning in both structured and unstructured ways for a very long time. Unstructured play teaches us to discover the rules of the game, to negotiate our way through new situations and come up with norms that work for all. If the game is not fair or equitable, it will end soon. Games teach us to design for sustainability. Of course, as we continue to play these games it is possible that hierarchies emerge, and equity is lost. Play is a way for natural leaders to emerge, for children to discover what roles would suit them best in life. It teaches us to team, to share and to grow together. Structured play takes that a step further and a teacher or facilitator nudges it towards a particular pathway. Structured play has many embedded rules along with explicit rules to allow players to discover new learnings during the game.

Play is fun. Laugh is good. A happy student learns and retains more than a morose or serious student. With play to break the monotony of the class, it becomes a more engaged classroom. Play can easily be integrated into a regular class: It just takes some preparation, a little thought and some resources. But the smiles on the students’ faces at the end of it all make it worthwhile. Teachers out there must try it. Try it in a classroom. Lecture for about 15 minutes, give them a mini-test. Save the results. Now, for a similar ‘topic’, tell them about it, help them play a game that reinforces that learning. Take another mini-test. Compare the scores. Do write in with the scores; this is what action research is all about. I, for one, will not be surprised if generally (well-designed) play improves learning outcomes.

Traditional schooling especially in countries such as India is too grim. That was indeed the first question my nine-year-old son asked me when we moved to the Indian education system: “Why is there no fun in class? Why don’t teachers smile? Why are they so serious?” Needless to say the joyless teaching sucked out the soul out of learning. It was all too efficient, spoon-fed and ritualistic. There was one proper ‘method’, a single narrow pathway, and students were expected to march to the same drummer at the same pace. I cannot imagine a sadder situation for a child to be in.

As I write this piece, I am thinking about the WISE Summit where I will be moderating a debate on Play for All (http://www.wise-qatar.org/program/2014-wise-summit-program/session/debate-play) next week, I realise that the most troubling thing is the lack of access to play in the structures we have created for learning and working. To be denied play is to foster a very sad world indeed.

Games are serious business, even as they spread joy and cheer. They have clear goals, as much as serious lessons do, and all goals are not about tests and test scores. Games do a lot more: They can engage and bind students far tighter than a lecture can, they can help students memorise as fast as mini-tests can, they can work to increase mental and physical fitness, agility and nimbleness. There are innumerable examples of ‘untameable’ youth who found their path after engaging with team sports and with a good mentor. Those who would not be bound by the linear rules of traditional classrooms find their talent and patience after having been socialised via games.

Games of course have adapted easily to the new internet era. Educational games form a multi-billion-dollar market with apps now storming the retail market; learning the basics of education has never been as much fun. Edutainment is a business and a cause that transcends media with outreach into schools, television, computers, tablets, phones and more. For once, regardless of what it says in the description or on the box, education has become age-agnostic. Games have opened up a world of learning to the young and old alike, each competing with another to win as they learn and share and have some fun while they are at it. Not quite as democratic yet, since most edutech games are available via costly internet connections and devices, but they are slowly getting there as more and more school boards decide to invest in technology.

So, where is the battle here? All of us love games and want to see more of them. Don’t we? Then, why don’t we see more games in schools?

Beyond kindergarten, or maybe a few years after that, the time spent on games drops dramatically to merely an hour or even less every week, especially high achieving-schools. Play does not form part of the pedagogy in most classes that are geared towards exams. Play to learn is left to the tiny tots, while the older students revert to traditional modes of lecture and rote learning. Surprisingly, play to learn returns in later years, much of corporate training builds in elements of play in their in onsite and offsite interactions. And, with visible results as adults, like children, learn better as they play.

Schools have been churning out students that are often called ‘unemployable’ because they do not have the skills that are fostered by play and exchange. Yet, we continue to focus on narrow academic definitions of attainment and achievements. If we continue to be blinkered in our goals, our education systems will not be able to make room for better ways of doing things. Play in the classroom, in learning and in education will move us from were we are trapped to broader, even more human ways of approaching and integrating learning into our lives. With a bit of laughter thrown in, of course!

The thoughts and opinions shared here are of the author.