to read our 2016 journal!

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President�s Message Thank you for your interest in this issue of the IPA/USA e-journal. We are committed to supporting the child’s right to play and to serving as an advocacy organization via publications, conferences, and networking. You can make a difference by joining IPA/USA. Simply download a membership application at our website, www.ipausa.org. Membership in the IPA/USA affiliate automatically enrolls you in our parent organization, the International Play Association, and includes international publications and discounts for international conferences. IPA/USA officers look forward to working together to make this a vibrant organization to support the child’s right to play. The Executive Board includes: Dorothy Sluss, President Ladonna Adkins, Vice-President Secretary: Deb Lawrence Marcy Guddemi, Treasurer Danielle Marshall, Secretary; Kay Hansen, Member at Large; Joanne Cemore, Member at Large.

We especially appreciate Mary Ruth Moore and Vivien Geneser, who serve as the new co-editors of our e-journal. We also extend special thanks to our webmaster, Jullian Kline.

If you are interested in taking a more active role in IPA/USA services and activities, please contact one of the board members on our website: www.IPAUSA.org

Keep on playing,

Dorothy Sluss

Dorothy Sluss President, International Play Association, USA [email protected]

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Editors� Column Dear IPA/USA Members,

Welcome to our inaugural issue as co-editors! We have been colleagues and friends for many years and share a passion for play, so it is thrilling to be able to collaborate on this joint venture as the new editors of the IPA/USA online eJournal. In this issue we bring some thought provoking articles for you to ponder, enjoy, and hopefully share with your friends. Our first article by John Sutterby, “Pretty in Pink: Gender and Toys”, addresses the topic of gender marketing in the toy industry and offers insight into the ways that toys are featured in advertisements and stores, and how this has changed over time. We invite your contributions to the discussion and will make space in the next issue for a thoughtful forum on this topic.

Our next article, “Play with Numbers in Daily Life: Fostering Number Sense in Preschool Classrooms” is a thorough report of a two year study that was funded by the National Council of Teaching Mathematics’ Education Trust. Our authors, Haiping Hao, Mary Margaret Capraro, and Kisha Lee from Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, worked diligently to examine learning progressions and teaching strategies for Pre-K children’s number sense to better understand preparedness of young children to be mathematics ready for school. We appreciate their expertise with the manuscript and accompanying charts and photos.

Two articles follow that pertain to play in other countries. First, Jenny Wilson and Kathleen Puente, who ventured to West Africa to serve as literacy coaches, share their insights in “Literacy in Liberia: Thinking of Low Literacy Communities Through Play.” The two authors considered the linguistic patterns that children demonstrated during play and subsequently designed curriculum to capture the magic of their word play.

Erin Casey and Cynthia DiCarlo also considered ways to incorporate the daily play behaviors of young children into productive teaching approaches. In their article, “Play Traditions in the Garifuna Culture of Belize”, they provide a reflection on how the environment and traditions coalesce to influence play and illuminate the resourceful practices of the Garifuna children. We close this issue with an article that provides an historical perspective of our organization from our friends, Joe Frost and Marcy Guddemi, who provide information about the philosophy and mission of IPA. Thank you for reading our journal. We wish you all the best in 2016. Sincerely, Mary Ruth Moore and Vivien Geneser

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IPA/USA CO-EDITORS

Mary Ruth Moore Vivien Geneser Mary Ruth Moore is a Professor in the Dreeben School of Education at the University of Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas. Dr. Moore serves as the faculty liaison and board member of the Joe L. Frost Play and Play Environments Research Collection at the UIW Mabee Library. She has planned and conducted numerous conferences as well as the annual Play Day for Peace. Vivien Geneser is an Associate Professor of Early Childhood in the College of Education and Human Development at Texas A&M University-San Antonio. She is a member of the board for the Joe L. Frost Play and Play Environments Research Collection. Dr. Geneser has contributed to research on play through the years with publications and presentations, as well as her work as a co-editor of the journal Early Years, which is published by the Texas Association for the Education of Young Children. Additionally, she served as the lead editor for the 2014 special issue on PLAY.

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Table of Contents

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President�s Message

Dorothy Sluss��.� 2 Editors� Column Mary Ruth Moore and Vivien Geneser��...3 Pretty in Pink: Gender and Toy Marketing John A. Sutterby��. 6 Play with Numbers in Daily Life Haiping Hao, Mary Margaret Capraro, and Kisha Lee��..10 Play Traditions in the Garifuna Culture of Belize Erin M. Casey and Cynthia F. DiCarlo ��..�22 Literacy in Liberia: Thinking of Low Literacy Communities Through Play Jenny C.Wilson and Kathleen Puente…………………………….....30.

International Play Association (IPA) and the American Affiliate IPA/USA: A Brief History Marcy Guddemi and Joe Frost…………………………………..…… 40

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IPA/USA e-journal Fall 2015 6

Articles

Pretty in Pink:

Gender and Toy Marketing

John A. Sutterby In between the endless decorations in red, green and white that are found at this time of year is an often more significant color, pink. Why pink? Pink is a marker for gender that toy marketers use to indicate to toy purchasers that this is a toy for girls. Pink was chosen by the iconic Barbie brand more than 50 years ago. Today, pink colored toys and toy packaging serve as a signal to both boys and girls which toys that they are supposed to play with and which ones they should avoid. So, does the marketing of toys make a difference in gender identity?

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Introduction

Does the marketing of toys make a difference? One important aspect of marketing is the role of gender marking for children�s toys. Boys and girls live in different toy worlds. Where once I would have easily played with my sisters� toys, specifically Fisher Price Little People, I was able to play with these toys as they were marketed equally to boys and girls. Today such cross gender toy play is less common. Many toy companies have taken what were originally gender-neutral toys and have rebranded them as gendered. For example, Mega Blocks, which at one time was a generic colorful building and construction toy, now comes in two packages. One packaging has a picture of a boy playing with the toy, which has primary colored blocks. The second one comes in packaging with a picture of a girl that contains mostly pink colored blocks. Gender marking for toys has been around for a long time, however it has become more prevalent over recent decades. With the increase in media segmentation over the last 30 years there has been a more targeted market for toys. Toy manufacturers want to make sure they can hit every niche in the market so they can maximize profits. Creating a pink set of blocks may be more attractive to someone seeking a toy purchase for a girl. Gender marketing of toys has been in the news lately as some commercial retailers have moved away from gendered labeling while at the same time some companies have begun to mark their toys in more specific ways. On the other hand there has been some push back especially among cultural conservatives who feel toys should reflect specific gender roles.

Does Gender Marketing Make A Difference?

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) has recently (2015) released a statement on gendered toys. They consulted with a number of researchers who have explored why gender-marking toys can negatively impact children. When adults were asked to rate toys as being either male or female toys they tended to follow certain patterns. “We found that girls’ toys were associated with physical attractiveness, nurturing, and domestic skill, whereas boys’ toys were rated as violent, competitive, exciting, and somewhat dangerous” (NAEYC statement on gender and toys, 2015). “Strongly gender-typed toys might encourage attributes that aren’t ones you actually want to foster. For girls, this would include a focus on attractiveness and appearance, perhaps leading to a message that this is the most important thing—to look pretty. For boys, the emphasis on violence and aggression (weapons, fighting, and aggression) might be less than desirable in the long run” (NAEYC statement on gender and toys, 2015). Labeling toys does have an impact on whether a toy is enjoyed by either girls or boys. When toys are specifically labeled as a girl or boy toy will get less cross gender interest. Researchers even discuss what they call a hot potato effect. They tested boys playing with toy cars, when the boys took off the helmet of the driver revealing a female figure they literally dropped the toy like a hot potato. Academics and advocates for children suggest that the types of play materials available and play activities should be available to both boys and girls. Toy choices may influence the types of careers that children aspire to.


Thus, an emphasis on domestic toys for girls may lead them to be less ambitious. One toy company for example, Goldieblox, specifically attempts to produce a counter narrative to this gendered play by depicting dolls as action heroes (Goldieblox.com).

Gender Marketing of Toys

Some toy companies have released new versions of their toys that are more gender neutral. Easy Bake Oven, for example, has released a new black and silver colored oven, which is in contrast to the purple oven that was their latest attempt to update this iconic brand. The repackaging was in response to an online petition started by a girl who wanted an Easy Bake Oven for her brother, but was turned off by the purple colored version. The idea that boys would have no interest in cooking is in contrast to the fact that numerous chefs and cooking shows are currently hosted by men and are available on major television networks. The original Easy Bake Oven was definitely marketed mostly to girls, but the packaging and product placement in stores was originally gender neutral. In addition, the original colors of the Easy Bake Oven reflected the colors found in kitchens of the time. Later the color was changed to pink or purple. The silver and black edition also has both a boy and a girl featured on the packaging. Lego also jumped into the gender marketing game by releasing Lego bricks branded as the Friends Collection. The inclusion of mostly feminine characters and purple packaging clearly marks this as a girl toy. The Legos company also redesigned the people figures to make them more feminine and less blocky. The sets revolve around themes such as juice bars and beauty salons.

Some educators and parents felt this was a step in the wrong direction, noting that toy marketing for Legos had specifically been gender neutral as recently as 10 years ago. An online petition drew more than 70,000 signatures requesting that Lego go back to their original gender-neutral marketing. On the other hand, some writers have suggested that the Lego lines that revolve around Star Wars and Bionicle are marketed strongly to boys and feature almost exclusively male characters. Target recently also introduced gender-neutral signage in some of their departments. Previously, in areas such as bedding, blankets with characters from the “Frozen” movie would be labeled as ‘girl’s bedding’ while a corresponding blanket from “Cars” would be labeled as ‘boy’s bedding. According to a statement from Target, “Historically, guests have told us that sometimes — for example, when shopping for someone they don’t know well — signs that sort by brand, age or gender help them get ideas and find things faster. But we know that shopping preferences and needs change and, as guests have pointed out, in some departments like Toys, Home or Entertainment, suggesting products by gender is unnecessary” (Target.com). As Target began to implement their new gender-neutral signage, they received some backlash, most notably from Franklin Graham, the son of Billy Graham who wrote that Target was forgetting the values of traditional families (Target.com). Many people threatened to boycott Target over the change. Other comments to the Target website also criticized the change, many referencing religious values. The ensuing controversy invoked much debate in the Target online forum.


For example, one comment from the Target web article discussing gender-neutral signage stated: �Allowing a girl to play with Legos is fine, it's blocks. My 2-year-old son has a kitchen in masculine colors but we won't be buying him Barbies and dresses to play dress up in. If I want my son to play with boyish toys, that's my choice and, as a Christian...I will raise him to be a man the way God created him. This is the dumbest thing I have ever heard, people complaining that there are girl and boy signs for toys and bedding? There are two genders and have been since God created us. Get over it.� (Texas resident) And another comment: “Wow... Just when I thought Target was the last hope against Walmart... Walmart may bother me in a lot of ways and up until now I have avoided them when Target was a convenient choice.... I am now willing to accept the "greedy company" who sells cheap Chinese crap over the "immoral company" that has chosen to side with the anti-God/anti- Christian LGBT movement...” (Louisiana resident) On the other hand, many commenters were supportive of Target’s decision: “I support Target 100%. We're not talking about taking away gender. We are talking about reducing gender inequality. My daughter loves ninja turtles, superheroes, fire trucks, baby dolls, Barbie’s, and so on. When she plays with baby dolls and Barbies no one says a word, but when she plays with a ninja turtle or superhero toys, little boys her age tell her she's not allowed to play with them "because she's a girl". If she wants to be a firefighter, she should not be discouraged and told that only boys can do that. Why are only boys allowed to be scientist and engineers?” (Delaware resident) (comments were not edited for content or grammar)

Discussion I think this issue will continue to touch a nerve for the public at large. As United States culture changes there will continue to be conflicts about what are appropriate and inappropriate toys related to issues of gender. Toy purchasers have many motives for selecting a toy for a particular child. Women and girls may resist being placed in pink boxes. Also, toy purchasers may want to encourage nurturing behavior in boys and resist being violent boxes. On the other hand, toy purchasers often encourage traditional roles for boys and girls and will embrace the pink for girls toys and blue for boys toys that the toy marketers produce. Messages do matter. I believe the onslaught of messages children receive through marketing are changing how children envision themselves. If these messages are important, than we as a society need to decide if gender-neutral is preferable to gendered toy marketing. Advertisements found in other countries are not so gender marked. If we seek to have gender equality as a social goal, then we need to begin by looking at how toys are marketed to children and adults. We can change what and how we allow in regard to marketing to children. Historically, we as a society have made decisions about what we consider appropriate for toys and have even taken steps to limit what toys children have access to. For example, we no longer allow cigarettes to be marketed to children. We put labels on movies and music. Should we also regulate how toys are marketed to children? Especially in terms of gender, should we regulate pink? Since we have done it for other products, saying in effect, that we must protect our children, then why not toys and gender? John Sutterby has a son and a daughter. He is an Associate Professor of Early Childhood at University of Texas in San Antonio and past president of The Association for the Study of Play.


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Existing research has shown that early mathematics skills are a better predictor of academic success than reading ability. However, not much empirical research has been conducted, especially at the preschool level. Through a mixed-method study, we examined learning progressions and teaching strategies for pre-K children’s number sense to better understand preparedness of young children to be mathematics ready for school. Meanwhile, teachers’ professional development strategies were also investigated. The preliminary findings of a 2-year funded project show that after the intervention activities children’s number sense development improved significantly, especially in their counting, comparison and patterning skills. Furthermore, children made progress at a similar pace regardless of their gender and age. The results provide implications for future interventions. This project was funded by the NCTM's Mathematics Education Trust. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

Play with Numbers in Daily Life Fostering Number Sense in Preschool Classrooms

Haiping Hao, Mary Margaret Capraro and Kisha Lee


Introduction Acquisition of number sense in young children has attracted increasing attention recently (CCSSI, 2010; NCTM, 2008; NRC, 2009), however, not much empirical research has been conducted, especially at the preschool level. This study examines learning progressions and teaching strategies for Pre-K children’s number sense to better understand preparedness of young children to be mathematics ready for school. Meanwhile, teachers’ (including in-service and pre-service teachers) professional development strategies were also investigated. Using a quasi-experimental design supplemented with interviews, focus groups and examination of artifacts through a 2-year funded project, we attempted to answer the following research questions: What are the learning progressions of early number sense for 3-5 year old children? What effective teaching strategies, closely relevant to young learners’ diverse cultural background and local context, can be used to facilitate early number sense development? What effective professional development strategies for pre-K teachers can be used to facilitate young children’s number sense? Development of Number Sense

Number sense is crucial in daily life and lays the foundation for later formal mathematics education (McIntosh, Reys & Reys, 1992; Starr, Libertus & Brannon, 2013). Generally number sense is defined as understanding numerical concepts and their relationships, which includes quantification, set comparison, and counting (NCTM, 2000; Piaget, 1952).

Moomaw (2008) listed six sub-

constructs and based on them she designed an assessment (Mathematics Curriculum-Based Measure, MCBM) to assess the development of number sense in preschool children (see Table 1). We adopted the MCBM as the instrument to administer because it is a measurement tool to assess the development of number sense in preschool children. It has two advantages compared to other assessment: a) it is curriculum-based, aligned to classroom curriculum, so it can inform planning and instructional decisions; and b) it is a play-based, interactive game played between an assessor and a child, consisting of a series of dot or number cards and teddy bear counters. Thus it can enhance children’s motivation and cooperation.

Table 1. Six Sub-Concepts of Number Sense and Explanation Six sub-concepts

Explanation Development levels

Quantification Construct a set equivalent to the set presented (dots or numerals)

1. global, 2. one-to-one correspondence, and 3. counting

Counting Accurately apply the three Counting Principles

1. stable order, 2. one-to-one, and 3. cardinality

Set Comparison

Compare two sets of objects

1. global, 2. one-to-one correspondence, and 3. counting

Numeral recognition and understanding

Correctly name numerals and represent them with an equivalent number of objects

Right or wrong

Set Combination

Combine two sets of dots

1. count separately, 2. Count together

Patterning Continue a pre-existing color pattern using counters

Right or wrong


Cultural Responsively Teaching Teachers of K-12 public schools,

who are mainly White and middle-class, face a growing diverse student population in the U.S. (Causey, Thomas & Armento, 2000). Often their “cultural frames of reference” (Ogbu, 1992, p.5) are quite different from the students they teach, which greatly affects student achievement. So equipping teachers with appropriate attitudes, knowledge and skills is pressing for them to effectively work with diverse students (Nadelson et al., 2012; Zeichner, 1993).

Some studies have tried to address issues about conflict between homogeneous teachers and their diverse students (Causey et al., 2000; Gay, 2010; Zeichner, 1993). To teach culturally responsively, Gay (2002, 2013) has suggested five components: 1) develop the knowledge of cultural diversity, 2) integrate content into the curriculum, 3) build learning communities with caring and high expectation, 4) conduct cross-cultural communication, and 5) be congruous in the instruction. Teacher Professional Development

Scholars from Stanford University (Wei, Darling-Hammond, & Adamson, 2010) confirmed effective professional development should involve the following characteristics: be embedded in work routine through school- or district-based learning communities and be closely relevant to teaching practice and necessary subject matter and pedagogical knowledge. Helterbran and Fennimore (2004) emphasized collaboration among teachers, administrators and teacher educators. They advocated a three-step professional development for early childhood teachers.

After analyzing several countries’ best teacher induction programs, Howe (2006) found the commonality among them was creating opportunities for novice teachers to learn from experts through observation, discussion and reflection. Some Chinese scholars proposed strategies like open-classes and expert-teacher-mentoring customs, exemplary lesson development, teaching contest platforms and curriculum reform (Paine & Fang, 2006; Wong, 2001).

Methods and Data Sources, Research Context and Participants

This study took place at a university-affiliated preschool in the southwest United States that strives to offer a high-quality preschool program for 1-5 year old children of students and educators at the University. The children come from 22 different countries and speak 18 different languages. Classroom teacher participants work together to develop lesson plans (number games or activities appropriate to children’s age) with the help of college educators and the center director. The lesson plans are related to children’s daily life closely addressing diverse and local context around them.

All 3-5-year-old groups (six classes, four for 3-4 year olds, two for 4-5 year olds) in the preschool were considered as part of the experimental group, and two classes from another preschool were considered the control group. During the first round of treatment, parental permission was received from the parents of n = 62 children, however, after attrition the study had n = 48 children (see Table 2 for demographics) in the experimental group. The six lead teachers of the 3-5-year-old groups in the experimental preschool were teacher participants.


Table 2. Children Participant Demographics Frequency Percent Gender Male 23 47.9

Female 25 52.1 Age group 3-4 year old 30 62.5

4-5 year old 18 37.5 Race/Ethnicity Hispanic 3 6.3

Asian 24 50.0 White 15 31.3 Other 5 10.4 Missing 1 2.1

Father education

College graduate

6 12.5

Some graduate work/graduate degree

41 85.5

Missing 1 2.1 Mother education

Some college 2 4.2 College graduate

7 14.6

Some graduate work/graduate degree

38 79.2

Missing 1 2.1 Marital status Married 46 95.8

Divorced 1 2.1 Missing 1 2.1

Number of children

1 15 31.3 2 30 62.5 3 3 6.3

WIC program 0 37 77.1 1 4 8.3 Missing 7 14.6

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Intervention Design

The two rounds of intervention were conducted during two separate years. Rounds are iterative so that the subsequent interventions are improved based on the previous round. The current paper focuses on the first year data of this 2-year project. The study applied a pretest–intervention–posttest design. The intervention included teaching activities for children and professional development for teachers (see Figure 1 for intervention map and project timeline)

Figure 1: intervention map & timeline

Stages Implementation Activities

Initiation

• Apply for IRB • Recruit and meet with team • Prepare lesson plans & materials

1st round experiment

• Pre-test • Treatments • Routine lesson study & reflection for teachers • Post-test

Break PD • Professional development • Preliminary data analysis

2rd round experiment

• Pre-test • Treatments • Routine lesson study & reflection for teachers • Post-test

Closure • Follow-up test & interview • Data analysis • Final closeout reports


Teaching activities on number sense.

Each week two 15-minute number sense treatment activities were implemented in the experimental preschool during circle and rotation times. The project team selected activities according to the six number sense concepts (see Table 2) from various sources and then adjusted them according to the project purpose (math content and cultural relevance). The curriculum designing and implementing principles included:

1. Play-oriented. The goal of the curriculum is to lead young children to feel confident in their mathematical knowledge and abilities;

2. Children-centered. The curriculum engages children in hands-on experiences and includes visuals to promote conversation and invite interaction;

3. Culturally responsive. Curriculum relates to children’s daily life closely addressing diverse and local culture context around them. There were a total of 20 activities

for each age group, see Figure 2 for details. About 2/3 (27 out of 40) of activities were conducted during rotation time because children had more opportunities to use manipulatives and interact with teachers in small groups during this time period (see Table 3). Circle time activities. Whole class activities

Each age group had six to seven whole class activities. The whole class sang number songs and played large group games together. Many activities involved movement, so a bigger space was necessary. The researchers suggested that teachers incorporated a “Number Time” routine during circle time. For

example, each session included starting and ending remarks: “Hi! Tigers, it’s Number Time now. Let’s warm up first” or “What have we learned today? Take today’s ‘Number Tip/Game’ back home and play with your daddy or mommy (Family connection)” Number story reading

Reading books containing number stories is a very effective strategy for children. They learn mathematics as the books themselves are used as activity-based teaching materials. The team purchased 21 children's books on number sense recommended by National Association for the Education of Young Children (Schickedanz, 2008). and participant teachers. Each class had multiple reading times per week. Rotation time activities.

Each age group has 13 to 14 small-group activities. Three to five children worked individually or in small groups to manipulate various learning materials such as Easter eggs or numbers cards. Teachers observed and supported children’s learning.

In addition, we tried to create an attractive and inviting environment for nurturing number sense. Teachers decorated their classrooms with “100 Charts”, children’s crafts, and set up a “Number Center” including books, toys or games about number sense. Teacher professional development

To guarantee the intervention quality, the project team employed bi-weekly team meetings, school break workshops, routine lesson study, and prompt reflections (via verbal discussion or written journals) with the experimental group of teachers including their intern teachers. Training

Before and during the curriculum implementation, the project team conducted a series of trainings on


mathematics content and pedagogical knowledge. The scheduled training topics included “Understand basic number sense concepts”, “Use of mathematics curriculum-based measures”, “Teaching number sense to young children”, and “Culturally responsive teaching ”. Reflection

Journaling thoughts, experiences, successes, failures, fears and anxieties about teaching number sense was important component for teachers. By writing about their classroom experiences they were able to achieve new understandings of their teaching practices. Most importantly, they gained a new understanding that all teachers should possess – awareness. Also, by sharing journals in a community of practice with their peers they were able to discuss and share ideas with other professionals. Ideally, teachers used the 3-component journal sheet after each teaching or tutoring activity until reflection became a habit. Observation

Opening up classrooms to visitors is part of Chinese curriculum culture and an effective way to improve teaching quality. In this study, teachers deliberately prepared an activity in advance, and then invited their colleagues to come to their classroom, demonstrating how they implement the lesson plans. After that, teachers and researchers met together to discuss their lessons. Intervention Implementation and Data Collection

The project team administrated the MCBM with participant children individually before and after the number sense activities. Test items are arranged in sequence of difficulty using three sizes of sets. Before each task there is an assessor model to help children understand the game format. Prior to the formal assessment, assessors were trained and

conducted co-scoring to attain reliability. Meanwhile, the participant

teachers conducted the number sense activities with 3-5 year old children in Spring 2015 (see Figure 3). The teachers with the same-aged students shared teaching materials, and communicated with each other about teaching strategies. The teachers in the experimental preschool, together with the center director and researchers from the university, formed a learning community to conduct lesson studies such as reflection (see Figure 4) and observation on project effective strategies.

We employed a mixed method design to collect analyze data. Analysis strategies for quantitative data included regression analysis (Thompson, 2006). We analyzed qualitative data using narrative analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006; Riessman, 2008). Preliminary Findings: Comparison of Children’s Development before and after Number Sense Activities

The results of paired t-tests (see Table 4, 5) showed there was a significant difference in children’s number sense development (between pre-test and post-test scores), as well as the sub-concepts of counting, set comparison and patterning. While, it was not significant on other sub-concepts.


Table 4. Raw Score Means and Stand Deviations by Time Variable Pretest Posttest

n M SD M SD Number sense (total)

25 52.51 17.443 58.39 17.027

Quantification 5 16.72 5.323 18.11 4.825 Counting 5 16.06 4.952 16.83 4.630 Comparison 4 8.56 4.540 11.17 4.805 Numeral 6 8.44 2.121 8.39 2.118 Combination 2 5.78 2.602 6.00 2.473 Patterning 2 3.67 1.749 4.50 1.339 Counting 10 1 0.89 0.323 0.94 0.236 Note: n = number of items in each category on the MBCM

Table 5. Paired Samples Test

Paired Differences

t df

Sig. (2-

tailed) Mean Std. Deviation

Std. Error

Mean

95% Confidence Interval

of the Difference

Lower Upper

Pair 1 Prescore - Postscore -5.882 6.049 .847 -7.584 -4.181 -6.945 50 .000

Pair 2 Prequanti -

Postquanti -1.389 2.173 .512 -2.470 -.308 -2.712 17 .015

Pair 3 Precount -

Postcount -.778 1.555 .367 -1.551 -.004 -2.122 17 .049

Pair 4 Precompa -

Postcompa -2.611 3.415 .805 -4.309 -.913 -3.244 17 .005

Pair 5 Prenume -

Postnume .056 .236 .056 -.062 .173 1.000 17 .331

Pair 6 Precombi -

Postcombi -.222 2.264 .534 -1.348 .903 -.416 17 .682

Pair 7 Prepattern -

Postpattern -.833 1.505 .355 -1.582 -.085 -2.349 17 .031

Pair 8 Precount10 -

Postcount10 -.056 .236 .056 -.173 .062 -1.000 17 .331

Table 3. Activity Frequency of Targeted Concepts Age group

Quanti -fication

Counting Comparison Numeral Combination Total Pattern

3-4 6 9 3 6 0 20 2 4-5 6 8 2 2 7 20 1

IPA/USA e-journal, Fall 2015 21

The Influence of Gender and Age on Children’s Number Sense Development The results of ANOVA (see Table 6 & 7) indicated that the score difference of pre-test and post-test was not significant by gender and age. Although 3-4 year old children were apparently at a lower development level than 4-5 year old children before and after the treatment, the two age groups made similar progress after the treatment. They were both working at a rapid pace in number sense development.

Discussion and Significance In summary, our study shows that

after intervention activities children’s number sense development improved significantly, especially in their counting, comparison and patterning skills. Furthermore, children make progress at a similar pace regardless of their gender and age, although some studies claimed boys and girls’ performance were quite different in quantitative concepts or subitising (e.g., Howell & Kemp, 2010).

Importantly, only two out of 20 control group children received parent approval for the study. Their pre-test scores were not included in the results due to poor participation. Thus, we cannot exclude maturity effects to claim the improvement of children’s number sense wholly derived from the intervention. However, the results can still supply implications for our next round of treatments and other studies.

Existing research has shown that early mathematics skills are a better predictor of academic success than reading ability, but the U.S. is in a numbers’ slump (Lago & DiPerna, 2010; Torbeyns, Obersteiner, & Verschaffel, 2012). Getting children to be comfortable or even fall in love with numbers before formal schooling is critical. Unfortunately, few studies on number sense acquisition and facilitation for 3-5-year old

children in actual classrooms, especially closely relevant to their cultural background and local context have been conducted, which is the focus of our study. Family cultures also influence the direction of children’s development (Dunphy, 2006). One suggestion might be to invite parents to co-design and implement number sense activities based on their cultural background in the future. Acknowledgement This project is funded by the NCTM's Mathematics Education Trust. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. References: Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using

thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101.

Causey, V. E., Thomas, C. D., & Armento, B. J. (2000). Cultural diversity is basically a foreign term to me: The challenges of diversity for preservice teacher education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 16(1), 33-45.

Common Core State Standards Initiative. (2010). Common Core State Standards for mathematics. Retrieved from http://www.corestandards.org/assets/CCSSI_Math%20Standards.pdf

Dunphy, E. (2006). The development of young children's number sense through participation in sociocultural activity: Profiles of two children. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 14(1), 57-76.

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Gay, G. (2002). Preparing for culturally responsive teaching. Journal of Teacher Education, 53(2), 106-116.

Gay, G. (2010). Acting on beliefs in teacher education for cultural diversity. Journal of Teacher Education, 61(1-2), 143-152.

Gay, G. (2013). Teaching to and through cultural diversity. Curriculum Inquiry, 43(1), 48-70.

Helterbran, V. R., & Fennimore, B. S. (2004). Collaborative early childhood professional development: Building from a base of teacher investigation. Early Childhood Education Journal, 31(4), 267-271.

Howe, E. R. (2006). Exemplary teacher induction: An international review. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 38(3), 287-297.

Howell, S. S., & Kemp, C. R. (2010). Assessing preschool number sense: Skills demonstrated by children prior to school entry. Educational Psychology, 30(4), 411-429. doi:10.1080/01443411003695410.

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McIntosh, A., Reys, B. J., & Reys, R. E. (1992). A proposed framework for examining basic number sense. For the Learning of Mathematics, 12(3), 2-44.

Moomaw, S. (2008). Measuring number sense in young children (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from http://www. ohiolink.edu/etd/

Nadelson, L. S., Boham, M. D., Conlon-Khan, L., Fuentealba, M. J., Hall, C. J., Hoetker, G. A., & Zenkert, A. J. (2012). A shifting paradigm preservice teachers’ multicultural attitudes and efficacy. Urban Education, 47(6), 1183-1208.

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. (2000). Principles and standards for school mathematics. Reston, VA: Author.

National Council of Teacher of Mathematics. (2008). Number and operations standard for grades Pre-k–2. Retrieved from: http://standards.nctm.org/document/Chapter4/numb.htm.

National Research Council. (2009). Mathematics learning in early childhood: Paths toward excellence and equity. Committee on Early Childhood Mathematics. C. T. Cross, T. A. Woods, & H. Schweingruber (Eds.). Center for Education, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

Ogbu, J. U. (1992). Understanding cultural diversity and learning. Educational Researcher, 21(8), 5-14.

Piaget, J. (1952). The child’s conception of number. New York, NY: Norton.

Riessman, C. K. (2008). Narrative methods for the human sciences. Thousand Oaks, CA:Sage.

Schickedanz, J. A. (2008). Increasing the power of instruction: Integration of language, literacy, and math across to preschool day. National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Starr, A., Libertus, M. E., & Brannon, E. M. (2013). Number sense in infancy predicts mathematical abilities in childhood. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 201302751.

power of instruction: Integration of language, literacy, and math across to preschool day. Nation Association

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Stewart, V. (2006). China’s modernization plan: What can US learn from China. Education Week, 25(28), 48-49.

Thompson, B. (2006). Foundations of behavioral statistics: An insight-based approach. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

Torbeyns, J., Obersteiner, A., & Verschaffel, L. (2012). Number sense in early and elementary mathematics education. Yearbook of the Department of Early Childhood Studies, 5, 60-75.

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Haiping Hao is an instructor and educational researcher in Early Childhood in the College of Education and Human Development at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas Mary Margaret Capraro is an Associate Professor in the College of Education and Human Development at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas Kisha Lee is an instructor and educational researcher in the College of Education and Human Development at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas

Mouse Count: Read and Act out Series number:

5-3C (3-4 years, Circle time) Targeted concepts:

Counting Materials needed:

1. Book Mouse Count 2. 10 (15) mouse crafts and a big jar

Procedures: 1. Read Mouse Count once. 2. Place large jar in each group of

children. 3. Each child is assigned a number

for their mouse to play 4. The book is read-aloud a second

time, and children place their mouse puppet in the jar when their number is counted.

5. The educator will "bounce" the container from side to side until all the mice "fall out" to escape and are uncounted.

Adaptation: Let children count backwards to make it more challenging

Number Center: 1. Leave the book in the center for

children to read Family connection:

Parents read borrow the book read with children at home

Source: Copley (2010, p.73), first-school.ws

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Figure 4. A prompt journal on activity “Mouse Count”

Table 6. Difference of by Gender

Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

Between Groups 39.718 1 39.718 1.077 .305

Within Groups 1696.595 46 36.882

Total 1736.313 47

Table 7. Difference by Age

Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

Between Groups 2.568 1 2.568 .068 .795

Within Groups 1733.744 46 37.690

Total 1736.313 47

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Play Traditions in the Garifuna Culture of Belize

Erin M. Casey and Cynthia F. DiCarlo

abst

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Belize is a small country in Central America with a rich cultural heritage. In this article, we will highlight the play behaviors of their Garifuna population, who live on the coast of the Caribbean Sea. Many diverse components, both historical and environmental, have contributed to their unique play culture, which could be utilized by teachers to enhance the curriculum and instruction in the schools. Analyses of the play behaviors of Garifuna children revealed themes of honoring the traditions of their culture and of utilizing available resources for play.

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Introduction

The author visited Dangriga, Belize on two separate occasions for a combined length of five weeks to assist with summer camps for school-aged children and conduct research on the educational system of Belize. During this time, she was also able to observe children playing in local yards, parks, and playgrounds and to study their play culture. She found that the proximity to the coast influenced their play as well as their African and Caribbean heritage. To augment her research, she obtained anecdotal data from an interview with an influential Garifuna community leader, Michelle Irving, who is the coordinator of a local group known as the Productive Organization for Woman in Action (POWA). The researchers analyzed their data using the interpretative phenomenological approach, which is a qualitative research method that emphasizes understanding themes through verbal explanations (Langdridge, 2007). Findings from the study illuminate the power of play to support the development of critical thinking skills. Results from this endeavor and subsequent curricular applications could be useful as a tool to influence teacher preparation in support of the application of constructivist theory.

Description of Belize Belize, which is the smallest country

in Central America, is located on the Yucatan Peninsula just south of Mexico along the Caribbean Sea. The country’s topography varies from rain forests, marshland, and mangrove swamps to mountain ranges and beaches, all of which are home to several hundred classes of mammals, fish, and birds, making this country one of the most diverse animal habitats in the world (The World Bank – Belize, 2012).

Similar to its wildlife and geographical features, Belize is also an ethnically and culturally diverse country.

The Mayan Empire, Spanish and English colonization, and the African slave trade have all influenced its rich history. English, Spanish and Creole (pidgin language of English and other languages) are the native languages of most people. However English is the official academic and governmental language in operation (Thomson, 2004).

The overall literacy rate in Belize is approximately 76 %, which is lower than the mean global literacy rate of 84% (UNESCO, 2012). Approximately 50% of all students continue education past the primary level, with the other half ending their formal education at around the age of 15 (UNESCO-IBE, 2007). Reasons for the high dropout rates could be attributed to the high percentage of poverty, which results in an inability to pay school fees, transportation issues, and ultimately, indifference (Cook, 2010). Additionally, the overall low academic performance may be partially attributed to the fact that many of the students do not respond well to the traditional style of teaching in Belize (Casey, in-press).


The Garifuna People The Garifuna cultural capital is found

in the country’s largest southern city of Dangriga, a coastal town of approximately 10,000 people. The name “Dangriga” is the Garifuna word for “Sweet Water” named thus because of the Stann Creek River which dissects the town to empty into the Caribbean (Lonely Planet, 2015). While the river is a resource for fishing and transport, its rich, muddy water clouds the ocean and beaches and frequently floods the surrounding land, which wards off many tourists or business developers seeking a beach resort environment.

The land is susceptible to frequent flooding during the rainy seasons, and the rain and flooding affects the daily life and habits of the Garifuna people. In addition to these environmental issues, the culture is influenced by the provenance of their Garifuna ancestors who arrived in Belize in the early 19th century. The Black Caribs (descendants of aboriginal Red Caribs from the eastern Caribbean and escaped African Slaves) migrated over dangerous open seas in canoes to the eastern coast of Belize to work and live as farmers and fisherman and became what are now known as the Garifuna people (Thomson, 2004). Thus, their Afro-Caribbean heritage continues to influence their traditions, which are guided by respect for ancestors and spiritualism with rituals and celebrations that include dancing and drumming. This strong cultural heritage, in addition to the influences of the weather and coast, can be seen in the play habits and toys of the children (Thomson, 2004).

Observations of Play in Daily Life Community leader Michelle Irving

described the play of local children with examples from daily life as well as special occasions. She reported that children in the Garifuna culture lack “opportunities to get modern toys, such as maybe Lego blocks, and other devices that are commercially produced.” Consequently, they “use a lot of organic and natural materials that they find around, and they turn that into their toys.” She described examples of imaginary play such as pretending a branch or broomstick is a horse to “gallop along with” as well as social play; cooperative play scenarios such as pushing an old bicycle tire down the road, using a coconut or mango for a ball, or placing discarded floor or wall tiles on the ground to create a hopscotch.

Playing with Pachanga Dolls Next, I asked Ms. Irving to tell the

story of the Pachanga dolls that I discovered on one of my trips. She replied that younger girls, as in many cultures, typically play with dolls and that the “Pachanga” hand-made dolls are typically given to girls from a mother, grandmother, or aunt. Some girls create their own dolls by using scraps of leftover material from their mothers’ sewing projects. “Girls play with dolls to reflect their mothers,” she says. Many cognitive and affective processes are supported by this type of pretend play such as organization, cognitive integration and divergent thinking, as well as the expression of feelings, modulation of affect and the integration of emotion (Jenkins & Astington, 2000; Russ, 2004; Singer & Singer, 2005).

Playing with Pachanga dolls represents an important tradition in the Garifuna culture because they are handmade and kept in the family. Irving says, “My mother made one for me, and I made one for my children.” She worries, however, that this tradition is being lost because “a lot of people don’t make their own clothes anymore, so the


children do not have a lot of access to those types of things [material scraps]. So, parents would be purchasing more commercial dolls. They are very cheap and made in China. Parents much prefer to get a cheap doll for their children.” Fortunately, the POWA group has addressed the possible loss of this tradition by regularly offering classes for girls to learn to make Pachanga dolls and focus on “retrieval of traditions”. They teach the same method of using material scraps to create the dolls with traditional dress and other features of the Garifuna culture.

In the Garifuna culture, the window of time that girls are allowed to pretend play with dolls varies depending upon a family’s situation and necessity for childcare as that responsibility can be passed on to even young girls. She explains, “The young girls could be five, and the babies would be maybe one or six months, and they would have the babies on their hips.”

For all girls, doll play usually ends when they start menstruating, around age 12. “A lot of restrictions come on girls at that time,” Irving says. “It is a difficult time for girls in these cultures that we live in,” she comments, conveying that the time for playing does not last long.

Playing with Handmade Vehicles One tradition that continues to thrive

is construction play among young boys, who make boats. During the rainy seasons, many streets and yards flood periodically as the river rises. Whether playing in the flood water, river, or in the ocean, boys make boats out of discarded items to see how well and far they will float. They use wood, coconut shells, discarded packages, plastic bottles, and paper to construct the boats and emulate the behaviors of the Garifuna fisherman. This “constructive play”, which is a cognitive play category, initially emerges in early childhood (Rubin, Fein, & Vanderberg, 1983). Constructive play has many cognitive benefits, such as the development of the strategies necessary to successfully solve novel problems (White, 2012). The boys will even make boats big enough to float in themselves. Irving said, “I saw some kids the other day in an old refrigerator, trying to get it to float!”

Michelle Irving also noted that boys construct trucks and buses to imitate the ones they see in town. Drivers of some buses and trucks paint and decorate their vehicles distinctively in order to be recognized, and the boys copy these by making carts with old tire treads, wheels, and wood.

Like the girls, though, this form of play comes to an end as they enter puberty. Boys generally stop playing in this form when they finish primary school and enter into secondary school or go to work. “It is expected that they are not to play. They are to be serious. They are to take on more responsible roles,” Irving says. Dance Costumes and Instruments

Older girls and boys (past age 12) soon adopt another tradition found in the Garifuna culture: copying the traditional dances and music of the John Canoe (also spelled Jonkonnu, Jankunu, or Junkanoo) festivities in the month before Christmas. John Canoe is the term for a celebration using drums and masks that is found in many


Caribbean cultures and originated from African traditions. The performances honor their traditional African roots and history (Lasseter, 2015).

Drums of different sizes work in rhythmic unison to lead dancers who sing in bright costumes and masks. The main dancer is dressed as a cow. “It’s a super cow. The mask is made from cardboard. It is very pointy, and he has horns. He moves his head in such a way. Then he has some dancers with him. It’s very popular.” Older children attempt to copy the music and dances and organize themselves by making their own instruments and costumes so that they can hold impromptu performances for people in the street during the season. Preparation from a young age in constructing materials from found objects continues as the aspiring performers construct masks from discarded cardboard and string. Drums are made from any found vessel that produces sound such as a bucket or old pot. Many of the children’s groups serve as opening acts for the adult performances as crowds gather to celebrate. Each of these descriptions of play features important components of the Garifuna culture by reflecting their traditions of respecting family and honoring the African and coastal history of its people. Another commonality is the practice of using found objects of junk materials to produce toys or items of play. Using scraps of material to sew dolls, building boats and trucks from discarded tires and packaging, and making drums and masks from old buckets, boxes, and paper all represent purposeful, constructive use of what might have been garbage or waste.

The Makerspace Movement Currently, in the United States, many

students are offered opportunities to interact with open-ended materials for creative purposes. This support for tinkering with materials has been labeled as the “makerspace movement”, which encourages children to tinker, design, and create new

objects using open-ended materials (Bruder, 2014). Makerspace sites have been developed in American schools, libraries, children’s museums and other kinds of community-based organizations to provide opportunities for creative exploration (Kurti, Kurti, & Fleming, 2014).

The creative repurposing of objects has become a mainstream method for teaching and the sites for these activities, which are known as “makerspaces” are integral to the delivery of science, technology, engineering, and math or STEM curriculums. In the makerspace classroom, the constructivist philosophy of teaching is implemented as students engage in hands-on learning. Students are given a special space stocked with a collection of various materials for building things (Kurti, Kurti, & Fleming, 2014). Makerspace classrooms are labeled as “revolutionary” because the inquiry-based approach to learning facilitates the development of higher order thinking processes (Kurti, et al., 2014).

Many of the makerspace facilities utilize junk-materials, a term which is defined by Odegard (2012) as “materials that in normal circumstances would have been thrown in the rubbish bin if their potential for reuse had not been spotting thorough active sorting (p. 390).” In her reflections on children using junk-materials, Odegard (2012) observed that the materials seem to “invite and encourage children to play and construct (p.387)” because the original action of discarding the items causes a loss of the previous function or purpose of the material, therefore giving the items a new life.


Additionally, constructing with junk-materials promotes equity because of its universal appeal regardless of gender, age, or ethnic background (Odegard, 2011). MacRae (2011) praises the use of junk-material because it propels children to imagine new uses for objects that had a previous use, and to reconceptualize the purpose of an item. As a result, the children think about the objects in a novel way and are able to achieve higher levels of analysis and thinking. Therefore, tinkering with junk generates creative thinking (Odegard, 2012; Bruder, 2014).

The provision of makerspace sites in educational settings in Belize seems ideal for their resourceful population. Children of all ages and cultures enjoy active sorting, either while looking for an item to serve what they intend to make, or one that will inspire them to create something new. However, the administrators have not yet acknowledged the benefits of using junk materials (MacRae, 2011). Although we observed the Garifuna children using junk-material during play, the idea of providing specific sites for building with recycled and collected materials has not been integrated into their formal school curriculum. We would like for the children’s habit of creating items from junk to be recognized for its educational value and then further validated by incorporating makerspace facilities into the schools of Belize (Odegard, 2012; Bruder, 2014).

Conclusion The Garifuna people have developed

a unique play culture that is derived from ancestral traditions, environmental influences and the creative interpretation of local resources. The authors propose that the educational administrators of Garifuna support the efforts of teachers who utilize resourceful play to promote critical thinking skills. When they observe their natural inclination to create toys from discarded items, they can offer support for their efforts, or tinkering, that produces creative interpretations of junk. In a country where

only half of the students typically continue into secondary education, innovative options for reconceptualizing the educational system are needed. By reframing the practice of using junk-materials to inspire creativity, the adoption of a constructivist perspective of teaching that blends available resources with new methods of instruction has the potential to promote enjoyment, advanced thinking skills, and academic success, while still honoring the culture and traditions of the Garifuna people of Belize.

Erin M. Casey is an Assistant Professor of Social Studies in the School of Education at Louisiana State University. Cynthia F. DiCarlo is an Associate Professor of Early Childhood Special Education in the School of Education at Louisiana State University.

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investigation of a class of capacitated arc routing problems: The collection of garbage in developing countries. Waste Management, 24(7), p. 711-721.

Bruder, P. (2014). Make YOUR space: The maker movement in education. New Jersey Education Association. Retrieved from https://www.njea.org/news-and-publications/njea-review/march-2014/make-your-space

Casey, E. M. (in press). Voices from parents: Issues of early childhood education in Belize. In I. Bersen & M. Bersen (Eds.), Child Advocacy and Early Childhood Education Policies in the Caribbean. Charlotte, NS: Information Age Publishing.

Cook, P. (2010). Voices from an orphanage school in Belize, Central America. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Windsor. Ontario, Canada.


Jenkins, J.M., & Astington, J.W. (2000). Theory of mind and social behavior: Casual models tested in a longitudinal study. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 46, 203-220.

Kaufman, S.B. (2012). The need for pretend play in child development. Psychology Today, Retrevied from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/beautiful-minds/201203/the-need-pretend-play-in-child-development

Kurti, R. S., Kurti, D. L., & Fleming, L. (2014). The philosophy of educational makerspaces: Part 1 of making an educational makerspace. Teacher Librarian, 41(5), p. 8-11.

Langdridge, D. (2007). Phenomenological Psychology: Theory, Research and Method. London: Pearson Education

Lasseter, M. E. (2015). Jonkonnu, Jankunu, Junkanoo, John Canoe:

Reorienting North Carolina’s practice in the American Mediterranean. [http://docsouth.unc.edu/commland/features/essays/johnkonnu-1/]

Lonely Planet (2015). Introducing Dangriga. [http://www.lonelyplanet.com/belize/southern-belize/dangriga]

MacRae, C. (2011). Making Payton’s rocket: Heterotopia and lines of flight. International Journal of Art and Design Education, 30(1), p. 102-112.

Odegard, N. (2011). When Matter Comes to Matter: Recycled Materials as Pedagogic Idea. Tønsberg: Hogskolen & Vestfold.

Odegard, N. (2012). When matter comes to matter-working pedagogically with junk-materials. Education Inquiry, 3(3), p. 387-400.

Rubin, K.H., Fein, C.G., & Vandenberg, B. (1983). Play. In E.M. Hetherington

(Eds.), Handbook of child psychology, (Vol. 4), Socialization, personality, and

Social development (pp. 693-774). New York: Wiley. Russ, S.W. (2004). Play in child development and psychotherapy. Mahwah, NJ: Earlbaum.

Singer, D.G.& Singer, J.L. (2005). Imagination and play in the electronic age. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press

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History. Oxford: Macmillan Education.

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IPA/USA e-journal Fall 2015 IPA/USA e-journal Fall 2015

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Literacy in Liberia: Thinking of Low Literacy Communities

Through Play

Jenny Wilson and Kathleen Puente

abst

ract

During the years known as childhood, we dash and hide, riddle and ride, as the world grows infinitely wider and smaller at the same time. The epiphany that led us to the idea of play as a medium for effective teaching occurred one summer evening, as we sat in the melting sun of our thoughts and watched children run amok. In this, our seventh summer as teacher educators in Liberia, we deliberated over two quotes that we had written with a Sharpie on a tattered spiral, “Play is rarely random” and “To play is not just child’s play” (Bruner, 1990, p. 61) and marveled at our newfound appreciation for the value of learning through play. In this article we will reflect on our experiences in the local schools of the Ghenwein and Massaquoi Villages in West Virginia, Liberia.

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Introduction With a combined total of over 40

years of experience working with children and preservice teachers, we are committed to promoting literacy in a variety of settings from urban San Antonio to rural Africa. The idea of play, which was so joyfully clear in the gaming around our plastic lawn chairs, had not entered our thinking in regard to teacher training prior to that summer evening. Afterwards, we discussed these two relevant quotes at length and began our mission to integrate playful learning methods into our training sessions. We recognized that the very children whose needs inspired our efforts as literacy coaches were already learning through play as well as communicating a rich oral tradition, which is the precursor to literacy. We decided to document their playful language and then to utilize this resource for teaching as we integrated their dances, chants, games and songs into our curriculum for the Liberian teachers.

The Education System in Liberia Children in Liberia begin school at

the age of three. In their first year of school, they attend Nursery classes. The following year, at age four, they attend K-1 classes and, at age five, they advance to K-2 classes. The facilities are stark, and the structure and daily routine differs widely from typical early childhood settings in the United States. To begin with, resources and materials for both teachers and children are scarce, which severely limits their options for activities. However, the most discomforting aspect for us, as American teachers, is the stern didactic approach. The diminutive students are expected to sit side by side on long benches reciting or "echo" reading alphabet letters that are written on a chalkboard at the front of the class.

The young children must engage in this type of monolingual, traditionally rote training day after day from the time they are three years old until at least the age of twelve, which is when most of the students drop out of school. Sometimes, during the course of the school day, students are summoned one at a time to the board to identify specific letters or numbers. However, in a class of 40 (if nursery to grade 1) or 20 (by grade 3), this activity may take all morning. In fact, it is often truncated by lunch. The concept of play and playful learning is not part of this curriculum. It is extraneous in the Liberian classroom in which order is tantamount to discipline and imagination is something to be tamed. As a Liberian friend described it, “School is for letters and discipline and everything else is, well, not as important. It is school” (Personal communication, 2015).

However, during non-school hours, children congregate in multi-age groups and play a variety of games with a plethora of found objects as materials, and utilize language in real and creative ways. From our perspective, the vibrant use of language through play was not sufficiently utilized as a resource, since play is excluded from the teacher-centric Liberian classroom. As a result, we perceived a disconnect between the children’s world of rich language and the Liberian modes for teaching literacy.

Although the children of Liberia are hindered by the schism between language in their community versus their school, they are privy to a myriad of songs, stories and alphabetic practices. Their play is rife with literate practices, including oral language, phonemic awareness and more complex understandings of literacy such as its utility and real world uses.

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Children’s Identity and Funds of Knowledge in Play Findings from the research of Moll, Amanti, Neff and Gonzales (1992) illuminated the concept that social, historical, economic and social forces produce distinctive contexts that bind children to their culture. Thus, each culture must be critically analyzed in its natural context in order to truly understand its unique complexity. The researchers asserted that in order to study human beings, especially children of peripheral cultures that are often “othered,” one must be able to recognize their position in society and validate their roles as members.

Importantly, they explained the need for participant observers to acknowledge the value of a culture’s “funds of knowledge” (Moll, et. al., 1992). The concept of funds of knowledge refers to, “the historically accumulated and culturally developed bodies of knowledge and skills essential for household or individual functioning and well-being” (p. 133). They explain the cognitive resources that are encased in the communities in which people live and further that for children, a connection between knowledgeable other, school, and language is negotiated between themselves and others as their ability to participate is exchanged. In these ways, becoming an ethnographer within the worlds of the children with which we work is essential to our success as teacher educators. We know from our own research and experience that children who have rich and varied oral language experiences tend to acquire reading and writing skills at a much faster rate and deeper level. Oral language skills can contribute to information sharing, entertainment, and remembering the self as a member of one’s community of practice. Using language in play, such as in rhyming games or role-playing, increases children's

abilities to utilize language in different forms. Since these language experiences

often occur in tandem with life experiences, they enrich the interactions one has with their community (Dyson, 1997; Heath, 1983; Hirsh-Pasek, et. al., 2009).

Teachers who understand the concept of funds of knowledge (Moll, 1992) can utilize communal literacy to provide a bridge between the classroom and the outside world. Similarly, Heath (1983) focused on the benefit of discerning students’ prior knowledge and skills, resources that would be advantageous to teaching them to read. Other studies have focused attention on ways that teachers can access their students’ funds of knowledge (Dyson, 1997; Lee, 1993; Moll, 1992).

Moll’s study determined that funds

of knowledge available within families could be used to link communities to classrooms with positive outcomes for children. Moll brought community members into the classroom to share their knowledge and know-how. Lee’s work took her out into the community to examine language practices across contexts such as African-American hair salons, and then used this knowledge to good effect in the classroom. Dyson encouraged children to share their social worlds such as the linguistic and symbolic tools found in popular culture in their writing (Dyson, 1997; Lee, 1993; Moll, 1992). With these in mind, we addressed the relationship between outside play and the culture of school in Liberia.

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Understanding the Value of Play The contrast between learning in school and learning through play in the community is often stark. Cognitive psychologist Jerome Bruner highlights the discrepancies by describing five aspects concerning play that are relevant to the acquisition of knowledge and understanding within literacy. First, he says that play allows for children to make mistakes and retry, to have a set-back but start anew. The game always has a new day, a novel undertaking wherein the past was let go of yesterday, or an hour ago. Since this is distinct from classrooms in which wrong is wrong and right is what the teacher says, playful discoveries provide an important way to learn. Next, children play for the fun of it, not because of the end result or the grade, but because of the process of it, the sheer unadulterated act of engagement. He posits that play is “very rarely random or by chance” (p. 61) and that as such, it is a mirror of the learning that each child has. Bruner admonishes us to look carefully at their play because it is showcasing what they know, think and who they are within the world; it is a projection of what is interior. Simultaneously, Bruner describes play as transformative, ever- changing the internal to include the external in pleasure filled ways. So, children at play are a manifestation of the society and the individual in their most literate of circumstance (Bruner, 1983).

Learning through play is thus a matter of negotiating, reconstructing, and restructuring identities. Dewey (1938) asserted that educational experience is a moving force that moves and propels the student to get out of an experience all she or he can, to wring out the experience.

At the time, the student’s goal should be to be moldable and pushed, and only then to exit an experience with new knowledge, a broader, more defined, deeper, and more experienced understanding of the self and the world.

The education of one's selves is not solitary in this way, but instead is social in nature. It is community-oriented, not only in the sense that knowledge is made and understood in context, but that the knowledge is itself contextual and transferable through the act of exposure. People are a part of a community, not outside of it. It is among these communities that one creates and shapes their identities. Dewey understood the power of experience as a cast for the possible identities a person will find and create, develop and use (Dewey, 1938).

Furthermore, Barton (1991) demonstrated how classroom literacy portrays many adults and children as illiterate despite having rich literacy lives within the context of their own communities. Barton’s work has focused almost exclusively on out-of-school literacy contexts. He proposed the reconceptualization of literacy to encompass local practices as well school practices and to question the continued dominance of school literacy activities in lieu of other literacy activities that can be found in everyday life. Formal Schooling vs. Learning Outside

Life in the African village is very communal. Everyone gathers and shares food, games, stories, news - even babies! Babies are passed around and cared for during the times when the community gathers. Language flows easily and abundantly. Learning happens in very natural and organic ways. During one Sunday afternoon, we observed the adults in the community of the Kokoya village as they congregated and talked, sharing stories from their week or discussing plans for the upcoming week.

Also on that day, we observed the children as they played a number of games and noticed the linguistic components of their play. Playing with language gives children the opportunity to try new words or forms in a low-risk environment.

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It engages them not only in learning new language structures but also in trying out and making up these new structures. As they move through and around word play, children figure out how language works in increasingly complicated ways. The children engaged in several games throughout the day that showcased the depth of their oral language experiences. As they participated in these activities, they were soaking up the culture, and using their rich language in practice. In other circumstances, these activities would provide a natural road to reading and schooling.

Unfortunately, in contrast, the model for schooling in Liberia is very rigid and formal. Written language is presented in a prescribed sequence, starting first with letters, then sounds, then words, and finally sentences. Speech is underrated-talking is forbidden among students except when they are called upon. Thus, the language of play becomes disconnected from the language of learning.

Despite the fact that adults know the language of play, they do not feel it is appropriate for school. As a result, the system consists of lessons that are stifling and formal, which may contribute to the fact that 90% of students drop out by the 5th grade. Unless a student has a natural proclivity to achieve written language mastery and can please the teachers, many students opt out of formal education, deciding that they can do better by going to the market with their parents or even finding other work.

Observations of Children at Play

Just Running Running is a game, an event, a

pleasure-filled heat escape with laughter abounding. Sometimes they will run to race, but mostly they run as a group activity. Children run together to various places in the village. Once there, they may decide to play another game or run to another place. Some like being the first to arrive at the destination but others, using motivating words, encourage the younger and slower children to keep up. Through these running games, children learn to use language and nonverbal communication to accomplish a group goal. They learn how to make sure that the smallest and weakest in the group are keeping up with the group, so that the task is accomplished together. No one is left behind. Whether they are running from place to place together or racing, the process of running is the focus of the play. Role Playing

Drew, a three year old, who was not in school, would play under a giant tree with exposed roots. Within the roots he had numerous found objects, which he used to engage in play. One object was an old bowl that his mother had thrown out and a stick he found on the ground. He would pretend to throw in food items, and then mix them up, cook them and serve them to imaginary people or other children who were walking by. As he went about this task, he would talk as if thinking out loud or engaged in conversation with someone, mimicking the adults that he observes every day. At other times he would pretend that he was selling in the market or building something. All of this productive, yet solitary, play occurred in the roots of a giant tree.

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Tic -Tac-Toe Tic-tac-toe game is played in the dirt. The children draw lines with sticks and use bottle caps as playing pieces. Although the players were mostly silent while playing, the children standing around the game made comments on each move and talked while the game was being played. The boxes moved from jumpable size to nearly impossible as they pushed each other to jump higher and faster. At this time, we heard commentary, such as, “Come on Wei, jump it like your momma can,” and “Rise up!” Sometimes another child joined in with a clap as they passed each other.

Tire Races

The children collected two old tread-worn tires and four long sticks. With these items they rolled the tires, using the sticks to push and steady the tires. Then they formed teams and conducted races, negotiating all the rules for the race: � Where to put start and finish lines � What words signify the start � Who would signify the start � Who would determine the winner if the race was close

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Rhyming Games

Rhyming and singing are playing with language in its most elemental form. Children between the ages of 5-12 engaged in rhyming games that are connected to physical activity. They tie grasses together to make long ropes to play jump rope and sometimes they tie the ends together to make a circle to play Chinese Jump Rope. With both of these games, the children recited rhymes in order to see how long they could jump without breaking the palm jump rope. Kiss Just because She kissed a boy Behind a toilet And ain’t it bad No one know it! Music, Music Music, music Last night the baby was born Last night the baby was born. 24 hours To learn it all And be let in. Shiny baby who laughs Ha Ha. Shiny baby who laughs to the Lord I bet you to close your eyes from 1 to 10

Apple in a tree Apple in a tree, It made me sick. It made my heart jump 2 – 4 – 6

Music, music Music, music Want to play some music. Some music. ABCD EFG HIJK LMN OP QR ST UV WXYZ (to the tune of Auld Lang Syne)

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Implications for Teaching In our work as teacher educators, we feel that an effective program to connect the community language with school language could have a significant impact on the students’ ability to learn how to read and write successfully. By encouraging each other in play and commenting on others’ play, children learn to evaluate life around them. As they engage in this higher level of thinking, they learn the importance of specific language constructs in order to communicate their thoughts with others.

We aspire to facilitate a deeper awareness of the value of oral language and play and to help teachers begin to make those connections. We want them understand the correlation of oral language to written language and to grasp the role of word play in an effective language and literacy program. If teachers learned the significance of play, they would see that children make sense of their world through play. They could encourage the fluency of talk in play, whether in rhyming games or negotiating rules. We would like for them to utilize their students’ funds of knowledge as well as the local traditions of oral language (Hirsh-Pasek, et. al, 2009; Moll, et. al., 1992)

Once teachers acquire a greater understanding of the connections between oral language, phonemic awareness and phonetics, they will be able to look for and find examples in the community language play. By incorporating games into the learning structure, and transcribing the words into print, the teachers are likely to increase motivation and, thus, achievement. If the written language learned in school is connected to the verbal language used in games, the child will be more motivated to engage in written text. When print is directly connected to the child’s life, it becomes real and the usefulness is given more importance (Dyson, 1997; Lee, 1993; Moll, 1992).

Additionally, this motivation to engage with text will increase the likelihood of higher achievement in school (Heath, 1983). The aforementioned activities will also contribute to an escalation in vocabulary attainment among the students, which contributes to more accurate decoding skills of unfamiliar words in print words. When a student engages in an abundance of oral language for communication and play, he or she will naturally use more of a variety of words, which results in an expansion of both fluency and vocabulary (Ehri, 2002).

Unfortunately, however, children in Liberia are currently expected to remain silent in the presence of adults. Through our work with the community, we plan to help parents and other community stakeholders understand that by allowing and even encouraging communication in everyday life, children will improve their overall language skills, which is essential for success in school. We hope to inspire parents to encourage their children to communicate freely.

Our plan to enhance the curriculum and instruction in the classrooms of Liberia also includes the introduction of movement and drama into the daily routine. Although it plays a significant role in the Liberian culture, the teachers have not utilized it in their schools. Tapping into this vital aspect of their culture would promote the linguistic engagement that is missing from the rote-learning model because drama offers students a deeper portal into the realm of language. First, by having them read and memorize the lines, and then by having the students act out the script. Eventually, they could create their own dramas, thus utilizing the circular approach of learning by bringing in the culture, creating a script and then sharing it with the community.

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We hope that once the stakeholders in the education community in Liberia realize the value of play and oral language in the process of learning how to read and write, they will be eager to promote playful learning in the schools. If verbal communication and playful methods are encouraged, the children will make more connections between the words they use in play and the words they use in school. These connections would be a natural path to reading and writing.

Conclusion

Literacy involves speaking, listening, reading and writing. As humans we learn to listen and speak in our early years, and move to reading and writing during our school years. Connecting all of the forms of communication together and bringing them full circle back to the community to enhance our daily interactions is the ultimate goal of education. Play is the connection that can bring language use into the schools and carry it back into the community.

Jenny C. Wilson is an Associate Professor

of Reading at Texas A&M University-San Antonio. She has travelled to Liberia in West Africa several times to serve as a teacher educator in the Massaquoi area.

Kathleen Puente is a veteran elementary teacher for Gifted and Talented students. She has devoted six summers to serving as a teacher educator for schools in the Massaquoi area of Liberia in West Africa.

References Barton, D. (991). The social nature of writing.

In D. Barton & R. Ivanic (Eds.), Writing in the community (pp. 1-13). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Bruner, J. (1983). Play, Thought, and Language. Peabody Journal of Education 60, 3, pp. 60-69.

Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. Macmillan: London, UK

Dyson, A. (1997). What difference does difference make? Teacher reflections on diversity, literacy and the urban primary school. National Council of Teachers of English: Urbana, IL

Ehri, L. (2002). Phases of acquisition of learning to read words and implications for teaching. In R. Statinthorp and P. Tomlinson (Eds.) Learning and Teaching Reading (British Journal of Educational Psychology Monograph, Series 2, pp. 7-28). London, The British Psychological Society

Heath, S. (1983). Ways with words: Language, Life and work in communities and classrooms. Cambridge University Press: Boston, MA

Hirsh-Pasek, K., Golinkoff, R., Berk, L., Singer, D. (2009. A mandate for playful learning in preschool: Presenting the evidence. Oxford University Press: New York, NY

Lee, C. (1993). Signifying as a scaffold for literary interpretation: The pedagogical implications of an African American discourse genre. National Council of Teachers of English: Urbana, IL

Moll, L.C., Amanti, C., Neff, D. & Gonzalez, N. (1992). Funds of knowledge for teaching: Using a qualitative approach to connect homes and

classrooms. Theory Into Practice, 31(2), 132-141. Tire Races

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International Play Association (IPA) and the American Affiliate IPA/USA: A Brief History

Marcy Guddemi and JoeFrost

The origin of the International Play Association and its affiliates in nearly 50 countries is close to 100 years old. In1923, Save the Children founder Eglantyne Jebb drafted The Declaration of the Rights of the Child. Jebb believed that the rights of a child should be especially protected and enforced. These ideas were adopted by the International Save the Children Union in Geneva, on February 23, 1923 and endorsed by the League of Nations General Assembly on November 26, 1924 as the World Child Welfare Charter.

These proclamations, however, were not enforceable by international law, but rather only guidelines for countries to follow. Consequently, on November 20,1959 the United Nations General Assembly adopted a much expanded version as its own Declaration of the Rights of the Child, adding ten principles in place of the original five. Principal Nine of the 1959 Declaration of Rights addresses the child’s right for “full opportunity t o play and recreation…” November 20

t has been adopted as the

Universal Children's Day as ongoing celebration of that event.

Interest in providing quality play opportunities for children had been gradually increasing over the decades before the signing of the Declaration of the Rights of the Child and in 1955 a major seminar on playgrounds was held in Europe.

The need for international action was evident. In 1961 IPA was born in Scandinavia and held its first conference in Copenhagen that year. The International Play Association (IPA) has held eighteen (18) International Conferences 1961–Copenhagen 1964 –Zurich 1967 – London/Liverpool: Recreation and Play 1969 – Paris: Creative Play 1972 – Vienna: Play and Creativity 1975 – M i l a n : Adventure Playgrounds

and Children’s Creativity 1978 – Ottawa: Play in Human

Settlements 1981 – Rotterdam: Growing up in an

Adult World – Beyond Play & Recreation

1984 – Ljubljana: Innovation – Participation – Act

1987 – Stockholm: Creativity through Play

1990 –Tokyo: Play and Education 1993– Melbourne: World Play Summit 1996–Espoo: Dimensions of Play 1999– Lisbon: The Community of Play 2002–Sao Paulo: Culture and Play in Urban Spaces 2005– Berlin: Play: Learning for Life 2008– Hong Kong: Play in a Changing

World 2011 – Cardiff: Playing into the Future

Surviving and Thriving

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Joe Frost


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The United Nation’s International Year of the Child in 1979 injected IPA with new energy. Though IPA began its life with an emphasis on adventure playgrounds it gradually changed its focus to play itself and to the child’s right to play. In the1980�s IPA was effective in establishing the word “play” in Article 31 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

Thus, in 1989, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which strengthened the Declaration of Rights of 1959, was adopted by UN General Assembly. On September 2, 1990 it became international law with one notable exception: the US signed the Charter but has not ratified it. The Convention consists of 54 articles that address the basic human rights to children everywhere are entitled. Article 31 specifically addresses the child’s right to play.

The American Association for the Child’s Right to Play (IPA/USA) was formed in Philadelphia in1973 as the USA affiliate of the International. The beginning of IPA/USA started with playground creator and author Paul Hogan’s 1967 trip to Europe. Hogan was checking out adventure playgrounds in London with Lady Allen of Hurtwood when he first learned about IPA and began attending their meetings. Actually, the United States had IPA members before the affiliate was formed by Hogan. Mrs. Thomas Hess of Greenwich, Connecticut, was the first American member and Pacific Oaks College and Children’s School in Pasadena, California, was the first American organization member, having joined in 1969.

By the early 1970�s IPA/USA membership had grown to the point that a national representative was selected to send to IPA World Council meetings, which are, held at the triennial IPA meetings. The first USA representative was Paul Hogan who attended the 1975 Milan meeting two years after IPA/USA was formed. The first president of IPA/USA was not “elected.” While attending that 1975 conference, Hogan met Muriel Otter, the IPA secretary. She “cornered him and made him president of IPA/USA.” He consequently started PlayPlans magazine and began to secure subscribers and more members for IPA/USA. Elaine Ostroff followed Paul as the USA Representative to International. Donna Seline attended the Ottawa IPA conference in 1978 and was appointed USA national representative by IPA President, Polly Hill of Canada. Seline organized a regional IPA/USA conference in 1980 at the University of Minnesota with keynote speakers Polly Hill and Brian Sutton-Smith. A subsequent national IPA/USA conference was held in1983 at the University of Minnesota with keynote speakers Janet McLean and Joe Frost. In June 1983, The International Conference on Play and Play Environments; sponsored by IPA/USA and twelve other state, national, and international organizations; was held at the University of Texas. This was reputed to be the largest gathering of play scholars ever convened, with more than 500 participants from twelve nations. At this conference, plans were initiated for a more formal organization of IPA/USA and for 39


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the 1986 national conferencee in Cincinnati, Ohio In July, 1985, Donna Seline submitted her resignation as national representative, effective April, 1986. In February 1986, Donna Seline initiated calls for nominations for a formal Board of Directors for IPA/USA and a mail election was held. Elected for two-year terms were Joe Frost (President and U.S. Representative), Sue Wortham (Treasurer and Membership Coordinator), Marcy Guddemi (Newsletter Editor), and Board members Jay Beckwith, Harris Forusz, Roger Hart, Robin Moore, and Barbara Sampson. An USA/IPA national conference was organized by Harris Forusz in 1986 and was hosted by Adventure Playgrounds, Inc. and the University of Cincinnati. Formal resolutions were agreed upon, including a pronouncement of support for the IPA 1977 Declaration of the Child’s Right to Play adopted in Malta in 1977 and revised in Vienna in 1982. Additional details for modifying Incorporation and Bylaws documents were addressed. Robin Moore and Joe Frost participated in the 1986 World Council IPA meeting and special International Year of Peace seminar in Birmingham, UK. During this period a number of adventure playgrounds were developed in the U.S. By 1987, IPA included members from fifty countries. Thirty-five Americans attended the 1987 World Congress in Stockholm. By 1988, IPA/USA membership had grown to 165. In 1988 Tom Jambor was elected president and in that year the national conference was held in Washington, DC, directed by Barbara Sampson, Robin Moore, and Donna Seline.

Board members were Tom Jambor (President), Helge Stapel (Treasurer), Marcy Guddemi (Newsletter Editor), and Board Members Duraid Da’as, Robin Epstein, Harris Forusz, Paul Hogan, Lulu King, Mary Lillie, Ruth Morrison, Jack Pentes, Donna Seline, Randy Smith, Frank Rudloff, and William Weisz. In January 1989, this expanded Board met in Cincinnati and made plans for expanding revenue, newsletter, membership, and creating a clearinghouse on information. At the Tokyo conference in 1990, Robin Moore of IPA/USA, already an IPA international officer, was the first American to be elected IPA president.

With these patterns in place, IPA/USA programs continued to expand to the present time, including community Play Days, annual play advocacy presentations at national conferences, semi-annual national IPA/USA conferences, promoting the international IPA conference, preparing and distributing materials for parents and school administrators promoting advocacy and reinstatement for school recess, media campaigns for recess and outdoor play, and multiple efforts to support and gain awareness of the value of play and the child’s right to play. National conferences were held jointly with The Association for the Study of Play conferences at the Strong Museum of Play in 2007 and at Georgia State University in 2010. In 2010, Olga Jarrett was the outgoing President and Tom Reed was the newly elected president.

Play Resources

• Book reviews • IPA Brochures • Play Rights Magazine • Resources and Link

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IF YOU BELIEVE THAT: � Play, along with the basic needs of

nutrition, health, shelter, and education, is vital for the development of the potential of all children, Family participation needs to be strengthened by support systems such as a play leadership, and

� Environments and programs to meet children's real needs should be created.

IF YOU ARE CONCERNED THAT: � Society is indifferent to the

importance of play, � Schools are indifferent to the

importance of play, � Children are increasingly

living with inadequate provision for survival and development,

� Children are increasingly living in inappropriate housing settings with less spaces to play,

� Children are neglected in environmental planning,

� Cultural traditions are deteriorating and that children are increasingly exploited commercially,

� Children are constantly exposed to war, violence, and destruction,

� "Winning at all costs” dominates children's sports and play

THEN PLEASE CONSIDER BECOMING A MEMBER OF IPA/USA and become a part of an international, interdisciplinary organization that works for the Child's Right to Play. IPA is an international non- governmental organization founded in 1961. It provides a forum for exchange and action across disciplines and across sectors. IPA’s purpose is to protect, preserve and promote the child’s right to play as a fundamental human right.

~Article 31 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child

“That every child has the right to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts.

That member governments shall respect and promote the right of the child to participate fully in cultural and artistic life and shall encourage the provision of appropriate and equal opportunities for cultural, artistic, recreational and leisure activity.”

Authors

Marcy Guddemi, PhD, MBA, is the Executive Director Gesell Institute of Child Development. She is the current Treasurer of IPA/USA, Past President of IPA/USA, and Past Secretary of IPA. She has also served as Newsletter Editor and Secretary of IPA/USA. Joe Frost, EdD, L.H.D., is the Parker Centennial Professor Emeritus at the University of Texas at Austin, where he taught for 34 years. He has authored or co-authored 18 books, several having been translated into other languages, as well as six volumes of original papers, reports and articles. Dr. Frost has also served as editor for many texts. He is known all over the world for his more than 30 years of work on early childhood and children’s play environments. He has also served as a consultant for playgrounds worldwide and is a past president of both the Association for Childhood Education International and International Play Association, USA.

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