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Play, CLASS, and other term definitions

The Wisconsin Readiness Equity Network (WREN) defines play as a spectrum of activities that engage children and teachers in different ways, depending on their goals. In play, children experience joy and some degree of agency over their activity. What they do in play is meaningful, engaging, and socially interactive. It ranges from child-initiated and directed free play to different forms of guided play where teachers support children in their play and learning (Zosh et al.,2017).

We coded videos in the Play Video Library for their play type, play context and play content. Also, the videos have descriptions of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) Instructional Supports and the Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards (WMELS) if present.

Play as a spectrum figure. A link to the full description is after it.

Figure Title: Play as a spectrum

  • Free Play: Initiated by Child, Directed by Child, Explicit Learning goal: no
  • Guided Play: Initiated by Adult, Directed by Child, Explicit Learning goal: yes
  • Games: Initiated by Adult, Directed by Child, Explicit Learning goal: yes*
  • Co-opted play: Initiated by Child, Directed by Adult, Explicit Learning goal: yes
  • Playful Instruction: Initiated by Adult, Directed by Adult, Explicit Learning goal: yes
  • Direct instruction: Initiated by Adult, Directed by Adult, Explicit Learning goal: yes

*Here, we refer to “serious games” as outlined in Hassinger-Das et al., 2017 in which the game has a learning goal.

Taken from Zosh, J. M., Hirsh-Pasek, K., Hopkins, E. J., Jensen, H., Liu, C., Neale, D., Solis, S. L., & Whitebread, D. (2018). Accessing the inaccessible: Redefining play as a spectrum. Frontiers in Psychology, 9(AUG). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01124

Play Types

The WREN Play Video Library uses the following definitions of play types. Users of the library can search by the type of play.

  • Free play: Children initiate and direct play with no externally-determined learning goal without adult guidance.
  • Guided play: In guided play teachers and children share activity
    1. Guided CT, play is initiated by a child and guided by a teacher.
    2. Guided TC, play is initiated by a teacher and guided by a child.

    In both types, the child retains some degree of autonomy.

  • Games: Play with rules and learning goals initiated by a teacher and directed by a child. The purpose of games is to teach content in a playful context
  • Co-opted play: A child initiates play, and an adult intervenes to direct play within that context. The purpose is explicit content teaching.
  • Playful instruction: Adults initiate and direct a playful activity to teach content explicitly

References:
Zosh, J. M., Hirsh-Pasek, K., Hopkins, E. J., Jensen, H., Liu, C., Neale, D., … & Whitebread, D. (2018). Accessing the inaccessible: Redefining play as a spectrum. Frontiers in psychology, 9, 1124.

Play context

The play context is the location, group size, and context for the video.

  • Center: Centers are clearly defined areas with a specific focus such as blocks, dramatic play, art, writing, science, etc. Center time provides opportunities for children to interact with materials and their classmates.
  • Small group: Small group activities are activities with a small teacher-child ratio.
  • Whole group: Whole group activities are led by the teacher and include all children gathered in a meeting area.
  • Outdoor: Outdoor activities are out-of-doors, most commonly on playgrounds.
  • Gym: The gym is an indoor space where children play.

Content

Content is the subject(s) or developmental domain(s) shown in the video.

  • SEL: Social Emotional Learning. Understand emotions of self and others, manage their expression, feel and show empathy, form positive relationships, and make responsible decisions
  • Gross motor: Use of larger muscles in legs, arms, and body, including general strength and stamina.
  • Fine motor: Coordinating smaller muscles in arm, hands, and fingers.
  • Arts: Creating visual arts, music, movement, and drama
  • Science: Engaging in scientific inquiry through observation, questioning, prediction, planning, collecting, and recording data, looking for patterns and ideas.
  • Social Studies: Understanding their role in the social world so that they can make good decisions for the public good. Typically starts with self and family and radiates out to their education setting, community, and beyond.
  • Math: Developing mathematical practices to understand the world: sets, number sense, counting, number operations, pattern, measurement, data analysis, spatial relationships, shape. This allows children to mathematize their world.
  • Literacy: Communication with the world through oral language, print knowledge, and use, alphabetic code

CLASS

Rich teacher-child interactions are essential to the quality of instruction and child outcomes.To provide a research-based window on interactions in play, we used the Instructional Support domain of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS), a nationally normed tool for assessing the quality of teacher-child interactions.Its use allowed us to understand the strategies used by teachers during play-based pedagogy. Each video with a teacher present has a description of instructional support dimensions of Concept Development, Quality of Feedback, and Language Modeling.

WMELS

The Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards (WMELS), developed by the Wisconsin state departments of Public Instruction, Children and Families, and Health Services, specify expectations for children birth to first grade. Currently, we are focused on providing descriptions for the Language Development and Communication domain and the Cognition and General Knowledge domain.