#96 – What About Play-Based Learning?
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What’s in this episode?
In a paper by N V Scarfe in 1962 entitled “Play is Education” Einstein is quoted as saying “The Desire to arrive finally at logically connected concepts is the emotional basis of a vague play with basic ideas. This combinatory or associative play seems to be the essential feature in productive thought.” In this episode we explore what play-based learning means to one of the world’s biggest brands in play, an award-winning primary school pedagogical leader and a human-centred design thinker. How can we balance play with structured learning and how can we instil that essential love of learning through play, something so inherent to us humans…? This week we are in takeover mode with Lego Education.
People
Tom is responsible for LEGO Education’s international business, with teams spread from Latin America to Tokyo and all points in between to deliver STEM learning and empower teachers and students with LEGO Education solutions. Following a degree from Durham University in Modern Chinese, Tom began his career in publishing and licensing, selling rights for Dorling Kindersley and Rough Guides (The Penguin Group) to the Chinese and wider Asian markets. He moved on to build up a digital licensing and product team to take the imprints into new channels, and from Penguin, moved to take on a central strategic partnerships role for the Pearson Group, leading partnerships within the technology sector for group companies including The Financial Times, Penguin Books and Pearson Education. More recently in his role at Pearson he was responsible for establishing digital product capabilities across emerging markets and launching new services into the Schools and English businesses, forming and leading product engineering teams across the US, Europe and India. He is a passionate believer in the social and business impact of education: learning as a means to improve and empower lives and societies, and as a business and growth engine to drive enterprise. Tom spends time outside work in rural chaos as a husband to Sara, father of 2 young sons, and lover of the great outdoors.
Quotes from this episode
References
More reading
- N V Scarfe “Play is Education” (1962)
- Teresa Cremin, Professor of education at the Open University
- N. F. S Grundtvig – ideological founder of the Folk High School movement in Denmark
- LARPING and Osterskov Efterskole
- You can find out more from LEGO® Education at www.education.lego.com
- Feedback: www.speakpipe.com/theedtechpodcast
Tell us your story
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