The Games for Learning project set out to explore game-based learning (GBL) practices in New Zealand classrooms and build a connected community of research and practice. Our research suggests there is a mixture of curiosity, enthusiasm, and uncertainty in the sector about where games “fit” into learning. I outline some ...

We’re pleased to present this special issue, Learning through Play and Games, at a time when interest in play-based learning and game-based learning is growing in many New Zealand schools. The issue responds to the level of teacher enthusiasm and exploration that is increasingly visible in educational discussions and media ...

If The New Zealand Curriculum vision statement is aiming for students “who will work to create an Aotearoa New Zealand in which Maori and Pakeha recognise each other as full Treaty partners, and in which all cultures are valued for the contributions they bring” (p. 8), then we need to ...

This article discusses our experiments to create more engaged participation and build sustainability literacy among students in a voluntary “game lab” on two different campuses of our Japanese university. Though we found the game lab to be a successful vehicle for language learning, community building, and traversing disciplinary boundaries, it ...

Play-based learning is of growing interest in many English-medium primary schools throughout Aotearoa New Zealand. I share my insights from researching play as learning, and supporting teachers with curriculum design and pedagogy in play-based contexts. Although play is a slippery concept and its value often underestimated, the evidence of the ...

Play is very “on trend” in the primary sector, but is it a suitable pedagogy for secondary students? Based on research into play-based learning in a Year 11 English class, this article provides an overview of play theory, describes a typical play-based lesson in Year 11 English, considers three different ...

Teachers have an important role to play in supporting and facilitating play-based learning for their students. This study aimed to explore one teacher’s understanding about her own intentionality within a play-based new-entrant classroom. Using observation and interview with video-stimulated recall, and key themes about play-based practice and intentional teaching were ...

This case study explores child, parent, teacher, and school-leader perspectives of a play-based learning (Pb-L) approach in one new-entrant classroom. Data were gathered through focus groups, interviews and an online survey. Findings indicate that children valued the opportunity for self-initiated, hands-on, interest-based exploration and social interaction with peers, as afforded ...

This commentary aims to encourage a research-based, critical, inquiring approach to the development of play-based learning in primary schools. I suggest that this approach could build from the wealth of knowledge in the early childhood education sector. I also invite greater collaboration between early childhood and primary teachers, particularly to ...

Over the past 7 years I have dramatically changed my pedagogy in a quest to engage junior primary students in deep, authentic learning. This article concentrates on how I have come to support junior primary students to learn to write. It explains how I developed play-based learning through the books ...