Affordances of play for student agency and student-centered pedagogy

Podolefsky, Noah S.; Rehn, Daniel A.; Perkins, Katherine

» home » Detail Page

Conference Proceedings Detail Page

Affordances of play for student agency and student-centered pedagogy

written by Noah S. Podolefsky, Daniel A. Rehn, and Katherine Perkins

While guided instruction can successfully focus students on concepts to be learned, this instructional approach can also reduce student agency and ownership of learning. Over the last two years, we have implemented PhET interactive computer simulations in middle school (MS) classrooms and found that "open play" can allow increased student agency and simultaneously lower barriers for student-centered pedagogy. In these MS classes, activities begin with 5-10 minutes of open play where students use the simulations without instruction. A moderately-guided, inquiry-based activity follows. In a study of classes with play versus no-play, we found that with play, the teacher focused on student ideas and science content, while without play the teacher employed more direct instruction.

Physics Education Research Conference 2012
Part of the PER Conference series
Philadelphia, PA: August 1-2, 2012
Volume 1513, Pages 306-309

download 303kb .pdf
Published: January 24, 2013

Subjects	Levels	Resource Types
Education - Applied Research - Active Learning - Learning Environment - Pedagogy	- Middle School - Elementary School	- Reference Material = Research study

PER-Central Type	Intended Users	Ratings
- PER Literature	- Researchers	Currently 0.0/5 Want to rate this material? Login here!

Formats:: application/pdf
non-digital
Mirror:: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4789713
Access Rights:: Free access and
Available for purchase; A preprint of the work is available. A hard copy of the PERC 2012 proceedings is available for purchase from the AIP.
Restriction:: © 2012 American Institute of Physics
DOI:: 10.1063/1.4789713
NSF Number:: 1020362
PACSs:: 01.40.Fk; 01.40.Ha; 01.50.ht
Keywords:: Computer simulations, Epistemology, PERC 2012, PhET, elementary school, middle school, play
Record Cloner:: Metadata instance created June 27, 2013 by Zachary Davis
Record Updated:: June 1, 2015 by Lyle Barbato
Last Update when Cataloged:: January 24, 2013

Post a new comment on this item

ComPADRE is beta testing Citation Styles!

Record Link

<a href="https://www.per-central.org/items/detail.cfm?ID=12839">Podolefsky, N, D. Rehn, and K. Perkins. "Affordances of play for student agency and student-centered pedagogy." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2012, Philadelphia, PA, August 1-2, 2012.</a>

AIP Format

N. Podolefsky, D. Rehn, and K. Perkins, , presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2012, Philadelphia, PA, 2012, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12839&DocID=3372).

AJP/PRST-PER

N. Podolefsky, D. Rehn, and K. Perkins, Affordances of play for student agency and student-centered pedagogy, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2012, Philadelphia, PA, 2012, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12839&DocID=3372>.

APA Format

Podolefsky, N., Rehn, D., & Perkins, K. (2012, August 1-2). Affordances of play for student agency and student-centered pedagogy. Paper presented at Physics Education Research Conference 2012, Philadelphia, PA. Retrieved March 26, 2025, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12839&DocID=3372

Chicago Format

Podolefsky, N, D. Rehn, and K. Perkins. "Affordances of play for student agency and student-centered pedagogy." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2012, Philadelphia, PA, August 1-2, 2012. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12839&DocID=3372 (accessed 26 March 2025).

MLA Format

Podolefsky, Noah S., Daniel Rehn, and Katherine Perkins. "Affordances of play for student agency and student-centered pedagogy." Physics Education Research Conference 2012. Philadelphia, PA: 2012. 306-309 Vol. 1513 of PER Conference. 26 Mar. 2025 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12839&DocID=3372>.

BibTeX Export Format

@inproceedings{ Author = "Noah S. Podolefsky and Daniel Rehn and Katherine Perkins", Title = {Affordances of play for student agency and student-centered pedagogy}, BookTitle = {Physics Education Research Conference 2012}, Pages = {306-309}, Address = {Philadelphia, PA}, Series = {PER Conference}, Volume = {1513}, Month = {August 1-2}, Year = {2012} }

Refer Export Format

%A Noah S. Podolefsky %A Daniel Rehn %A Katherine Perkins %T Affordances of play for student agency and student-centered pedagogy %S PER Conference %V 1513 %D August 1-2 2012 %P 306-309 %C Philadelphia, PA %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12839&DocID=3372 %O Physics Education Research Conference 2012 %O August 1-2 %O application/pdf

EndNote Export Format

%0 Conference Proceedings %A Podolefsky, Noah S. %A Rehn, Daniel %A Perkins, Katherine %D August 1-2 2012 %T Affordances of play for student agency and student-centered pedagogy %B Physics Education Research Conference 2012 %C Philadelphia, PA %V 1513 %P 306-309 %S PER Conference %8 August 1-2 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=12839&DocID=3372

Disclaimer: ComPADRE offers citation styles as a guide only. We cannot offer interpretations about citations as this is an automated procedure. Please refer to the style manuals in the Citation Source Information area for clarifications.

Citation Source Information

The AIP Style presented is based on information from the AIP Style Manual.

The AJP/PRST-PER presented is based on the AIP Style with the addition of journal article titles and conference proceeding article titles.

The APA Style presented is based on information from APA Style.org: Electronic References.

The Chicago Style presented is based on information from Examples of Chicago-Style Documentation.

The MLA Style presented is based on information from the MLA FAQ.