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•
Play as an Educational Strategy in
Aboriginal Kindergarten, Grade One, and Grade Two Classrooms
•
MarIene J. Desjardins,
Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology,
McGiII University, Montréal
July 1995
A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial
fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts in Educational
Psychology.
© Mariene J. Desjardins 1995
•
This researeh was parliaily funded by the Social Sciences and Humanilies Researeh Couneil of
Canada (#410-92-0596).
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ISBN 0-612-07920-1
Canada
•
MarIene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
2
Table of Contents
Abstract
Résumé
Acknowledgements
List of Tables
List of Figures
,
4
5
7
9
10
Chapter 1: Introduction
Personal Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. Il
Socio-ecological Context
12
•
Chapter 2: Review of the Literature
Play
"
In an Aboriginal Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..
In a Mainstream Context
Aboriginal Learning and Teaching Styles
Learning Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Teaching Styles and Strategies
A Note on Aboriginal Teacher Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Conclusions
Chapter 3: Method
Participating Teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Procedure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 37
Data Analysis
38
Chapter 4: Results
Objective One
Objective Two
Objective Three
Teacher Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
•
16
16
20
23
24
27
33
33
42
47
51
66
Chapter 5: Discussion
Objective One
68
Objective Two
72
Objective Three
74
Summary and Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
80
Educational and Research Implications
Methodological Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
84
Future Research
My Learning Experience
84
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MarIene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
3
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Appendix A Protocol for Semi-structured Interview '" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Appendix B Data Analysis: Play Checklist
93
Appendix C Original Table
97
Appendix D Test of Significance for Differences between Group Means
99
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Play as an Educational Strategy
4
Mariene Desjardins
Abstract
Today we are witnessing an increased demand for Aboriginal people to
assume teaching roles previously held by white Western people in their
communities (L. McAlpine, personal communication; Matthew, 1982). To date,
there is !ittle research documenting the teaching strategies of different Aboriginal
peoples in Canada. The present study documents Cree and Mohawk teachers'
be!iefs about and use of play as an educational strategy at the primary and early
elementary levels, and contrasts this with three non-Aboriginal teachers working
in the same communities. Nine Aboriginal teachers were interviewed regarding
•
their beliefs about play as an educational strategy; seven of these teachers were
also videotaped teaching. A coding scheme was used to analyse the teachers'
videotaped lessons. Similar data were obtained for the non-Aboriginal teachers.
The Cree and Mohawk teachers held similar beliefs about play as an educational
strategy; their be!iefs differed from those of the non-Aboriginal teachers. In
terms of their use of play, sorne differences between the Cree and Mohawk
teachers were found; differences between the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal
teachers also surfaced. Results support the notion that Aboriginal teachers may
differ from non-Aboriginal teachers in their beliefs about play, and that Cree and
Mohawk teachers themselves may use different patterns of play in their lessons.
•
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Mariene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
5
Résumé
Aujourd'hui, on peut remarquer une demande accrue pour des
programmes de formation des maîtres qui permettront à la population autochtone
d'assumer des rôles d'enseignants, tenus auparavant par des non-autochtones
Blancs dans leurs communautés (L. McAlpine, communication personnelle;
Matthew, 1982). Jusqu'à maintenant, il y a peu de documents qui nous
renseignent sur les styles d'enseignement des autochtones des diverses
communautés du Canada. La présente étude compare les opinions d'enseignants
Cri et Mohawk concernant l'utilisation du jeu en tant que stratégie d'éducation au
•
niveau primaire avec celles de trois enseignants non-autochtones qui travaillent
dans les mêmes communautés. Neuf enseignants autochtones ont été interrogés
quant à leurs opinions sur le jeu en tant que stratégie d'éducation; sept de ces
enseignants ont été enregistrés sur vidéocassette pendant leurs cours. Un barème
d'évaluation a été utilisé pour analyser les cours enregistrés des enseignants. De
l'information similaire a été obtenue pour les enseignants non-autochtones. Les
enseignants Cri et Mohawk ont des opinions similaires concernant le jeu en tant
que stratégie d'éducation, et elles se distinguent de celles des enseignants nonautochtones. Sur le plan de leur utilisation du jeu, quelques différences entre les
enseignants Cri et les enseignants Mohawk ont été notées; des différences entre
les enseignants autochtones et les enseignants non-autochtones ont aussi été
•
relevées. Les résultats appuient la notion que les enseignants autochtones
peuvent différer des enseignants non-autochtones dans leurs opinions sur le jeu,
•
Mariene Desjardins
et que les enseignants Cri et Mohawk peuvent utiliser différents styles de jeu dans
leurs cours.
•
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Play as an Educational Strategy
6
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Mariene Del\jardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
7
Acknowledgements
Several people each played (no pun iHlcnded) a rok in this f;tudy.
Without them, the study and this thesis never would have evolved and for this 1
am gratefu\. My supervisor, Lynn McAlpine, has been supportive and patient
throughout the three years of my Masters program. Most importantly, she
encouraged me to trust in my ability to complete this work, and gently guided me
when 1 started moving in the wrong direction. As a result, 1 have learned a great
deal about qualitative research and will henefit from this experience in my future
endeavors. There are twelve people without whom this study literally wou Id not
•
have happened. They are the teachers who allowed me to interview them and to
calI them when 1 needed more information, even if that meant calling them
several times, and who agreed to be videotaped for the program of research of
which this study is a part. They were gracious in the time, effort, and personal
information they shared with me. To them, 1 say che-nee-skum-bin and
niawenhk6:wa. To complete the circle, my family and friends provided muchneeded emotional support. My father and mother, who were not always sure why
my thesis was taking
50
long to finish, never tired of telling friends and even
strangers about the work 1 was doing. 1 treasure their pride in me and my
accomplishments. My dear friend, Dani, provided a shoulder to cry on as weil as
a joke to make me laugh when 1 was stressed out, and boosted my motivation
•
when it started to flag; she also proofread various parts of my thesis and did the
superb translation of the Abstract. Gladys von Lommel kindly allowed me to raid
•
Mariene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
8
her stash of articles Gn play and to borrow as many as 1 wanted. Lana Seabrooke
mailed articles on qualitative research to me and quelled my anxiety concerning
the research methodology 1 had chosen over the telephone, even though she
didn't know me. Those crazy people from Beatty Hall each contributed
something to this thesis: Alice, for proofreading a significant portion of my thesis
and giving useful suggestions; Diane, for advice and for sharing pieces of her
thesis with me; Jimmy, for computer help and lots of laughter; and Wendy, for
computer help and advice on writing. In the final hour, Susann and a few Cree
and Mohawk summer students at the Office of Native and Northern Education
•
kindly provided me with the Cree and Mohawk translations for 'thank you'.
Cindy, Jody, Myriam, Nancy, Steven, Tara, Tim, Tina, and the gang from Beatty
Hall, provided empathy, in aIl its various forms, and made the tough times
bearable and the good times that much more special. A heartfelt 'thank you' to
each of you.
•
•
•
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MarIene Desjardins
Play as an Edllcational Strategy
9
List of Tables
Table 1.
Parent Responses to "What is play good for'?"
19
Table 2.
Cree and Mohawk Teacher Characteristics
35
Table 3.
Non-Aboriginal Teacher Characteristics
37
Table 4.
General Characteristics of Lessons and Episodes of Plav
48
Table 5.
Mean Percentage of Episodes of Play Coded for Initiation, Stlldentteacher Control, and Opportllnistic Teaching
49
Table 6.
Mean Percentage of Episodes of Play Coded for the Role of Play
within the Lesson
50
Table 7.
Mean Percentage of Episodes of Plav Coded for Kind of Play .. 51
Table 8.
General Characteristics of Lessons and Episodes of Play
Table 9.
Mean Percentage of Episodes of Play Coded for Initiation, Studentteacher Control, and Opportllnistic Teaching
58
Table 10.
Mean Percentage of Episodes of Play Coded for the Role of Play
within the Lesson
58
Table 11.
Mean Percentage of Episodes of Plav Coded for Kind of Play .. 59
Table 12.
General Characteristics of Lessons and Episodes of Play for the
Cree, Mohawk, and Non-Aboriginal Teachers
57
60
Table 13.
Mean Percentage of Episodes of Play Coded for Stlldent-teacher
ÇontroL Opportunistic Teaching, Role, and Kind of Play: Cree,
62
Mohawk, and Non-Aboriginal Teachers
Table 14.
Mean Percentage of Episodes of Play Coded for Stlldent-teacher
Control, Opportunistic Teaching, Role, and Kind of Play: Samesame, Same-different, and "Different" Teachers
65
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Play as an Educational Strategy
MarIene Desjardins
10
List of Figures
Figure 1. Map of Québec with Cree and Mohawk Communities Indica,ed
•
•
.. 14
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MarIene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
11
Play as an Educational Strategy in
Aboriginal Kindergarten, Grade One, and Grade Two C\assrooms
Chapter 1: Introduction
Personal Context
1 am a Masters student working with a professor in the Office of Native
and Northern Education. This unit functions as a teacher training centre for
Aboriginal people in Québec, the eastern Northwest Territories, and Nova Seotia,
in Canada. Courses take place both at McGiII University, in Montréal, and in
Algonquin, Cree, Inuit, Micmac, and Mohawk communities in the three
•
jurisdictions.
Presently, the emphasis is on training Aboriginal people to teach in their
communities, thereby increasing Aboriginal people's control over education.
Consequently, the teacher training courses in the Office of Native and Northern
Education attempt to provide culturally relevant knowledge, skills, and teaching
models to best prepare these teachers for their jobs. It is difficu It to provide such
training because research tends to reflect a white Western reality, and less often
reflects an Aboriginal reality. To address this issue, a program of research has
been initiated and results from it will feed back into the teacher training courses.
The present study is part of this program of research.
It is important to note that 1 am a non-Aboriginal person. More
•
specifically, 1 am a white Western woman. Because 1 do not share the cultural
background of the teachers who participated in this study, 1 am conscious of the
•
Mariene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
12
importance of accurately representing the realities of their cultures and
c1assrooms. Steps were taken during the research process to ensure that this
occurred.
My research experience has largely been in mainstream children's schoolyard play, more specifically investigating how it relates to their gender identity
and cognitive abilities. More recently, my interests have turned to the strategies
elementarj-school teachers use to teach their students. Sorne reading in the
Aboriginal education research literature and conversations with researchers
examining teaching and learning conversations in Aboriginal c1assrooms led me to
connect the concepts of play, teaching, and Aboriginal education--hence my
•
interest in Aboriginal teachers' beliefs ahout and use of play as an educational
strategy.
The present study has three objectives. The Iirst is to document the
participating Cree and Mohawk kindergarten, grade one, and grade two teachers'
beliefs about play as an educational strategy. The second is to document how
these teachers use play to teach their students. The third is to look for possible
differences among the participating Cree, Mohawk, and non-Aboriginal teachers
both in terms of their beliefs about play and their use of play in the c\assroom.
Socio-ecological Context
Aboriginal cultures represent a diversity of traditions, practices, values, and
•
beliefs. Factors that influence these different aspects of culture include
geographicallocation, political climate, economy, and access to literacy activities.
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Mariene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
13
In order to understand the beliefs and experiences of the teachers who
participated in this study, their cultural communities are described below.
Cree. Nine Cree communities are located in northern Québec, along the
coast of James Bayas weIl as inland, south toward Chibougamau (see Figure 1).
Access to these communities varies from air only to road access year-round. The
first language of approximately 80% of community members is Cree, which is
spoken at home and frequently, although not always, in the community (BobbishSalt, 1990). There are certain contexts, however, in which Cree is less often or
rarely used, including school and sorne work places. Literacy activities in Cree
•
suffer from a limited availability of text-based materials. Many Cree people make
their living off the land through fishing and trapping and those who work in the
community stiIl go into the bush regularly (McAlpine & Crago, 1992).
The language of instruction in the schools is Cree at the prekindergarten
and kindergarten levels and changes to English or French starting in grade one,
continuing through secondary school. After kindergarten, Cree language
instruction occurs only in Cree language and culture courses. The Cree language
course is taught daily for 30 minutes by a teacher who cornes into the students'
c\assroom. Currently, a new program is in the process of being implemented;
students wiIl continue school in Cree until grade 2, after which point the language
of instruction wiIl become either English or French. This new program is widely
•
supported by the communities, as a result of increasing concern that the Cree
language is eroding.
•
14
Figure 1. Map of Québec with Cree and Mohawk Communities Indicated
Cree
Communifies
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Play as an Educational Strategy
MarIene Desjardins
. Quebec
<.J~
Montreal
•
~
Mohawk
Communifies
.. -----~ ...
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Mariene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
15
Mohawk. There are three Mohawk communities, located in south-western
Québec and south-eastern Ontario (see Figure 1). Unlike the Cree communities,
they are accessible by road year-round, and are close to large urban centres.
English is the first language of most Mohawk people. Although the majority of
older people (60 or more years old) are able to speak Mohawk f1uently (roughly
10%), those 59 years old or younger are less fluent (Hoover, in submission).
Because of their proximity to large urban centres in Québec, Ontario, and New
York state, Mohawk people have been more heavily influenced by the nonAboriginal culture than have Cree people (Hoover, in submission). This has
•
occurred as a result of employment opportunities outside the Mohawk
communities, necessitating f1uency in the English language. At the same time,
because of the proliferation of non-Aboriginal people in southern Ontario and
Québec and northern New York, land available for traditional activities has
diminished, resulting in decreased participation in these kinds of activities by
Mohawk people.
•
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Play as an Educational Strategy
MarIene Desjardins
16
Chapter 2: Review of the Literature
ln this chapter, two bodies of research will be reviewed: firstly, play in
Aboriginal and mainstream contexts, and secondly, Aboriginalleaming and
teaching styles. Because there is currently Iittle or no iniormation on definitions
and theories of play available in the Aboriginal research Iiterature, 1 have
included such information from the mainstream Iiterature. The Iiterature on
definitions of play provides a rationale for my definition. In addition, the theory
presented is useful for understanding sorne of the results. Studies examining play
in Aboriginalleaming and teaching contexts with older children are reviewed in
•
order to complement the few studies at the primary and early elementary levels.
Together, these bodies of Iiterature contextualize the present study of Cree and
Mohawk teachers' current beliefs about and use of play as an educational
strategy.
ln an Aboriginal Context
Historically, Aboriginal communities have relied on several means to
transmit aspects of their culture, including adult l'oIes, social skiUs, and family
history, to their children (Sealey, 1980). More specifically, children have
traditionally acquired this knowledge through stories, singing, dancing, mimicking,
role-playing, symbolism, playing, impersonating spirits, and ceremonies (Marashio,
•
1982). Teasing and "joshing" were also used to enable learning. The particular
strategy used depended on the learner and what was to be taught. From a
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MarIene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
17
Western perspective, these means of transmitting knowledge, with the exception
of impersonating spirits and ceremonies, can be considered play. Thus, play
appears to have held a central role in traditional Aboriginal teaching and
learning.
As a result of increased contact with Europeans and the subsequent
Westernization of learning, traditional Aboriginal teaching strategies may have
been altered, particularly in the more formaI context of the classroom. There has
been no research to date, however, investigating the ways in which play has been
incorporated into present-day Aboriginal classrooms as an educational strategy.
•
In addition, little is known about Aboriginal teachers' beliefs about play and the
impact of these beliefs on their teaching practices.
Despite extensive searches of the PsycLit and ERIC databases, and of the
reference lists of relevant articles, no Aboriginal definition of play surfaced in the
education research literature. Consequently, anecdotal reports of 10 Cree
teachers' definitions of play were collected as a pilot project completed prior to
beginning the present study. This evidence suggests that a variety of components
are inherent to their notions of play. When asked to define play, most teachers
talked about the different activities that can be called play, such as games, free
play outside, playing alone, with another student, or in a group, quiet play, rough
play, chanting, drama, and drawing. Others defined play in terms of the student's
•
behaviour: having fun, doing something seriously to achieve a goal, and
manipulating small materials. Two teachers stated that their students called
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MarIene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
18
certain classroom activities play, but that they themselves used these activities to
teach the students. As one teacher put it, "You can make it play, but ifs
teaching".
The only study of play in an Aboriginal educational setting documented
First Nations parents' beliefs about the role of play in the daycare curriculum of
their children (Gillis, 1991). Play was defined by the author as "a voluntary
activity, characterized by positive affect, f1exibility, attention to means rather than
ends and nonliterality (Smith & Vollstedt, 1985)" (Gillis, 1991, p. 5). No
Aboriginal definition of play was given. Forty-eight parents with children (aged 3
•
to 5 years) in daycare from three First Nations communities in Ontario, Canada,
participated in this study. The three communities are located on James Bay in
northern Ontario (remote), on Manitoulin Island in central Ontario (semiremote), and near an urban centre in southern Ontario (non-remote). The
population of the remote site is 90% Aboriginal, mostly Cree people; the semi·
remote site consists of three First Nations groups: Pottawatomi, Odawa, and
Ojibway; and the non-remote site is home to the Mississauga Anishinabe people.
The parents were asked about play and childhood education in a semi-structured,
informaI interview, which took place in their homes. Of relevance to the present
study are two questions: "What is play good for?" and "Do you Iike a playoriented [daycare] programme?". Both questions stimulated a variety of
•
responses, ail of which indicated strong support for the place of play in children's
early education.
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MarIene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
19
In response to the first question, "What is play good for?", parents believed
that play is a natural part of childhood and suggested many areas in which
children develop through play (refer to Table 1). In response to the second
question, "Do you Iike a play-oriented [daycare] programme?", parents said that
play is a "good thing" (Gillis, 1991, p. 107), and ail believed that part of the
daycare programme should c0!1sist of play. Half of the parents felt that the entire
programme should be devoted to play, while the rest opted for a combination of
play and pre-academic instruction. The latter group, however, felt that skills
development should be done playfully (Gillis, 1991).
•
Table 1. Parent Responses to "What is play good for?"
•
•
•
•
•
•
Practising a variety of cognitive activities, including problem-solving,
imagining, f1exibility, and prediction
Learning pre-academic skills
Risk-taking and learning real from not real
Social development, including temper control and appropriate expression
of feelings
Motor skills development
Keeping child occupied
There is sorne overlap between the First Nations parents' beliefs about
what play is good for and the Cree teachers' definitions of play in the pilot study.
Specifically, both groups Iinked play with goal-directed behaviour, teaching and
learning pre-academic skills, social development, and motor skills development.
•
The results of these studies suggest that play holds an important and valued place
in the education of preschool and early elementary-school children for these Cree
•
MarIene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
20
teachers and First Nations parents. Because the parents came from a variety of
community settings and represent six AboriginallFirst Nations groups, this
conclusion may generalize to other Aboriginal groups in other settings.
In a Mainstream Context
Play has been studied extensively from many different perspectives and in
many different settings within the mainstream context. In spite of ail this
research, there is still little agreement about how to define the term play, or even
how to identify episodes of play (Spodek & Saracho, 1988). Regardless of these
gaps in knowledge and understanding about play, researchers have theorized
•
about the function of play for humans, particularly for children. Given the lack of
definitions and theories of play in the Aboriginal research literature, 1 will refer
to the mainstream research literature to interpret sorne of the results of the
present study.
Researchers both within and across disciplines have not yet been able to
agree on how to define play nor on the criteria by which to identify episodes of
play. Thus, attempts to define play have continued. Earlier definitions tended to
rely on one criterion, such as natural development, doing for the pleasure of
doing, or expending energy, to distinguish play from non-play activities; more
recent efforts incorporate multiple criteria, including those descrihed above (e.g.,
Krasnor & Pepier, 1980; Rubin, Fein, & Vandenberg, 1983; Smith & Vollstedt,
•
1985; Spodek, Saracho, & Davis, 1987). Nonetheless, little empirical evidence
exists for using one set of criteria over the others (Spodek & Saracho, 1988).
•
Mariene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
21
In attempting to discern a mainstream perspective of play, one notes
overlap among the different sets of criteria. The majority include sorne notion of
nonliterality, positive affect, orientation toward means, and intrinsic motivation.
As weil, researchers of play tend to view it as a form of activity as opposed to an
approach to activity (Moyles, 1989). These beliefs determine how play is studied,
and as a result sorne play may be "invisible". In other words, sorne play may not
be recognized as such because researchers have focused themselves too narrowly.
Evidence partially supporting this possibility was found by Smith and
Vollstedt (1985). One of the purposes of their study
•
W'3$
to examine e,mpirically
the criteria people used to identify play. To do this, they recruited 60 weil
educated adults who had not previously been trained to observe children's
behaviour. The observers were given only one of five play criteria (intrinsic
motivation, positive affect, nonliterality, means/ends, or flexibility) and, watching
videotapes of nursery-school children's behaviour, were asked to indicate when
they believed the criterion described the episode. From the fjve possible criteria,
nonliterality, positive affect, and flexibility together were found to be the most
powerful criteria for identifying episodes of play. Interestingly, the correlation
between the occurrence of intrinsic motivation in observers' judgements and the
presence of play in an episode was low and nonsignificant. This is a criterion that
sorne researchers consider fundamental to play. Together, these results suggest
•
that laypeople conceive of play more broadly than do sorne researchers.
Consequently, t.hese researchers may be overlooking episodes of play in their
•
MarIene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
22
studies.
ln an attempt to avoid this pitfall and to be sensitive to possible Cree and
Mohawk definitions of play, 1 have initially defined play as an approach to an
activity characterized by positive affect, or the intention of generating positive affect,
and generally a high level of participant engagement in the activity, for the purposes
of the present study. This definition differs from most in the mrdnstream play
Iiterature in that play is not considered an activity per se, but is viewed as an
approach to an activity (Bruner, 1977). That is, almost any activity can be play if
it is carried out through a fun and engaging approach. This definition partially
•
corresponds to the Cree teachers' definitions in the pilot study. Some of their
definitions reflect this notion that how the activity is approached rather than what
the activity is determines whether or not it is play; for example, play is having fun
or doing something seriously to achieve a goal.
Difficulties in defining and identifying play have not discouraged
researchers from postulating about play. At various points in time, different
theories of play have influenced educators' beliefs about and use of play. Some
of these have been grouped together and labelled c1assical theories of play, while
others fall under either dynamic or modern theories of play (Spodek & Saracho,
1988). One theory that is useful in understanding sorne of the results of the
present study, namely White's theory of competence motivation, is presented.
•
White's (1959) theory of competence motivation falls in the category of
modern theories of play. He hypothesized that play enables children to act on
•
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Play as an Educational Strategy
23
their environment, thereby developing competency in their ability to function
effectively as a member of this environment. White believed that children
develop competency through play; thus, he considered play "serious business"
(White, 1959, p. 321). Historically, Aboriginal people placed a great deal of
importance on developing competency in order to become a functioning member
of the community (see McCaskill, 1987). Consequently, White's theory of
competence motivation may provide a framework for understanding sorne of the
results of this study.
In sum, researchers have not been able to agree on a definition of play,
•
nor have they been able to decide which criteria accurately identify episodes of
play. Furthermore, laypeople may define play more broadly than do researchers.
Theories attempting to answer the question "why do people, specifically children,
play?" have not yet provided a definitive answer. Nevertheless, these theories are
often taught in teacher training programs and, consequently, may influence
teachers' beliefs about and use of play in their teaching practices (Hodgkin, 1985;
Paley, 1992; Wasserman, 1990).
Aboriginal Learning and Teaching Styles
How a person processes information is the basis for her/his dominant
learning style, as weil as for the teaching style that enables her/him to learn most
effectively (see Osborne, 1985). Although there is sorne disagreement in the
•
Iiterature on Aboriginal information processing, a trend indicates that Aboriginal
and non-Aboriginal people may differ in terms of how information is processed
•
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24
(see More, 1987; see Osborne, 1985). This trend supports the notion that
Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people's dominant learning styles differ.
Consistent with this notion, previous research (e.g., Eriks-Brophy, 1992) reveals
that, in sorne communities, Aboriginallearning and teaching styles differ from
non-Aboriginalones. These differences may partially result from cultural,
linguistic, and geographical contexts, aIl of which may influence the extent to
which an Aboriginal community has been able to maintain its traditional ways.
In this section, 1 examine research on learning and teaching styles in
Aboriginal populations. Literature on information processing is not included in
•
this review because it is not directly related to the use of play as a teaching
strategy.
Learning Styles
The term 'Iearning style' has several definitions in the research Iiterature
(e.g., Walker, Dodd, & BigeJow, 1989; Wauters, Bruce, Black, & Hocker, 1989;
see More, 1987). In sorne studies, this term is defined as the characteristic ways
an individuallearns most effectively; in other studies 'Iearning style' refers to the
characteristic learning strategies preferred by an individual. In the studies
presented below, the latter definition is used.
In one study, 28 adolescent Northern Cheyenne and Crow students from
Montana were asked to complete the Walker Learning Preferences Scale, an
•
instrument designed to identify respondents' learning preferences (Walker, Dodd,
& Bigelow, 1989). The Scale yields four preferences--patterned-symbols, outlined-
•
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25
symbols, patterned-events, and outlined-events--that resulted from the interaction
of a sequentiallsimultaneous continuum and a concrete/verbal information
continuum (Walker, 1984, cited in Walker, Dodd, & Bigelow, 1989). The
patterned.symbols style associates material with personal experiences of the
student using verbal and nonverbal communication with the teacher, whereas the
outIined-symbols style relies on the logical presentation of verbal or visu al
symbols to extract meaning from materiaI. The patterned-events style relies on
real-Hee experiences, such as experiments, to derive meaning from materiaI. In
contrast, the outIined-events style depends on the sequential presentation of new
•
information, Iinked to previous concrete experience, in order to extract meaning
(Walker, Dodd, & Bigelow, 1989).
A preference for the patterned-symbols learning style was reported by the
group of Northern Cheyenne and Crow students more often than for the
outlined·symbols style, the outlined-events style, or the patterned-events style.
Thus, these students preferred to derive meaning by linking new material to their
own experiences and previous knowledge, using verbal and nonverbal cues to
distinguish important from Jess important information. Often students who prefer
tbis learning style are most comfortable making personal interpretations of new
information and discussing tbese interpretations with others in a ilon-threatl:ning
atmosphere (Butler, 1984, citcd in Walker, Dodd, & Bigelow, 1989).
•
The patterned-symbols learning style tends to be the opposite of learning
styles believed to result in successful mainstream elementary- and secondary-
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schoollearning (Walker, Dodd, & Bigelow, 1989). Thus, such a preference may
be disadvantageous to an Aboriginal student. Walker, Dodd, and Bigelow (1989)
make suggestions regarding how patterned-symbols learning can be
accommodated by non-Aboriginal teachers of Aboriginal students. One of these
is to implement specifie activities Iike small-group discussions and role-playing a
story to develop comprehension, both of which may be seen as play by the
students. Activities such as the latter may be particularly useful at younger age
levels, when students may lack the verbal skills to adequately express themselves
in smali-group discussions.
•
A study of Alaskan Native and non-Native students' learning style
preferences reported similar results to those described above. The Productivity
Environmental Preference Survey (PEPS; Dunn, Dunn, & Priee, 1979), a learning
style inventory that taps respondents' "preferences for specifie learning modalities,
attitudes, and environmental conditions" (Wauters et al., 1989, p. 55), was
administered to 112 Native and 88 non-Native senior high school students. The
inventory requires respondents to rate themselves on 100 items reflecting 21
variables across 4 categories. The four categories and examples of variables in
each are: Immediate Environment (sound, light), Emotionality (motivation,
structure), Sociological Needs (working alone or with an authority figure), and
Physical Needs (kinesthetic, learning in the morning or afternoon, mobility).
•
Overall, the two groups expressed similar learning style preferences,
possibly as a result of their shared community context. Likely, characteristics of
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27
the studen15 themselves also contributed to these findings; Wauters and her
col1eagues point out that the Native studen15 who participated re:.Jresented the
small percentage of Native studen15 who did not drop out of high school in
Alaska (Research Summary, 1988, cited in Wauters et al., 1989). Thus, these
studen15 may have been better able to adapt to the primarily Western educational
system than their peers who did not continue and, consequently, these resu 115 may
not be representative of the majority of Alaskan Native high school students.
Despite the similarities in learning style preferences, several differences
between the Native and non-Native studen15 were also found. The Native
•
studen15 reported a stronger preference for persistence, learning with peers as
weil as with a teacher, and auditory and visual modes of learning than did their
non-Native peers. Compared to their responses on other PEPS items, the Native
studen15' strongest preference was for kinesthetic learning, fol1owed by visual and
tactile learning. In addition, they indicated a strong preference for learning in a
variety of sociological contex15: alone, with peers, and with a teacher (Wauters et
al., 1989). Of these preferences, learning with peers is often a playful activity;
furthermore, play often involves kinesthetic or tactile experiences. Together, their
preferences suggest that these Native studen15 would benefit from a variety of
teaching strategies, including the use of play (cf. Wauters et al., 1989).
Teaching Styles and Strategies
•
Based on the research described above, it is reasonable to expect that
Aboriginal teachers would use teaching strategies that differ from those used by
•
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28
non-Aboriginal teachers. Furthennore, many researchers of Aboriginallearning
and teaching agree that teaching strategies corresponding to Aboriginal students'
infonnation processing abilities and preferred styles of learning should be used
(e.g., Cheek, 1984; Kasten, 1992; LeBrasseur & Freark, 1982; Marashio, 1982).
Although many articles reviewing and discussing teaching strategies and styles
appropriate for Aboriginal students were found, only one empirical study of this
issue surfaced.
In this study (Leith & Slentz, 1984), 16 student teachers completed their
teaching practica in northern Manitoban elementary and secondary schools, which
•
provided educational services for largely Cree-speaking st1!dents. Prior to starting
their practica, the student teachers were given special training to inforrn them of
teaching strategies purported to match Cree students' learning styles. This
training occurred during the month before their departure to the Cree
communities and included slide/tape modules and booklets about the
communities, detailed descriptions and explanations of six recommended teaching
strategies, and practice sessions.
The six teaching strategies listed were demonstration-questioning, values
discussion, activity centres, activity sessions, group problem solving, and individual
assignment. Briefly, demonstration-questioning means the teacher questions the
students about a discrepant event, story situation, or demonstration until the
•
desired generalization is reached. Values discussion involves whole-c1ass or smallgroup discussions of a discrepant event, story situation, or demonstration,
•
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29
followed by a whole-c1ass, teacher-led discussion in which suggested solutions are
considered. Activity centres provide open-ended opportunities for the students
"to take an active part in discovering relationships among observed phenomena"
(Leith & Slentz, 1984, p. 26). Activity sessions are similar but are more tightly
structured by the teacher. Group problem solving uses the scientific method-identify the problem, hypothesize solutions, test hypotheses, report findings--to
enable students to learn. Individual assignment, which is designed as a follow-up
strategy for any of the others, requires the student to independently research a
topic. Vpon arrivaI at the school to which they had been assigned, the student
•
teachers familiarized themselves with the c1assrooms and prepared teaching units,
choosing appropriate teaching strategies from the Iist.
The Cree students were asked to complete the Attitude Toward Science
Strategy Scale, a Likert-type rating scale of teaching strategies for science or
social studies lesson content. According to their responses, the teaching strategies
the Cree students most preferred were activity sessions and group problem solving
at the elementary level, and values discussions and individual assignments at the
secondary level. These results partially corroborate those of Walker, Dodd, and
Bigelow (1989), who found that the Northern Cheyenne and Crow students
participating in their study preferred learning by Iinking new material to their own
experiences and previous knowledge. This means of learning is simi!ar to values
•
discussions and possibly also individual assignments. Given that the students
preferred to learn through these activities, one might speculate that they
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30
perceived them as more fun and engaging than demonstration-questioning
activities. Thus, in terms of the theoretical orientation of the present study,
values discussion more be play for these secondary-school students.
Comparable to the elementary students' preferences, Alaskan Native
students participating in Wauters, Bruce, Black, and Hocker's (1989) study
reported a preference for kinesthetic learning, followed by visual and tactile
learning, over auditory learning. Kinesthetic, visual, and tactile learning are all
characteristic of activity sessions and group problem solving. Although it is
necessary for ail the teaching strategies, auditory learning is more characteristic of
•
the demonstration-questioning teaching strategy, which was least preferred by the
Cree students (Leith & Slentz, 1984). Each of the preferences held by the
elementary students reflects an experiential approach to learning, a strategy
closely Iinked to play in this study.
The strategies judged most effective on the basis of teacher-made tests,
classroom observations made by cooperating teachers and faculty supervisors, and
student teacher notes were group problem solving, at the elementary level, and
individual assignments, at the secondary level (Leith & Slentz, 1984). In contrast,
the student teachers most often chose a demonstration-questioning teaching
format, regardless of grade level and despite the training sessions. It is interesting
to note that the training sessions were not enough to ensure that the student
•
teachers would choose grade-appropriate teaching strategies, and suggests that
more of this may need to be done during teacher training. On the basis of these
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Play as an Educational Strategy
31
findings, Leith and Slentz (1984) recommended that teachers of Aboriginal
students implement more of the successful teaching strategies and spend less time
in the demonstration-questioning format.
This recommendation and others have been made by other writers and
practitioners in the Aboriginallearning and teaching field (e.g., Cheek, 1984;
Gilliland, 1992; LeBrasseur & Freark, 1982; Pepper & Henry, 1986; Sawyer, 1991;
Whyte, 1986). Some of their recommendations cal1 for experiential learning,
including the use of field trips, manipulatives, and multi-modal teaching strategies,
ail of which are strongly Iinked to play. In addition, they base their
•
recommendations largely on other forms of evidence, such as anecdotal reports by
Aboriginal people, observations of Aboriginal c1assrooms, and reviews of previous
publications examining Aboriginallearning and teaching styles. Thus, support for
the teaching strategies preferred by the elementary- and secondary-school
students and those judged most effective in Leith and Slentz's (1984) study comes
from a variety of sources.
Looking at the issue of appropriate teaching strategies and styles in
Aboriginal c1assroom settings from a different perspective, what are Aboriginal
teachers' teaching style preferences? In an effort to answer this question, fortyfive Cree, Inuit, and Mohawk teachers participated in a study investigating
Aboriginal teacher instructional style preferences (McAlpine & Taylor, 1993).
•
The teachers, who varied along continua of geographical isolation (non-remote to
remote) and Aboriginallanguage maintenance (primarily English-speaking to
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32
primarily Cree-, Inutittut-, or Mohawk-speaking), had received teacher training in
a field-based program. They were asked to complete the Canfield Instructional
Styles Inventory (CIS) (Canfield & Canfield, 1988), a self-report rating scale
designed to measure instructional style preferences, and the Teaching Styles
Instrument (TS), a self-report rating scale assessing Aboriginal teachers' beliefs
about teaching, learning, Aboriginallanguage instruction, and classroom
management that was developed by the authors and two colleagues.
Based on CIS responses, the Aboriginal teachers' preferred instructional
styles were direct experience closely followed by lecturing and use of visual
•
materials, which were rated the same. Direct experience refers to the use of such
activities as field trips and lab work to teach students. According to the Cree,
Inuit, and Mohawk teachers' responses on the TS, "teachers teach best" by
showing how and letting students learn from each other. The Cree and Mohawk
teachers also strongly believed that teachers should teU students how. "Children
learn best" by Iistening, talking with other students, and speaking individuaUy were
moderate to strong beliefs reported by the Cree, Inuit, and Mohawk teachers.
Overall, the results of the CIS-reported preferences and the Aboriginal teachers'
beliefs according to the TS corroborate each other as weU as the results of Leith
and Slentz's (1984) study.
The findings of these studies and the recommendations offered by others
•
in the field of Aboriginallearning and teaching support the notion that Aboriginal
students generally benefit academicaUy from use of a variety of teaching
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33
strategies, including kinesthetic, visual, and tactile approaches; from cooperative,
small-group learning settings; and from Iinking new information to personal
experience and prior knowledge. Play as a teaching strategy is able to
accommodate these needs, suggesting that it cou Id be effective and beneficial in
Aboriginallearning and teaching settings.
A Note on Teacher Training
On the whole, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal teachers learn standard
mainstream teaching strategies during their teacher training programs. Thus, it is
possible that Aboriginal teachers' beliefs about and use of culturally based
•
teaching strategies are influenced by their teacher training experiences. Although
field-based teacher training programs have partially dealt with this issue, the lack
of research on Aboriginallearning and teaching has made it necessary to
incorporate sorne mainstream research into these programs.
Conclusions
•
Historically, play appears to have held an important role in learning and
teaching in Aboriginal communities. Many of the strategies implemented by
community eiders to teach children can be considered play: storytelling,
mimicking, roleplaying, symbolism, dancing, and singing (Marashio, 1982; Sealey,
1980). More currently, First Nations parents described strong beliefs regarding
the role of play in their children's daycare curriculum (Gillis, 1991). Northern
•
Cheyenne and Crow students reported a preference for being able to Iink new
material to their own experiences and previous knowledge; Native Alaskan
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Play as an Educational Strategy
34
secondary-school students' self-reported learning preferences included kinesthetic,
visual, and tactile modes of learning and leaming alone, with peers, and with a
teacher (Walker, Dodd, & Bigelow, 1989; Wauters et aL, 1989). Similarly, Cree
elementary-school students reported preferences for activity sessions and group
problem solving teaching styles. Group problem solving was the most successful
of the four teaching styles, according to teacher-made tests, c1assroom
observations, and student teacher notes (Leith & Slentz, 1984). Cree, Inuit, and
Mohawk teachers' preferred teaching strategies involved direct experience,
lecturing, and use of visual materials; they described effective teaching as showing
•
how and letting students learn from each other and effective learning as Iistening,
talking with peers, and speaking individually. Play as an educational strategy fits
weil with ail of these learning and teaching styles, particularly if play is defined as
a fun and engaging approach to an activity.
•
•
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Play as an Educational Strategy
35
Chapter 3: Method
Participating Teachers
Objectives One and Two. Objectives One and Two are to document Cree
and Mohawk teachers' beliefs about play and to document their use of play,
respectively. Below are descriptions of the Aboriginal teachers who agreed to
participate in this study (see Table 2). In order to maintain confidentiality and
the anonymity of the participating teachers, number codes have been assigned to
each teacher, and only background information necessary for understanding and
thinking critically about the results of this study has been provided. Please note
•
that two teachers who participated in Objective One did not participate in
Objective Two (Teacher 2 and Teacher 8).
.
Community
Cree
Note.
Geographieal
Isolation
remote
Mohawk
•
.
Table 2 Cree and Mohawk Teaeher Charaeteristies
nonremote
Students' First
Language
Cree
English
' Second language as language o[ instruction
Second language immersion program.
, Mohawk language as a subject.
Only interview data are available [or Teachers 2 and 8.
b
Teacher
Language o[
Instruction
Grade
Level
1
French'
1
2
English'
1
3
Cree
K
4
Cree
K
5
Mohawkb
K
6
Mohawkb
2
7
Mohawk'
K
8
Mohawkb
1
9
English
K
•
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Play as an Educational Strategy
36
The teachers ranged in age from 3D to 55. Cree was the first language of
Teachers 1 to 4 and Mohawk was the first language of Teachers 5, 7, and 9.
Although they were teaching in Mohawk, English was the first language of
Teachers 6 and 8. Their years of teaching experience ranged from 2 to 16; the
median number of years teaching is 6. In addition, a11 of the teachers had taught
at the primary level for at least 1 year. Eight of the nine teachers either had
finished or were in the process of finishing a field-based 1 Bachelor of Education
program through the Office of Native and Northern Education at McGill
University or through the Université de Québec à Chicoutimi. The remaining
•
teacher had just completed a Certificate in Native and Northern Education at
McGilI University, which is a teaching diploma equivalent to one year of
university. It is important to note here that the Mohawk immersion program is
designed specifica11y as a means for second language acquisition, whereas the
French and English immersion programs for the Cree students are not.
Objective Three. Objective Three is to look for possible differences among
the Cree, Mohawk, and non-Aboriginal teachers. The table below (see Table 3)
describes the non-Aboriginal teachers who participated in this study.
•
"Field-based' refers to the fact that these programs largely occur in the
Aboriginal communities, often focus on language and cultural issues, and may be
delivered in an Aboriginal language.
•
Mariene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
37
.
-
Table 3 Non Aborilnnal Teacher Characteristics
Community
Geographical
isolation
Students' First
Language
Mohawk
nonremote
English
Cree
remote
Cree
Teacher
Language of
Instruction
Grade
Level
10
English
K
11
English
1
12
English'
1
Note. 'Second language as language of instruction.
The teachers' ages ranged from 20 to 45. English was the first language of
each one. Their teaching experience ranged from 6 months to 18 years; the
median number of years teaching is 7. Two of the three teachers had at least 1
year of teaching experience at the primary level; the third teacher was in her first
•
year of teaching. AII of the teachers completed campus·based Bachelor of
Education programs through either McGill University or the University of
Toronto.
Procedure
Teachers who consented to participate in the study, and whose students
received permission to participate from their parents, were videotaped in their
classrooms during a regular school day. Videotaping was done either in the
moming or the afternoon, for 1 to 2 hours. At least one fu 11 tesson, and
sometimes two or more fulllessons, were recorded. While videotaping,
nonparticipant observation notes were recorded.
Following this, an audiotaped stimulated-recall interview was conducted
•
with the teacher. While watching the videotaped lessons, questions about the
•
MarIene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
38
teacher's generaI perceptions of her/his teaching and about the specific lessons
were asked. As weIl, a semi-structured interview protocol was used to elicit the
teachers' beliefs regarding the use of play as an educational strategy (see
Appendix A). The interviews were conducted from 2 days to 8 months after the
teacher was videotaped, and were transcribed for the purposes of this study.
Copies of both the videotapes and the interview transcripts were sent to
each of the participating teachers. They were asked to check the interview
transcripts for accuracy, as weIl as to ensure that they were comfortable with aIl
the recorded information. Changes requested by any teacher, including retaping,
•
were made. Once the data were analysed, each teachers' results were discussed
with them separately in order to confirm that they accurately reflected the
teacher's beliefs about and use of play as an educational strategy. In addition, the
teachers were asked to think about and suggest possible explanations for the
results that emerged. This proceùure yielded two data sets to be analyzed:
transcribed interviews for twelve teachers and videotaped lessons for ten teachers.
Data Analysis
The data were separated into three groups for the purposes of analysis: the
Cree teachers, the Mohawk teachers, and the non-Aboriginal teachers. For
brevity and ease of reading, the Cree and Mohawk teachers are often referred to
collectivdy as the Aooriginal teachers. Such a reference, however, does NOT
•
indicate that these two communities are culturally simiIar; rather, it simply reflects
that they are aIl Aboriginal people and are not from a Western or Eurocentric
•
Mariene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
39
culture. Where no group differences were found, the Cree and Mohawk teachers
were combined and the results were repC'rted accordingly.
Objective One. The transcribed interviews of the nine Cree and Mohawk
teachers were read by two independent judges using sensitizing concepts, such as
trying to make learning fun and teaching using manipulatives, roleplaying or
mimicking, singing, dancing, readiL u or storytelling, and/or teasing or fooling
around, as described by Marashio (1982). Using these concepts, the two judges
examined the transcripts for evidence of emerging themes related to play. Once
the themes were noted, each transcript was reviewed to tabulate specifie instances
•
of each theme across the nine teachers; this procedure substantiated the themes.
The two judges met and discussed the results of their analyses. Agreement for
the themes was high and where differences occurred (there were two), the data
were re-examined by both judges. Ultimately, one theme was retained and the
other was dropped due to insufficient evidence. The themes were then used, in
combination with information from the literature, to derive a definition of play
representative of the Aboriginal teachers. This definition was used to identify
episodes of playon the teachers' videotapes.
Objective Two. The themes were also used to develop a checklist that
served as the coding scheme for the episodes of play identified on the videotapes.
Initially, a draft of the checklist was developed by the two judges. Together, they
•
tested the thoroughness of this draft by coding three episodes of play across two
teachers. Further changes were made and the final checklist was generated (see
•
MarIene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
40
Appendix B).
Before coding, each videotape was viewed and episodes of play were
segmented on the basis of two criteria: positive affect on the part of the teacher
and the students, such as smiling and laughing, and a high level of student
engagement in the activity, as indicated by on-task behaviour. The beginning of
an episode of play was the point at which an activity had been initiated either by
the teacher or the students, and everyone present exhibited positive affect and
appeared engaged. The end of an episode of play occurred when the mood
changed from positive to negative affect and/or when the activity was terminated
•
and another was begun. Episodes of play in the videotaped lessons of the Cree
and Mohawk teachers were then coded using the checklist.
To calculate the proportion of lessontime in which play was used, each
episode of play as weil as the entire lesson(s) were timed; the total time spent in
play was divided by the total lessontime.
Because videotaping does not capture everything that occurs in a situation,
specifically nonobservable events such as intention, information obtained from the
stimulated-recall interviews was used to facilitate the coding. Ninety-percent
agreement between the two judges, assessed on a sample of videotapes, was
calculated. Differences were resolved by discussion and consensus.
The percentage of episodes of play coded for each checklist item was
•
calculated; these percentages were tabulated in order to summarize the coded
videotape data for ail the teachers. Those checklist items for which no
•
MarIene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
41
differences appeared across the three groups of teachers were dropped from the
final set of tables (see Appendix C for the original table).
Objective Three. The procedures used to analyse the Cree and Mohawk
teachers' interviews and videotaped lessons were also used to analyse the nonAboriginal teachers' interviews and videotaped lessons.
The table of themes from the interview transcripts of the Cree, Mohawk.
and non-Aboriginal teachers was examined for differences. Differences between
the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal teachers' beliefs about play as an educational
strategy were readily apparent because they frequently talked about different
•
issues and ideas during their interviews.
In order to contrast the Cree, Mohawk, and non-Aboriginal teachers' use
of play as an educational strategy, group mean percentages were calculated for
the checklist items reported under Objective Two. The difference between each
pair of means was calculated and tested for significance using a non-parametric
statistical procedure (Cohen, 1969). (The statistical procedure used to test these
differences is explained in Appendix D.)
•
•
Play as an Educational Strategy
42
MarIene Desjardins
Chapter 4: Results
Objective One
Recall that the first objective is to document Cree and Mohawk teachers'
beliefs about play as an educational strategy. From the analyses, four categories
of themes emerged: why play is used, the role of play, the goal of play, and the
boundaries of play as a concept.
Why play is used
The nine participating teachers stated a variety of reasons for using play in
their c\assrooms. Fifty-six percent of the teachers believed that play acts as a
•
medium through which children learn but are unaware of their learning. One
teacher described this notion aptly: "... it's a fun way of learning, the kids don't
realize they're learning so it doesn't inhibit their ideas, it just cornes out naturally
when they're playing" (TEACHER 4). Ali of teachers used play because it is fun
for their students. Related to this notion, play was seen as a means of getting the
students involved in the lesson by 56% of the teachers. In addition, 78% believed
that the use of play aids students' learning, stating that they used play because it
is 'hands-on', increases understanding, and facilitates comprehension.
The fOIe of play
Overall, the teachers talked either implicitly or explicitly about six roles of
play in their lessons. They are control (teacher and student), motivation,
•
presenting a lesson, practice, evaluation of learning, and reward.
Teacher and student control refers to the extent to which the teacher and
•
Mariene Desjardins
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43
students share the decisions regarding the lesson. Sixty-seven percent of the Cree
and Mohawk teachers, who had talked about roughly equal teacher and student
control, felt that respecting the students and getting "down to their level"
(TEACHER 7) were important principles; consequently, they believed in
relinquishing more control to the students. One teacher described a situation in
which one of her students made eyeglasses out of paper he had found on the
floor, complete with lenses. The other students wanted to make sorne too, so she
planned a lesson incorporating the eyeglasses activity (TEACHER 3). In this
way, the students exercised sorne control over what they did during lessontime.
•
Ali of the teachers talked about teacher-controlled play, in which the
teacher exercised more control than did the students, and 78% talked about free
play, when the students held the bulk of control over their activities. The latter
represents time in c1ass outside of teacher-Ied lessons, whereas the former
represents activities that occur during teacher-led \essons. Examples of teachercontrolled play given by sorne of these teachers are: card games, colour and shape
bingo, roleplaying, cutting and pasting activities, and a multiplication game show
(TEACHER 1; TEACHERS 5 & 8; TEACHER 4; TEACHER 6).
In addition to student and teacher control, the teachers also referred,
either implicitly or explicitly, to the components of a lesson--motivation,
presentation, practice, and evaluation (see Dick & Reiser, 1989)--as weil as to
•
reward. For both the motivation and the presentation components, 33% of the
Cree and Mohawk teachers reported using play. In contrast, 89% and 56% of the
•
MarIene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
44
teachers believed they used it for practice and evaluation, respectively. Reward
was referred to by 33% of the teachers. Seventy-eight percent of the teachers
described two or more roles for play in their lessons.
The goal of play
Play was described by the teachers as an appropriate educational strategy
to achieve one or more of the following goals: language development,
creativity/imagination, and personal·social development. Language development,
as its name suggests, refers to the students' comprehension and ability to speak,
and later to write, in either a first or second language. Creativity/imagination are
•
nebulous concepts, but in this context they refer to reduced inhibition of the
students' ideils and thoughts. Personal·social development includes sharing,
cooperating, and interacting with other students.
Language development and comprehension was cited as a goal of play by
56% of the Cree and Mohawk teachers, 60% of whom were teaching in second
language settings. One teacher described using mimicking to aid comprehension:
"... 1 don't really know what their comprehension is, and 1 don't just stand up
there and just dictate, so what 1 would do is 1 would mimic actions ..."
(TEACHER 8). Similarly, "if you can use your hands [the studentsj can catch it
faster ... it's easier for them to figure out ... what she means" (TEACHER 7).
Another teacher talked about language development occurring during free play:
•
"... whatever they're playing with, we'lI do the vocabulary, name whatever it is
they're playing with, ask them questions, colours, shapes, that sort of thing ... 1'11
•
MarIene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
45
interact with them." (TEACHER 5).
Thirty-three percent of the teachers believed play fostered
creativity/imagination in their students. One teacher spoke of the importance of
creativity: "we're talking about creativity ... being able to express themselves and
not just in written and oral
fèrDlS ..."
(TEACHER 8). Another teacher, describing
an example of this in her/his c1assroom, said "when 1 observe them during free
play ... the stories they teU each other or the things they make up with their cars,
sometimes it's really fascinating what they turn them into." (TEACHER 4).
Fifty-six percent of these teachers used play for personal-social
•
development, which is particul«rly important in kindergarten when students are
often adjusting to their first experience being with many children and only one or
two adults. For example, "... for grade one, they'1I have to learn ... to be patient
..." (TEACHER 3). TEACHER 5 described using free play and singing "just for
[the studentsj to socialize ... with each other". The grade one Mohawk teacher
suggested that play "breaks down [the students'j shyness", enabling them to
participate more fully in their learning (TEACHER 8).
Boundaries of play
This theme is a compilation of the teachers' ideas of what play is. Four
main ideas about play carne out of the interviews: teacher-controlled play, free
(child-controUed) play, learning, and fun. Play is considered teacher-controUed
•
when it is implemented by the teacher intentionally for the purpose of teaching
her/his students. Free play is that time when the students choose what they want
•
MarIene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
46
to do from what is available in the c\assroom. Learning refers to the acquisition
of knowledge and skill that is expected of the students by their teachers. Fun
simply means an activity is engaging and generates positive affect for the students.
Seventy-eight percent of the teachers either said directly or suggested
indirectly that there are two types of play: free (child-controlled) play and
teacher-controlled play. These two types of play were presented as opposites of
each other. The term teacher-controlled play does not mean that the students
exercised no control over the activity; rather, it means that the students have
relatively less control--and exactly how much less varies according to the teacher
•
and the lesson--than does the teacher. It was in this sense that the teachers
tended to talk about play: "we have two kinds of play, we have the fun play, that's
just ail out play ... and then the next play would be teacher-controlled play, Iike, 1
tell them this is the game we're going to play ..." (TEACHER 7).
The idea of learning as an integral aspect of play was addressed by ail of
the teachers. Although they talked about playing and learning in this way, none
of the teachers elaborated on the relationship between these two concepts. In
attempting to define play, one teacher did say "when the child starts to play, its
learning process is starting to develop" (TEACHER 2); similarly, another teacher
stated "play equals learning for four- and five-year-olds" (TEACHER 3). A
grade-one teacher commented "if we only teach, nothing goes in their head"
•
(TEACHER 1).
For these teachers, fun characterizes the overall mood of play activities.
•
MarIene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
47
AIl of the teachers cited it as one of the defining characteristics of play. In fact,
one teacher who offered a definition of play said it was "having fun, that's it"
(TEACHER 6). Sorne activities typicaIly perceived as work in Eurocentric
contexts were considered play by many of these teachers. This was based largely
on their understanding of how the children saw the activity. For example, one
teacher observed, "the kids will see two or three kids in their workbook, and they
don't want to play anymore, they want to play in their workbooks too ..."
(TEACHER 5). In Iight of this, "[play] could be two people sitting down playing
with a doIl, or two children playing ou tside on the slide, or it can aIso be two
•
children sitting down with paper and pencil and writing to each other and to them
it's still play" (TEACHER 9).
From these teachers' perspectives, play can be child- or teacher-controIled
and is characterized as fun. Fun served both as a reason for using play and as a
characteristic of play. In addition, play is closely tied to learning for these
teachers. Their belief in the strong relationship between play and learning is
apparent in the variety of raies of play that they spoke of as weIl as by the goals
they hoped to achieve by using play. Furthermore, these teachers stated they
used play in their lessons primarily because it aids students' learning.
Objective Two
Recall that the second objective is to document how the participating Cree
•
and Mohawk teachers used play to teach their students.
The general characteristics of the lessons and the episodes of play
•
Play as an Educational Strategy
48
MarIene Desjardins
occurring within them are presented in Table 4. A minimum of 22% to a
mali:imum of 70% of the time spent teaching a lesson involved the use of play as
an educational strategy. On average, the Aboriginal teachers used play 48% of
their lessontime.
Table 4.
General Characteristics of Lessons and Episodes of Play
Teacher
1
3
4
5
6
7
9
length of lesson(s)
(minutes)
103
64
91
58
104
36
64
% of time in play
27
63
78
47
22
36
70
2
4
5
2
2
16
4
# of episodes of play
•
Note. Teachers 2 and 8 did not participate in Objective Two.
Examination of Table 5 reveals that both the Cree and the Mohawk
teachers tended to initiate the episodes of play that occurred during their lessons.
The Mohawk teachers initiated somewhat less often than did the Cree teachers.
Consistent with this difference, there was greater variation in the relative amount
of control the Mohawk teachers exercised during the episodes of play in their
lessons. This variation ranged from student-teacher control, when the students
exercised slightly more control than did the teacher, to equally divided control
(free from a selection), to teacher control, when the students held
Vt;ry
little
control. The extent to which these teachers initiated and controlled play in their
lessons emphasizes the instructional nature of the play.
•
Opportunistic teaching, or teaching as an opportunity arises within an
•
MarIene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
49
episode of play, occurred frequently for both the Cree and the Mohawk teachers.
In addition, it happened at roughly the same rate in both groups. The amount of
opportunistic teaching suggests that these teachers see play as an instructional
strategy and are flexible, wil\ing to use an opportunity to teach their students
when it arises even though it is unplanned.
Table 5.
Mean Percentage of Episodes of Play Coded for Initiation. Studcnt·tcachcr
Control and Opportunistic Teachin2
.
Teacher Group
Checklist Item
Cree
Mohawk
Il
24
91
67
Free play
9
0
Student·teacher controlled play
9
25
Play free from a selection
18
13
Teacher·student controlled play
45
29
Teacher·controlled play
18
33
Opportunistic teaching occurs
82
71
Total number of episodes of play
Initiated by the teacher
•
Note.
The percentages will not sum ta 100 because the items are not mutually exclusive.
Table 6 documents the role of play in these teachers' lessons. Overall, play
was most frequently used to enable students to practise new knowledge or skil\s
and to evaluate student learning. Almost one·third of the play in the Cree
teachers' lessons was used as a reward by these teachers. For the Mohawk
teachers, play feU evenly among the motivation, presentation, and reward roles,
but at relatively low rates of occurrence, suggesting that they use play largely in
•
the roles of practice and evaluation. The only difference between the two groups
•
Play as an Educational Strategy
50
MarIene Desjardins
lies in the extent to which they used play as a reward; the Cree teachers used play
in this way more frequently than did the Mohawk teachers.
Table 6.
Mean Percentage of Episodes of Play Coded for the Role of Play within the
Lesson
Teacher Group
Checklist Item
Cree
Mohawk
Il
24
Motivation
9
13
Presentation
9
13
Praetice
82
92
Evaluation
82
83
Reward
27
13
Total number of episodes of play
•
Based on Table 7, potential differences between the Cree and Mohawk
teachers are apparent. The Cree teachers used five of the six kinds of play in
their lessons, often incorporating several kinds in one lesson, whereas the
Mohawk teachers relied on two of the five kinds. Neither group of teachers used
games very much. In contrast, both groups either initiated or incorporated
student initiations of teasing and fooling around a great deaI.
•
•
Mariene Desjardins
Table 7
Play as an Educational Stratcgy
51
, Coded for Kind of Plav
,
Mean Pereentace of Enisodes of Plav
Teacher Group
Cheeklist Item
Cree
Mohawk
11
24
Manipu1atives
45
17
Roleplaying or mimieking
64
33
Singing or dancing
27
8
9
8
Teasing or footing around
82
83
Reading or storytelling
45
13
Total number of episodes of play
Game
Together, these data provide an ernerging picture of the participating
Aboriginal teachers' use of play as an educational strategy. Sorne student control
•
over lessons was perrnitted but teacher control prevailed in their classroorns. As
weil, the teachers often capitalized on unexpected opportunities for teaching
during episodes of play. In terrns of the role of play in the Cree and Mohawk
teachers lessons', play rnost frequently appeared in practicp. of knowledge or skills
and evaluation of learning. The Cree teachers also used play as a reward in 27%
of their play episodes. Differences in the kind of play used by these teachers
surfaced: the Cree teachers used five of the six kinds of play whereas the Mohawk
teachers relied on two kinds. In surn, this ernerging picture cnables a better
understanding of how sorne Cree and Mohawk teachers use play as an
educational strategy.
Objective Three
•
Recall that Objective Three is to investigate possible differences between
•
•
Play as an Educational Strategy
52
MarIene Desjardins
Cree, Mohawk, and non-Aboriginal teachers' belicfs about play and their use of
play as an educational strategy. The results for Objective Three have been
divided into two sections: differences between the Aboriginal and nOll-Aboriginal
teachers' beliefs about play and differences among the Cree, Mohawk, and nonAboriginal teachers regarding their use of play. Before presenting the results of
these analyses, the beliefs that emerged from the non-Aboriginal teachers'
interviews about play will be described.
Non-Aboriginal Teachers' Beliefs About Play as an Educational Strategy
The four categories that emerged from the analysis of the Aboriginal
•
•
teachers' interview transcripts are used to analyse and describe the non-Aboriginal
teachers' beliefs: why play is used, the purpose of play, the goal of play, and the
boundaries of the concept of play.
Why play is used. Together, the three non-Aboriginal teachers cited three
reasons for their use of play. Implementing play was a strategy for managing the
students' behaviour in the c1assroom. Specifically, play provided the students with
an opportunity to release excess energy in a prosocial manner and enabled the
teacher to hold the students' attention during a lesson. One teacher stated, ''l'm
just hoping by them moving their hands it keeps them involved, you know, they
don't get bored ..." (TEACHER 12). Another teacher commented, "1 find too l'm
learning a different type of··1 don't think ifs control so much··but if you have the
•
children's interest and they're really preoccupied with what they're doing, then
you don 't have to worry abou t losing control; they're occupying themselves,
•
MarIene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
53
they're having fun ..." (TEACHER 10). ln addition, 67% of these teachers
believed play to be developmentally appropriate for their students and to be fun.
The fOIe of play. For these teachers, play was used for at least one of
three roIes: practice, evaluation, and reward. Thirty-three percent of the teachers
believed play was an opportunity for their students to practise new information or
skill(s), and 67% talked about it as a means for evaluating student learning.
Reward was the role of play for 67% of the non-Aboriginal teachers.
The goal of play. The primary goal of play for these three teachers was
personal-social development. One teacher suggested that kids respond to this
•
type of approach to personal-social development issues (TEACHER 11). For the
only teacher teaching in a second-language, language development and
comprehension were also goals of using play in her lessons. As she said, "the fact
that we're saying these things out loud, they get to practise sentences and maybe
words that they wouldn't have used ..." (TEACHER 12). Providing an outlet in
which to release excess energy was another goal of play for ail three teachers.
One teacher described this time in her c1ass: "... so they walk around and they talk
to each other and they play these games '" just to give them sorne cool down
time, you know, they've been on a bus ..." (TEACHER 11). Another teacher
explained ''l'm letting them have sorne free-play
befon~
we settle down."
(TEACHER 10). This differs from the notion of using play as a means of
•
holding students' attention and reducing time spent on behaviour management;
the former occurs as free play whereas the latter occurs during teacher-led
•
MarIene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
54
lessons.
Boundaries of play. The non-Aboriginal teachers did not appear to have
difficulty defining the term play. Arnong the definitions, two concepts were
cornmon in each: unstructured-ness and fun. Thus, ail of the teachers saw play as
typically being "free" - the child having the freedom to choose what she/he wanu
to do with little or no teacher control - and as being fun. Two of the three
teachers also believed that play involved an increase in noise leveI.
Beliefs About Play as an Educational Strategy
Differences between the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal teachers in terms
•
of their beliefs about play as an educational strategy were found. One striking
difference lay in the teachers' reasons for using play to teach their students. For
many of the Aboriginal teachers play was used because children learn naturally
through play. Somewhat in contrast, the non-Aboriginal teachers used play
because it was an effective c1assroom behaviour management technique. Thus,
the two groups of teachers appear to use play for different reasons.
In terms of the role of play within the lesson, there is considerable overlap
between the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal teachers. Both groups believed play
to be useful for motivation, practice, and evaluation; the Aboriginal teachers also
talked about using play to share control of the lesson with their students, to
present a lesson, and to reward student behaviour, none of which were roles
•
discussed by the non-Aboriginal teachers.
Again, sorne overlap exists between the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal
•
MarIene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
55
teachers with respect to the goal of play in their c1assrooms. Specifical1y, al1 the
teachers spoke about personal-social development as one goal of using play.
Fifty-six percent of the Aboriginal teachers and 33% of the non-Aboriginal
teachers cited language development and comprehension as a goal. Of the
Aboriginal teachers who cited language development and comprehension as a
goal, 40% teach in their students' first lallguage, suggesting that play is a means
of honing first-Ianguage skills as wel1 as building second-language skills. Among
the non-Aboriginal teachers, however, language and play were not Iinkcd in this
way; 66% of these teachers, who were teaching in their students' first language
•
did not refer to language development and comprehension among thcir goals of
play. Thus for the non-Aboriginal teachers, the c1assroom language context may
be an important factor in the use of play as an educational strategy. In terms of
other goals, the Aboriginal teachers referred to rreativity/imagination and the
non-Aboriginal teachers talked about play as an opportunity for the students to
release energy.
More distinct differences emerged between the Aboriginal and nonAboriginal teachers' ideas about the concept of play. Many of the Aboriginal
teachers felt that they couId not define play; instead they delineated boundaries of
the concept of play. In so doing, they spoke of teacher-control1ed play, free
(student-control1ed) play, learning, and fun as ideas inherent to the concept of
•
play. The non-Aboriginal teachers, however, demonstrated no hesitancy in
defining the tenn play. Similar to those of the Aboriginal teachers, their
•
MarIene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
56
definitions included the idea of fun; in contrast, they also included the idea that
play is unstructured. This latter component of the non-Aboriginal teachers'
definitions of play suggests that they may not see the activities they use to teach
as 'play'.
Thus, it appears that these Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal teachers share
sorne similarities as weil as have sorne differences in terms of their beliefs
regarding play as an educational strategy. What sorts of differences will arise
between the Cree, Mohawk, and non-Aboriginal teachers in terms of their use of
play as an educational strategy?
•
Before examining the Cree, Mohawk, and non-Aboriginal teachers' coded
videotape data. for differences, 1 will describe how the non-Aboriginal teachers
used play as an educational strategy. Then 1 will present the results documenting
how the three groups differ in their use of play.
Non-Aboriginal Teachers' Use of Play as an Educational Strategy
Table 8 indicates that the three non-Aboriginal teachers used play to teach
their students a minimum of 34% to a maximum of 58% of the total lessontime.
On average, they spent 43% of their lessontime using play.
•
•
Mariene Desjardins
Table 8.
Play as an Educational Strategy
57
General Characteristics of Lessons and Episodes of Play
Teacher
10
11
12
length of lesson(s)
(minutes)
114
55
52
% of time in play
34
58
46
# of episodes of play
5
3
5
An examination of Table 9 reveals that the teachers generally initiated the
play episodes. In addition, the teachers exercised control over the play in 38% of
the episodes; teacher-student control, when the teacher holds the bulk of control
•
but the students have sorne, was used in 31% of the episodes. Overall, the
teachers capitalized on unexpected opportunities to teach or reinforce previously
taught material in 77% of the episodes of play. In sum, these teachers rely on
teacher-initiated play, exercise considerably more control over the play than do
their students, and frequently use opportunities to teach their students as they
arise du ring episodes of play.
•
•
Play as an Educational Strategy
MarIene Desjardins
58
Mean Percentage of Episodes of Play Coded for Initiation. Student-teacher
Con tro,1 an d O
. rle T each'mg
pport ums
Table 9.
Checklist Item
Non-Aboriginal Teachers
Total number of episodes of play
13
92
Initiated by the teacher
0
rree play
23
Student-teacher controlled play
8
Play free from a selection
Teacher-student cantrolled play
31
Teacher·controlled play
38
Opportunistic teaching occurs
77
According to Table 10, play was most frequently used as a means for
•
practice in the play episodes occurring in these teachers' lessons. It was used less
often to evaluate student learning.
Table 10.
Mean Percentage of Episodes of Play Codcd for the Role of Play within the
Lesson
Checklist Item
Non-Aboriginal Teachers
Total number of episodes of play
13
Motivation
0
Presentation
15
Practice
85
Evaluation
38
Reward
8
Table Il reveals that the three non-Aboriginal teachers relied mostly on
manipulatives, roleplaying/mimicking, teasing/fooling around, and
•
reading/storytelling du ring their episodes of play. Manipulatives and
teasing/fooling around were ,,;ost frequently used by the teachers, followed by
•
Mariene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
59
roleplaying/mimicking and reading/storytelling.
,
, of Enisodes "f Plav
, Coded for Kind of Plav
Mean Percenla2e
Table 11
Checktist Item
Non-Aboriginal Teachers
Total number of episodes of play
13
Manipulatives
54
Rolep1aying or mimicking
46
Singing or dancing
15
Game
8
Teasing or footing around
54
Reading or storytelling
46
To summarize, the non-Aboriginal teachers tended ta initiate the play that
•
occurred du ring their lessons, relying mostly on teacher control for executing the
play activities. Unexpected opportunities to teach or reinforce previous teaching
were used frequently. Play was most often used to allow students to practise
knowledge or skil\s, and most often involved manipulatives, teasing/fooling
around, roleplaying/mimicking, and reading/storytelling.
Use of Play as an Educational Strategy
In order to contrast the Cree, Mohawk, and non-Aboriginal teachers' use
of play, 1 have summarized their coded videotape data in Tables 12 and 13. The
Cree and Mohawk teachers were not grouped together for these contrasts, as they
were for Objective Two, because differences in their use of play were found.
Examination of Table 12 suggests that the length of the lesson(s) and the
•
number of episodes of play do not differ across the three groups of teachers. In
•
Play as an Educational Strategy
MarIene Desjardins
60
terms of the mean percentage of lessontime spent using play, the Cree teachers
have the highest amount; the Mohawk and non-Aboriginal teachers have similar
percentages, both of which are lower than that of the Cree teachers.
Unfortunately, small sample sizes did not permit a statistical test of the
differences between these percentages.
Table 12.
General Chameteristics of Lessons and Episodes of Play for the Cree. Mohawk,
and Non·Aboriginal Teaehers
Teaeher Group
•
Cree
(n=3)
Mohawk
(n=4)
Non·Aboriginal
(n=3)
Mean length of lesson(s) (minutes)
86
66
74
Mean pereentage of time in play
54
41
43
Mean number of episodes of play
4
6
4
Differences among the three groups of teachers were found. These are
reported in three sections: differences between Cree and Mohawk teachers;
differences between Cree and non-Aboriginal teachers; and differences between
Mohawk and non-Aboriginal teachers.
Cree and Mohawk Teachers. Three significant differences arose between
the Cree and Mohawk teachers in this study (see Table 13). The Cree teachers
used manipulatives, roleplaying/mimicking, and reading/storytelling more
frequently during their episodes of play than did the Mohawk teachers.
Cree and non-Aboriginal Teachers. Table 13 reveals only one significant
•
difference between the participating Cree and non-Aboriginal teachers. The Cree
teachers used play as a means to evaluate their students' learning in a significantly
•
MarIene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
61
larger proportion of their episodes of play than did the ne·!!-Aboriginal teachers.
Mohawk and non-Aboriginal Teachers. Five significant differences
between the Mohawk and non-Aboriginal teachers were found (see Table 13).
The Mohawk teachers used play to motivate and evaluate their students during a
lesson more frequently than did the non-Aboriginal teachers. In addition, the
Mohawk teachers were found to use teasing/fooling around significantly more
frequently than the non-Aboriginal teachers. The non-Aboriginal teachers,
however, were found to use manipulatives and reading/storytelling more
frequently than t;,e Mohawk teachers.
•
OveralI,
t~e
majority of differences occurred between the Cree and
Mohawk teachers and the non-Aboriginal teachers; several differences, however,
also occurred between the Cree and the Mohawk teachers. This suggests that
Aboriginal teachers as a group may use play as a teaching strategy differently than
do non-Aboriginal teachers. It may also be evidence that Aboriginal teachers
from different communities use play in various ways in their lessons.
•
•
Play as an Educational Strategy
62
Mariene Desjardins
Table 13.
Mean Percentage of Episodes of Plav Coded far Student-teacher Control
Opportunistic Teaching, Raie, and Kind of Play: Cree, Mohawk, and NonAborilrinal Teachers
Teacher Group
Checklist Item
•
Cree
(n= 11)
Mohawk
(n=24)
non-Aboriginal
(n=13)
Free play
9
0
0
Student-teacher controlled play
9
25
23
Play free from a selection
18
13
8
Teacher-student contralled play
45
29
31
Teacher-contralled play
18
33
38
Opportunistic teaching
82
71
77
Molivation
9
13'
0'
Presentation
9
13
15
Praclice
82
92
85
Evaluation
82'
83'
38"
Reward
27
13
8
Manipulatives
45'
17"
54'
Roleplaying/mimicking
64'
33'
46
Singing/dancing
27
8
15
9
8
8
Teasing/fooling around
82
83'
54'
Reading/storytelling
45'
13"
46'
Garne
Note.
Nurnbers within a row sharing the ~ superscript are significanlly different fram each
other.
'pS.05
' eS.01
, pS.05
Differences between the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal teachers occurred
equally frequently for the role of play and the kind of play used. The Cree and
•
the Mohawk teachers used play to evaluate student learning more frequently than
did the non-Aboriginal teachers, The Mohawk teachers used play to motivate
•
MarIene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
63
their students du ring a lesson more often than did the non-Aboriginal teachers.
In terms of the kind of play used, the Mohawk teachers used teasing/fooling
around more frequently than did the non-Aboriginal teachers, whereas the nonAboriginal teachers used manipulatives and reading/storytelling more frequently
than did the Mohawk teacher'. Between the two groups of Aboriginal teachers,
only differences for the kind of play used were found. The Cree teachers used
manipulatives, roleplaying/mimicking, and reading/storytelling more frequently
than did the Mohawk teachers.
Subsequent Analyses
•
Closer examination of the coded data indicated that differences might also
exist between teachers who share their students' culture and language in c1ass
(Teachers 3, 4, and 9), teachers who share only their students' culture (a language
other than the students' first language is used in class; it may or may not be the
teacher's first language; Teachers 5, 6, and 7), and teachers who are culturally
different from their students and may or may not use the students' first language
in the classroom (Teachers 10, Il, and 12). For the purpose of analysis, the
contrasts were divided into three groups: same culture/same language (samesame) teachers, same culture/different language (same-different) teachers, and
different culture ("different") teachers; results are reported in the same format.
Same Culture-Same Language and Different Culture Teachers. Two
•
significant differences between these groups of teachers were found (refer to
Table 14). Firstly, same-same teachers used play to evaluate their students
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64
learning more frequently than did the "different" teachers. Secondly, the samesame teachers used teasing and fooling around more frequently than did the
"different" teachers.
Same Culture-Different Language and Different Cul~re Teachers. Five
differences arose between these two groups of teachers (see Table 14). The
same-different teachers used play in the roles of practice and evaluation more
frequently than did the "different" teachers. Teasing and fooling around was also
more frequently used by the same-different teachers compared to the "different"
teachers. The "different" teachers, however, used manipulatives and reading or
•
storytelling in a larger proportion of their episodes of play than did the samedifferent teachers.
Same Culture-Same Language and Same Culture-Different Language
Teachers. Examination of Table 14 indicates two differences between these two
groups of teachers. Specifically, the same-different teachers used play in the roles
of practice and evaluation more frequently than did the same-same teachers.
To summarize, both the same-same and same-different teachers used play
to evaluate their students more frequently than did the "different" teachers. In
addition, teasing/fooling around was used more often in their lessons than it was
in the "different" teachers' lessons.
Sorne of these differences are also reflected in the previous comparisons
•
among the teachers based on cultural group affiliation alone. More specifically,
the Cree and Mohawk teachers used play to evaluate student learning more
•
•
Table 14.
•
Mean Pereentage of Episodes of Play Coded for Sludent-teacher Control, Opportunislic Teaching, Role, and Kiud of Play:
,,
"Same -same Same -different and "Different" Teacbers
"
Teacber Group
Same culture/same language
(n= 13)
Same culture/different language
(n=22)
Different culture
(n=13)
Free play
8
0
0
Student·teacher controlled play
8
27
23
Play free from a selection
8
18
8
Teacher-student eontrolled play
46
27
31
Teaeher-eontrolled play
31
27
38
Opportunistie teaehing
77
73
77
Motivation
8
14
0
Presentalion
8
14
15
Checklist Item
Pracliee
69'
100~
85'
Evalualion
62'd
95"'
38~
8
23
8
Manipulatives
38
18'
54'
Roleplaying/mimieking
46
41
46
Singing/dancing
23
9
15
8
9
8
Teasing/fooling around
77'
86"
54'"
Reading/sIOf)'telling
31
18'
46'
Reward
Game
Note.
Numbers wilhin a row sharing the ~ superseripl are signifieanlly differenl from each other.
" n~.05
' n~.OI
d n~.OI
, n~.05
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Play as an Educational Strategy
Mariene Desjardins
66
frequently than did the non-Aboriginal teachers. As weil, teasing/fooling around
was used by the Mohawk teachers more frequently than by the non-Aboriginal
teachers
Together, the results of these various analyses contribute to the emerging
picture of how the Cree and Mohawk teachers in this study used play to teach
their students. By contrasting their use of play with that of the non-Aboriginal
teachers, these results are able to add depth to this emerging picture and,
consequently, a better understanding of Cree and Mohawk teachers' practices is
achieved.
•
Teacher Feedback
As indicated in the Method chapter, the results of the data analyses were
discussed on an individual basis with ail the teachers who participated in this
study. The purpose of these feedback sessions was primarily to confirm that the
results obtained accurately reflccted the teachers' beliefs about play and their use
of play in the classroom, and, secondarily, to obtain insight from the teachers
regarding possible expIanations for the results that emerged.
With respect to the primary purpose, ail the teachers reported feeling
comfortable with the analyses of the information they shared with me and
believed that the results accurately reflected their beliefs about play and their use
of play in the classroom. In terms of the secondary purpose, none of the teachers
•
offered a possible explanation for the results 1 reported to them. Because of time
constraints, there may not have been enough time for the teachers to digest the
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67
information and consider different explanations for the results. At the time of the
feedback sessions, it was agreed that the teachers would receive a copy of the
results, which they could read over and think about at their leisure. This may
more successfully elicit possible explanations for the results than dià the feedback
sessions.
•
•
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68
Chapter 5: Discussion
ln this section, 1 am going to present possible explanations for sorne of the
findings of this study. Only those findings considered to be major are included.
The discussion is organized into three main sections, one each for Objectives
One, Two, and Three, respectively, followed by a summary and conclusions. It
ends with educational and research implications, a critical examination of the
research methodology, sorne thoughts regarding future research in the area of
Aboriginal teaching in kindergarten and grades 1 and 2, and a summary of what 1
have learned from conducting this research.
•
Objective One
The first objective of this study was to document Cree and Mohawk
teachers' beliefs about play as an educational strategy. With the exception of one
study that investigated First Nations parents' beliefs about the use of play in
daycare curriculum (Gillis, 1991), no previous research examining this issue was
found. Sorne of these parents' beliefs were echoed by the Cree and Mohawk
teachers participating in this study.
The First Nations parents believed that play is a natural part of childhood;
it enables children to practise various cognitive activities as weil as pre.academic,
social, and motor skills. Play also provides children with the opportunity to take
risks and to learn the distinction between real and not real (Gillis, 1991).
•
Similarly, the Cree and Mohawk teachers stated that play is a medium through
which children learn but are unaware of their learning and believed that it aids
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69
their learning, facilitates comprehension, and is hands-on. Further, these teachers
believed that one of the roles of play in a lesson is to provide children with
occasions to practise their new skills or knowledge. Among the teachers' goals
for play used in their lessons were personal-social development and creativity and
imagination (the latter two concepts are included under cognitive activities by the
First Nations parents).
The First Nations parents also believed that play should be included in
daycare programs, either used as the sole means of instruction or in combination
with pre-school instruction. Even those parents who believed play shou Id be
•
combined with pre-school instruction felt that skills development should be taught
playfully (Gillis, 1991). Similarly, the Cree and Mohawk teachers of the present
study stated that they used play in their lessons and described strong beliefs about
the use of play as a teaching strategy. For both the First Nations parents in
Gillis' (1991) study and the Cree and Mohawk teachers in the present study, play
serves as a means through which children naturally acquire knowledge and skills.
Thus, these results corroborate sorne of Gillis' (1991) findings.
In terms of defining play, the criteria these teachers believed identified
episodes of play differ somewhat from those found in the mainstream literature.
None of the teachers suggested nonliterality, orientation toward means, or
intrinsic motivation as defining characteristics. This corroborates the results of
•
Smith and Vollstedt's (1985) study, which found that "Iay" observers of play used
fewer criteria, thus broader definitions, to identify episodes of play than did
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70
researchers of play. Like the "Iay" observers, the Cree and Mohawk teachers
talked about positive affect (fun) for identifying play. In addition, both the
participants in Smith and Vollstedt's study and the teachers discounted intrinsic
motivation as a necessary criterion; the Cree and Mohawk teachers' inclusion of
teacher-controlled play suggests that they de not believe intrinsic motivation
identifies play. A difference emerges with the Aboriginal teachers' belief that
learning is part of play; the "Iay" observers' third criterion was flexibility. This
difference may be partially accounted for by the fact that this study occurred in an
educational setting and the participants were teachers, as weil as the fact that the
•
teachers were not given a predetermined Iist of play criteria from which to
choose, as were the "lay" observers in Smith and Vollstedt's (1985) study. Thus, it
appears that Cree and Mohawk teachers' beliefs about the criteria for identifying
play are somewhat similar to the criteria used by "Iay" observers and are different
from the criteria espoused by mainstream researchers of play.
This result supports my decision te refrain from adopting too narrow a
definition of play at the outset of this research. In addition to their criteria for
identifying play, the Cree and Mohawk teachers also frequently referred to the
importance of perspective. What they viewed as work, such as completing pages
in workbooks or writing, they believed the students saw as play. Moreover, the
teachers also talked about using play as a means of getting students involved in
•
lessons (motivation). One strategy the teachers used was teasing and fooling
around, which was observed in 82% and 83% of the Cree and Mohawk teachers'
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71
episodes of play, respectively. Ali of this suggests that play may also be seen as
an approach to an activity in the context of these Cree and Mohawk teachers'
c1assrooms. Viewing play as an approach to activity as opposed to a type of
activity is fundamental to Bruner's definition of play, upon which 1 based my
definition. Consequently, Bruner's definition may be more useful for
understanding these teachers' beliefs about and use of play than are mainstream,
research-based definitions.
In the Iiterature describing Western theories of play and learning, the idea
that children learn naturally through play is similar to White's theory of
•
competence motivation. In his theory of competence motivation, White (1959)
postulated that, through their play, children learn to interact effectively-competently--with their environment and, furthermore, that children are
motivated to act on their environment--to play--by an intrinsic need to achieve
this competence. Consequently, "children 's play can '" be viewed as serious
business, though to [her or1him it is merely something that is interesting and fun
to do" (White, 1959, p. 321). One of the Cree teachers in the pilot study
described in the Iiterature review defined play similarly, stating that it is doing
something seriously to achieve a goal. This is a view shared by the Cree and
Mohawk teachers who participated in this study, not only in terms of their beliefs
about why they use play to teach but also in terms of their ideas about what play
•
is. Specifically, any activity in which students participated and appeared to be
having fun constituted play. Overail, the teachers considered these activities to be
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72
MarIene Desjardins
as important and useful in their teaching as activities referred to as work, such as
drills. Thus, in their view, children's play can indeed be "serious business".
White's theory of competence motivation provides one plausible framework for
understanding these teachers' beliefs.
Objective Two
The second objective of this study was to examine how the participating
Aboriginal teachers used play in their lessons. This discussion focuses on IWO
findings: the use of play for practice and evaluation, because aIl of the teachers
used play in these roles, and the four kinds of play used by these teachers during
•
lessons: manipu latives, roleplaying/mimicking, teasing/fooling around, and
reading/storytelling.
AlI the Cree and Mohawk teachers used play as a means of practice for
their students and for evaluating their students' learning du ring or at the end of a
lesson. HistoricaIly, adults from many Aboriginal communities have relied on
repetition and evaluation in teaching younger members. Legends and stories
were often vehicles for teaching, and sorne were told over and over throughout
childhood. Il was expected that, as children matured cognitively, they would
extract more meaning and infonnation from a particular legend or story,
reinforcing and extending earlier learning. Repetition also pennitted children to
hone skills they wou Id later need as adults, such as carrying babies or setting up
•
tipis (Marashio, 1982; Sealey, 1980). Adults judged when a child was ready to
move on in his or her learning, probably as a result of on-going evaluation of her
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Play as an Educational Strategy
73
or his readiness to learn and the intimate relationship between the two (Marashio,
1982). Thus, what was observed in the lessons of the teachers in this study may
be a reflection of these traditional ways of teaching.
Stories, songs, dances, plays, symbolism, mimicking, playing, and teasing
and "joshing" were strategies used by Aboriginal adults, depending on the learner
and what was being taught (Marashio, 1982). Four of these strategies were used
by the Cree and Mohawk teachers of this study: roleplaying/mimicking,
teasing/fooling around, and reading/storytelling. These teaching strategies
partially reflect Cree elementary-school students' preferences for activity sessions
•
and group problem solving (Leith & Slentz, 1984). In addition, Alaskan Native
high school students reported strong preferences for kinesthetic, visual, and tactile
modes of learning (Wauters, Bruce, Black, & Hocker, 1989), each of which
characterize sorne of the teaching strategies used by the teachers in this study.
Learning through experience occurs through one or more sensory
modalities, including observing, Iistening, touching, and feeling emotionally, and
has been Iinked to sorne traditional Aboriginal learning and teaching styles
(Marashio, 1982; Tafoya, 1982). The Cree and Mohawk teachers participating in
the present study frequently used manipulatives and roleplaying/mimicking, both
of which are experiential, as a means of teaching their students.
Based on this emerging picture of Cree and Mohawk classroom teaching,
•
links between the teaching strategies used by the teachers of this study and those
used traditionally by Aboriginal people prior to Westernization (Marashio, 1982)
•
Play as an Educational Strategy
Mariene Desjardins
74
are apparent. Next, differences between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal teachers'
beliefs about and use of play as an educational strategy are discussed.
Objective Three
The third objective of this study was to look for differences between the
Cree, Mohawk, and non-Aboriginal teachers in terms of their beliefs about play
and their use of play as an educational strategy.
Beliefs About Play
Overall, no differences between the Cree and Mohawk teachers' beliefs
were found, while five differences between the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal
•
teachers' beliefs were noted. The Aboriginal teachers expressed greater difficulty
defining the term play, whereas the non-Aboriginal teachers did not. Although
both groups defined play as fun, other aspects of their definitions differed. The
Cree and Mohawk teachers spoke of two kinds of play (teacher-controUed and
free) and of learning as ideas fundamental to the concept of play. Somewhat in
contrast, the non-Aboriginal teachers defined play as unstructured and generallY
noisier than other types of activities. Their definitions were more similar to those
found in the mainstream research Iiterature on play than were those of the
Aboriginal teachers, possibly as a result of teacher training in which they learn
about sorne of the mainstream Iiterature on play (cf. Hodgkin, 1985; Paley, 1992;
Wasserman, 1990). Although their teacher training program wouId bear
•
similarities to that of the non-Aboriginal teachers, the Cree and Mohawk
teachers' definitions were not completely similar to the non-Aboriginal teachers'
•
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Play as an Educational Strategy
75
definitions. This suggests that culture may partial1y account for these differences.
The Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal teachers also differed in their reasons
for using play to teach their students. Play was seen by the Aboriginal teachers as
the medium through which children learn natural1y without being aware that they
are learning, and by the non-Aboriginal teachers as an effective behaviour
management technique. A difference in the goals of play cited by the Aboriginal
and non-Aboriginal teachers surfaced. The Cree and Mohawk teachers referred
to creativity/imagination as a goal of play, whereas the non-Aboriginal teachers
talked about using play to allow their students an opportunity to release energy.
•
Similarly, the Cree and Mohawk teachers talked about play as an opportunity to
share control over lessons with their students but the non-Aboriginal teachers did
not. Together, these results suggest that the issue of control and their perception
of the relationship between play and learning differentiate the Aboriginal teachers
in this study from the non-Aboriginal teachers. Culture appears to contribute to
this difference.
Information from the literature on Aboriginallearning and teaching
corroborates the beliefs held by the Cree and Mohawk teachers participating in
this study (Gillis, 1991; Marashio, 1982; Tafoya, 1982). Somewhat in contrast to
this information, it has been suggested that, for non-Aboriginal teachers, play as
an educational strategy has generally remained in the realm of espoused theories
•
and beliefs (see Daiute, 1991; Hodgkin, 1985; Moyles. 1989; Wasserman, 1990).
Sorne researchers and practitioners (e.g., Hodgkin, 1985; Moyles, 1989) have
•
Mariene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
76
posited that play does not become part of non-Aboriginal teachers' classroom
practices because, as Westerners, they are grounded in "the Puritan ethic" and are
"by and large, products of their own extensive programming as pupils in the public
school system" (Wasserman, 1990, p. 15). Thus, culture may partially explain the
differences in the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal teachers' stated beliefs regarding
play as an educational strategy.
Use of Play
Numerous differences in the participating Cree, Mohawk, and nonAboriginal teachers' use of play as an educational strategy were found. The Cree
•
teachers used manipulatives, roleplaying/mimicking, and reading/storytelling more
frequently than did the Mohawk teachers. Because the Mohawk teachers live
near and are influenced by mainstream culture to a greater extent than are the
Cree teachers, it is possible that these influences have had a stronger impact on
their teaching practices. Play was used as a means of evaluation more frequently
by both the Cree and the Mohawk teachers than by the non-Aboriginal teachers.
This is expected based on what is known about historically traditional Aboriginal
teaching ways (Marashio, 1982; Tafoya, 1982). The Mohawk teachers also used
play to motivate their students more often than did the non-Aboriginal teachers;
as weil, they used teasing and fooling around in their lessons more frequently
than did the non-Aboriginal teachers. Contrary to the information from the
•
Aboriginallearning and teaching literature, the non-Aboriginal teachers relied on
manipulatives and reading/storytelling more frequently than did the Mohawk
•
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77
teachers.
Subsequent Analyses
Play as a means of evaluation and teasing and fooling around were more
frequently used by same-same teachers (teacher and students share culture; the
language of the classroom is the students' first language) and same-different
teachers (teacher and students share culture; second-language context for
students) than by "different" teachers (teachers of a different cultural background
to students who may or may not teach in the students' first language). A similar
pattern occurred when the teachers were grouped by cultural background alone.
•
It is interesting to speculate that shared cultural background is a necessary
condition for teasing to occur. If so, these results suggest that culture may
partially account for sorne of the differences in how play is used as an educational
strategy by these teachers.
Linguistic context appears to have an impact on the teaching practices of
these teachers, and may also partially account for group differences. The samedifferent teachers used play as means of practice for their students more often
than did the "different" teachers. In addition, the same-different teachers relied
on play for practice and evaluation more frequently than did the same·same
teachers. In each contrast, the difference between the two groups lies in the
linguistic context: the same-different teachers are teaching in a second language
•
context, whereas the same-same and the "different" teachers are nof.
20 ne of the three non-Aboriginal teachers was teaching in a second language
context. Because the analysis is on grouped data, however, the impact of her
teaching practices is diminished by that of the other two teachers.
•
Mariene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
78
Consequently, the same-different teachers may have had to develop c1assroom
practices to compensate for their students' weaker expressive language and
comprehension skills in the second language, as weil as provide opportunities for
practising language.
Summal)' and Conclusions
The present study is part of a larger program of research undertaken to
examine Algonquin, Cree, and Mohawk teaching and learning conversations. This
program was initiated in response to teacher educators' concerns about the lack
of information on Aboriginal teaching strategies; consequently, the results of this
•
program of research, including those of the present study, will be fed into the
Native and Northern teacher training program at McGill University.
The present study had three objectives: first, to document the participating
Cree and Mohawk kindergarten, grade one, and grade two teachers' beliefs about
play as an educational strategy; second, to document how these teachers used play
to teach; and third, to look for possible differences among the participating Cree,
Mohawk, and non-Aboriginal teachers in terms of their beliefs about and their
use of play. Nine Cree and Mohawk teachers were interviewed regarding their
beliefs about play; seven of these teachers were also videotaped teaching lessons.
Similar data were collected for three non-Aboriginal teachers working in t.he same
Cree and Mohawk communities. The interview transcripts were examined for
•
evidence of themes related to play as an educational strategy. These themes,
together with information from the literature on Aboriginal teaching styles, were
•
Mariene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
79
used to create a coding scheme, which was used to analyse the teachers'
videotaped lessons.
Results indicate that the participating Cree and Mohawk teachers believe
they use play in their lessons largely because it is fun and facilitates students'
learning. Somewhat in contrast, the non-Aboriginal teachers stated that play is a
means of holding the students' interest and attention, allowing them more
behavioural control during a lesson. The Cree and Mohawk teachers expressed
difficulty when asked to define the term play, offering 'boundaries' of play
instead: free (child-controlled) play, teacher-controlled play, learning, and fun.
•
The non-Aboriginal teachers inc1uded fun, "unstructured-ness", and increased
noise level in their definitions. In terms of their use of play as an educational
strategy, the Mohawk teachers used play in the roles of motivation, presentation,
practice, and evaluation, and as a reward, whereas the Cree teachers used it
primarily for practice, evaluation, and reward. Manipulatives,
roleplaying/mimicking, singing/dancing, teasing and fooling around, and
reading/storytelling were the most frequently used kinds of play for the Cree
teachers. The Mohawk teachers relied on roleplaying/mimicking and teasing and
fooling around in their lessons. Overall, the non-Aboriginal teachers' use of play
was similar to that of the Aboriginal teachers. Differences inc1uded less frequent
use of play to evaluate students' learning, and fewer occurrences of teasing and
•
fooling around during their lessons.
In conclusion, the Cree and Mohawk teachers of the present study
•
MarIene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
80
reported different beliefs about play in comparison to the participating nonAboriginal teachers. Differences arose in terms of why the teachers believed they
used play in their lessons, the role of play, the goal of play, and how play was
defined. The Cree and Mohawk teacher,' beliefs about play are somewhat
reflective of historically traditional Aboriginal teaching strategies. Examination of
the teachers' use of play also revealed differences between the Aboriginal and
non-Aboriginal teachers. Sorne differences occurred among the Cree, Mohawk,
and non-Aboriginal teachers; others occurred among the teachers who shared
their students culture and first language, teachers who shared only their students'
•
culture (second-language c1assroom context), and teachers who did not share their
students' culture (but may or may not have shared their first language). Culture
and the linguistic context of the c1assroom appear to partially accoum for these
Cree and Mohawk teachers' beliefs about and use of play as an educational
strategy.
Educational and Research Implications
The educational implications of the results of this study are most evident
for Aboriginal teacher-training programs. At present, there is insufficient
knowledge and understanding of Aboriginal styles of learning and teaching to
provide wholly culturally based teacher training (L. McAlpine, personal
communication). The results support the notion that teaching strategies other
•
than those typically used by white Western teachers may be more culturally
appropriate for teachers from sorne Aboriginal communities. By providing more
•
MarIene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
81
culturally based teacher training, student teachers might be better able to match
their students' leaming needs, possibly initiating more successful academic
experiences for sorne. Such training may also serve as an additional means of
retaining traditional cultural teaching ways. More research, however, will have to
be undertaken to confirm the results of this study before they can be used in
Aboriginal teacher-training programs.
Expanding this Hne of reasoning, there are implications for teacher training
programs of white Western teachers as weI\. Those who work in multicultural
c1assrooms might benefit fr·)m a better understanding of the learning needs of
•
their Aboriginal students. Such understanding would enable them to implement
more appropriate strategies for teaching these students, perhaps resulting in
greater feelings of success for their students and themselves (cf. Erickson &
Mohatt, 1982; Erickson, 1987). Moreover, teachers working in multicultural
c1assrooms who have learned about Aboriginallearning and teaching strategies
may become more sensitive to the needs of their other non-Western students.
In addition to educational implications, there are also implications for
future research. Perhaps the most important of these is how to define play. One
of the results of this study was that the Aboriginal teachers conceptualized the
term play differently in comparison to the non-Aboriginal teachers. Although the
non-Aboriginal teachers used more criteria in their definitions of play--which
•
were, consequently, more similar to those of the mainstream researchers th an
were those of the Aboriginal teachers--neither group used ail the criteria
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82
MarIene Desjardins
proposed by mainstream researchers (cf. Smith & Vollstedt, 1985). Furthermore,
the Aboriginal teachers' beliefs suggested that play was seen more as an approach
to activity than as a type of activity. This is a notion consistent with Bruner's
(1977) definition of play and one that is largely in contrast to other mainstream
researchers' definitions.
One solution to this dilemma is to ask the participant if an activity is play,
rather than defining the term a priori. In so doing, the definition reflects the
participant's perspective and is less artificiaI. As weil, the researcher is less Iikely
to overlook episodes of play.
•
Another important research implication is the use of qualitative as weil as
quantitative data. In this study, the results would have been less striking had 1
only examined the teachers' use of play. ln sorne ways, as would be expected
given that their teacher training programs are based on similar bodies of research
and thinking, the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal teachers were similar in their use
of play. Interesting differences arose, however, in their beliefs about play as an
c:ducational strategy. In addition, the qualitative information the teachers
provided frames their classroom practices; without this information, their practices
may have been misinterpreted and would surely have been less weil understood.
Methodological Limitations
The results of this study, although interesting, are limited by three
•
methodological weaknesses. Firstly, the participation of more Cree, Mohawk, and
non-Aboriginal teachers at each of the three grade levels (a larger overall sample
•
Mariene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
83
size) would have c1arified the patterns embedded in the data. As weil, videotapes
of c1assroom lessons in a variety of subject areas from each teacher would have
provided more information about how play is used generally. The statistical
analyses would have benefitted from a larger sampie size, both in terms of the
number of teachers and the number of episodcs of play. At this point, the
conclusions of this study must remain tentative.
Secondly, more detailed information about the teachers' beliefs about play
as an educational strategy could have been obtained during the interviews. For
example, what were their experiences as a student and how may these experiences
•
have influenced their use of play? Interview questions more directly driven by the
gaps in the Iiterature describing play in Aboriginal teaching and learning contexts,
both historically and currently, may have been usefuI. Again, this would have
c1arified the patterns embedded in the data and would have enabled a more indepth exploration of the teachers' beliefs about and use of play. Moreover, such
information would have confirmed and extended previous work in the area.
Thirdly, a person from each community respected as an expert on the
culture of that community would have provided an opportunity for triangulation
of the results. Il is possible that the Aboriginal teachers' training as weil as their
own educational experiences may have altered their beliefs about the use of play
as an educational strategy. Cultural experts, most likely eIders, who may
•
remember how learning occurred in their communities prior to white, Western
education could possibly have provided specifie insight regarding tradition al and
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84
Mariene Desjardins
current Cree and Mohawk teaching practices.
Together, these changes wouId strengthen the findings of the present study.
Future research should consider these issues in order to extend current
knowledge and understanding of Cree and Mohawk teachers' beliefs about and
use of play as an educational strategy.
Future Research
ln addition to considering the methodological issues discussed above,
future research should be conducted to corroborate the findings of the present
study. In terms of extending knowledge and understanding of Aboriginal
•
teachers' beliefs about and use of play, teachers from upper elementary grade
levels should be included to see if play continues to be used by Cree and Mohawk
teachers. Participation of teachers from other Aboriginal communities would
reveal the extent to which tellchers from different cultural communities are
similar and dissimilar to each other. As weil, an examination of what eiders, who
frequently teach Aboriginal culture and language classes both in the school and in
the "bush", believe about play and how they lise it might indicate how subject
matter content influences use of play. These issues warrant investigation, given
their potential impact on knowledge and understanding of Aboriginal teaching
practices and, consequently, on the schooling experiences of Aboriginal children
and the preparation of both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal future teachers.
•
My Learning EJglerience
This study represents the first qualitative research project on which 1 have
•
MarIene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
85
worked. My own previous experience is in quantitative rt'search, crunching
numbers and following the APA guidelines religiously. As a result of my
ignorance concerning qualitative research design, 1 occasionally had difficulty
anticipating what 1 needed to know und what questions 1 needed to ask. 1
jumped headlong into my work and struggled, often gelting frustrated, until 1 was
able to put it ail together. Consequently, my experience has highlighted for me
three important basic principles.
Firstly, 1 will talk more frequently to others who are doing qualitative
research both about their research as weil as about mine. These exchanges will
•
belter inform me of issues 1 may not have considered and they will provide
feedback about my own research project.
Secondly, it is vital to fully investigate the methodology and research
design carefully. 1 already knew much about dealing with issues of reliability and
validity in quantitative research, but had not thought about how to do this in
qualitative research. In order to conduct rigorous research, it is important to
understand the strengths and weaknesses of the design to be used.
Thirdly, as 1 am working on the first two principles, 1 will write down
decisions 1 make and why 1 have made them, as weil as the organizatioll of the
procedures to be followed in conducting the research, including how much
information will be
•
coller.~",d,
from whom, when, and how. For the most part, 1
did do this, having learned from earlier experiences, but, in hindsight, even more
faithful documentation was necessary. When it is time to begin writing, extensive
•
MarIene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
86
documentation such as this wi1\ stand me in good stead.
In addition to learning more about how to conduct and write-up qualitative
research, l became sensitized to sorne of the issues surrounding cross-cultural
research. Interacting with and talking to Aboriginal teachers prompted me to
think about my preconceptions of them as people from another culture; 1 also
thought extensively about sorne of my assumptions regarding play and educational
practices, and the extent to which these are cultura11y deterrnined. With respect
to conducting research, my experiences initiated a shift in my perception of the
people who gave their time and effort and who shared part of their personallives
with me. 1 came to view the teachers as colJaborators, not merely information-
•
providers who want to get a report when the study is finished. 1 quickly learned
the importance of respecting these people, ensuring that they are comfortable
with the information they shared with me as we11 as with how this information was
analysed and where the results have been/will be disseminated.
Conducting a qualitative research project has alJowed me to experience a11
these issues and has enabled me to more effectively understand the process. A
course on qualitative research design would have paled in comparison. Thus,
when 1 begin my next research project, 1 shalJ have experience on which to draw
and wi1\ work more effectively and efficiently as a result.
•
•
•
Mariene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
87
References
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92
Appendix A
Protocol for Semi-structured Interview
1. Do you think you use play in your teaching? If so, what is an example of
this?
2. When are the children permitted to play?
3. During free play, do you intervene in a child's or several children's activity to
teach new material or reinforce previously taught material?
4. Do you think ifs appropriate or useful to incorporate play into your lessons
•
to teach your students? How about for older children? How about for
subjects other than a second language, such as math or language arts?
5. If ycm had to define the word 'play' to someone who didn't understand what
you meant, how would you do it?
•
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MarIene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
93
Appendix B
Data Analysis - Play Check1ist
Segment:
1.
Teacher Code:
y
Is there play?
N
Indicate whether the episode was student-initiated or teacher-initiated.
STUDENT-initiated
TEACHER-initiated
2. Is it Free Play?
•
Student-controlled with somewhat less teacher control?
Free from a selection chosen by teacher?
Teacher-controlled with somewhat less student control?
Teacher-controlled?
3. Is opportunistic teaching occurring?
N
N
N
N
N
Y
N
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
N
N
N
N
Y
N
4. What stage of instruction is the teacher at?
Motivation
Presentation
Practice
Evaluation
Reward
5. Do the students appear to be engaged?
If yes, what evidence indicates they are engaged?
•
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Mariene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
94
6.
7.
What is being taught?
8.
Wbat kind of play is occurring?
manipulatives
roleplaying/mimicking
singing
game
teasing/fooling arcund
reading/storytelling
9.
•
•
What type of language setting is it for the
students?
lst
2nd
y
y
y
y
y
y
N
N
N
N
N
N
How many students are involved in the activity? (circ1e one)
LESS than balf the c1ass
NOTES
MORE than half the c1ass
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Mariene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
95
FOR AN EPISODE OF PLAY WITHIN PLAy 3
1.
Is an episode of play occurring within the context of another, perhaps
N
Y
primary, episode of play?
Was it TEACHER-initiated or STUDENT-initiated? (circle one)
2.
Is it Free Play?
Student-controlled with somewhat less teacher control?
Free from a selection chosen by teacher?
Teacher-controlled with somewhat less student control?
Teacher"colltrolled?
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
N
N
N
N
3.
Is opportunistic teaching occurring?
Y
N
Motivation
Presentation
Practice
Evaluation
Reward
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
N
N
N
N
Do the students appear to be engaged?
Y
N
4. What stage of instruction is the teacher at?
•
5.
If yes, what evidence indicates they are engaged?
6.
What type of language setting is it
3An
•
episode of play within play refers to occurrences of separate episodes of play
within a longer episode of play. An example of this is when the students are
manipulating blocks and spontaneously start to sing songs during this activity. When
such situations arose, the episode of play within play was coded using the designated
section of the coding checklist.
•
Mariene Desjardins
for the students?
7.
What is being taught?
8.
What kind of play is occurring?
manipulatives
roleplaying/mimicking
singing
game
teasing/fooling around
reading/storytelling
Educational Strategy
lst
2nd
y
y
y
y
y
y
How many students are involved in the activity? (circle one)
LESS than half the class
•
~.n
96
9.
•
Play as
MORE than half the class
N
N
N
N
N
N
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MarIene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
97
Appendix C
Original Table
Percental!e of eoisodes of olav coded for each checklist item
Teacher
Checklist Item
Total number of episodes of
play
4
5
6
7
9
10
11
12
4
5
2
2
16
4
5
3
5
100
75
100
100
100
56
75
100
67
100
0
25
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Student-teacher controlIed play
50
0
0
0
0
31
25
20
33
20
Play free from a selection
50
0
20
50
50
6
0
20
0
0
Teacher-student controlIed play
0
50
60
0
50
31
25
40
0
40
Teacher·controlIed play
0
25
20
50
0
31
50
20
67
40
Opportunistic teaching
50
100
80
100
100
69
50
100
100
40
Motivation
0
0
20
50
50
6
0
0
0
0
Presemation
0
0
20
100
50
0
0
0
33
20
Practice
100
75
80
100
100
100
50
100
67
80
Evaluation
100
75
80
50
100
100
25
80
0
20
Reward
100
25
0
0
50
13
0
0
0
20
Students are engaged
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
Second·language cIassroom
yes
no
no
yes
yes
yes
no
no
no
yes
50
75
20
100
50
0
25
60
67
40
100
75
40
50
100
25
25
40
67
40
0
0
60
0
0
13
0
20
0
20
50
0
0
50
0
0
25
0
33
0
100
100
60
0
100
94
75
40
67
60
50
50
40
50
100
0
0
20
67
60
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
Free play
Manipulatives
Roleplayingtmimicking
Singingtdancing
Game
Teasingtfooling around
Readingtstorytelling
•
3
2
Teacher·initiated
•
1
More than half the students are
involved
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MarIene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
98
The codes 'Students are engaged' and 'More than half the students were
involved' were dropped from the tables because they overlapped conceptually and
did not contribute to the overall emerging picture of the Cree, Mohawk, and nonAboriginal teachers' use of play. The 'Second·language c1assroom' code was
moved to the Method section, under 'Participating Teachers'.
•
•
•
Mariene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
99
Appendix D
Test of Significance for Differences between Group Means
The procedure followed for testing the difference between group means was
taken from Chapter 6: Differences between proportions in Cohen's (1969) book,
Statistical power analysis for the behaviora: sciences. This statistical analysis is
designed for testing hypothesized differences between indep<:ndent population
proportions. The data in this study, although they are expressed as percentages,
were initially proportions with 0 indicating absence of a particular code and 1
indicating presence of a particular code. In addition, the populations are
•
independent of each other. The prerequisites for using this statistical analysis
procedure were met, hence it was used.
Firstly, because the sampie sizes were not equal, the harmonie sample size
mean had to be calculated using the formula
n' = 2n 1!!.2
n[ + n 2,
where n[ and n2 refer to the sizes of the first and second samples, respectively.
Secondly, the proportions of interest for the two groups, Pl and P 2' were
converted to arcsine transformed cP values (Table 6.2.2, Cohen, 1969, p. 178), and
the difference between the two obtained cP values was found:
Thirdly, the h, value was compared to a criterion value, hO' for the
•
appropriate n value (substitute n' for n in the case of unequal sample sizes). The
•
Marlene Desjardins
Play as an Educational Strategy
100
criterion values are found in several tables, each of which represent different
alpha levels (Cohen, 1969, pp. 181-192). Half of these tables are for directional
tests, the othp.r haIf for non-directional tests (al and a z, respectively).
In this manner the percentages for the Cree, Mohawk, and non-Aboriginal
teachers, as well as the same culture-same language, same culture-different
language, and different culture teacher groupings, were tested for significant
differences (Tables 13 and 14).
•
•