Running head: PLAY CENTER 1

Standard 1: Learner Development

The teacher understands how learners grow and develop, recognizing that patterns of learning

and development vary individually within and across the cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional,

and physical areas, and designs and implements developmentally appropriate and challenging

learning experiences.

In this assignment, I was required to design a play center in which students would have the

opportunity to move beyond seat work. Seat work usually only caters to one pattern of learning

and development and doesn’t give students the opportunity to show their growth and

development across a spectrum of activities. This play center allowed students to be more

physically active by implementing a game about the physical regions of Georgia. The students

encountered encountering questions that required them to use their cognitive skills and social

skills when working with the group. Because of this I believe that this assignment addresses

InTASC standard 1.
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Summary of Play Center

Aaminah T. Durham

Wesleyan College

Author Note

This paper was prepared for EDU 245, taught by Dr. Wilcox
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A play center or learning center is a station set up within a classroom that enables

students to increase comprehension and understanding of subject matter. Play centers can be used

for almost any subject and grade and are great aids to the teacher because they can be used

without the teacher’s supervision. The students are also enthusiastic because it gives them a

chance to interact with their lesson in a unique way that is both fun and educational. Play centers

are also a pleasurable to review material before an upcoming test. This was a key fact I kept in

mind as I designed and utilized my play center.

More often than not a teacher’s main focus when teaching is to prepare their students for

material they will encounter on a standardized test. They often feel that they don’t have enough

time to thoroughly cover the material and spend all free time reviewing with students. Such was

the case with my assigned field placement teacher, Ms. Turner. I began my visits roughly a

month before GA Milestones were to begin. Ms. Turner, a science teacher, was fully absorbed in

reviewing what the students had been studying. I saw that when designing my play center, I

would need to keep this in mind especially because she was reluctant to pull students away from

the work she had assigned. I explained to her the details and purpose of the play center and asked

what standard she would like me to cover. She provided me with standards S23L1a, b, c and d

that stated that students should be able to differentiate between habitats of Georgia

(mountains/marsh/swamp, coast, Piedmont, Atlantic Ocean) and the organisms that live there,

identify features of green plants that allow them to live and thrive in different regions of Georgia,

identify features of animals that allow them to live and thrive in different regions of Georgia and

explain what will happen to an organism if the habitat is changed. She chose these standards

because the students would see these topics on their Milestones assessment.
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Initially, I found it difficult to find an activity that would be simple yet complex enough

for 3rd graders to complete in a reasonable amount of time and would be considered “play.” I was

utilizing the “learn-and-teach-through-play approach” (Frost, Wortham, Reifel, 2012, p. 260) in

which the main goal is for the children to learn a concept or skill that connects to specific

academic standards through play. This caused me to worry that my activity would come across as

too “teachy”. I scoured the internet for ideas but because my standards were specific to Georgia

curriculums it was challenging to find a suitable activity.

I finally came across a board game on Teachers Pay Teachers. I considered it to be a good

fit for what I was trying to achieve. The board game involved flash cards that quizzed students

on material specific to my chosen standards. A student read the card with a question on it and put

down what they thought the answer was on a recording sheet. Their fellow player and classmate

would then check the answer sheet to see if they were correct. If the answer was correct, the

student rolled the die and moved forward the number they rolled. If they were incorrect they

moved backwards the number they rolled. Because it was a board game, a student had to play

with 1-3 other player promoting social interaction and competiveness. It also encouraged peer

and self-assessment. Because I initially intended for the students to complete the board game

without my aid, I adjusted the instructions so that they were very detailed and specified step by

step what was expected of the students in terms of recording and checking their answers.

I set the play center up for 4 students to use and stepped back to observe. I had included

in my instructions for students to read the directions for the game and then check with me. This

gave me the opportunity to ensure that students understood the directions and it gave me a

chance to explain any small details. As the game started though, it became apparent that they

would need supervision throughout because they continued to ask questions after the game had
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started. Also, because there were 4 students in the group they had a tendency to be distracted by

their peers making side comments and jokes. I ended up facilitating a lot longer than I intended

to, making sure that the rules were followed in the correct order and the students stayed on task.

The recording sheet gave me an easy way to assess how many answers students got correct or

incorrect. Because this recording sheet assessed the children academically, I utilized a behavioral

assessment for the children to take at the end.

After watching the children in action and looking at the assessment, it appeared that the

questions were a little too difficult. The students got the majority of the questions incorrect and

the ones they did get correct were the easy questions. Also, the game went very slowly. It took

time for the game to pick up and by the time it did, the children had to leave the center. If I were

to redo the play center, I would revise the questions to make them easier with fewer answer

choices so that the game could go faster.

In reflection of my designed play center, I am pleased with the overall idea of the board

game. I also thought my assessments were very effective in that they could easily be reviewed

and grade to see what areas would need strengthening in the future. I would however change the

purpose for my play center. In the future, I would not use the play center to review material for a

test. This causes the facilitator to worry over whether the students are actually learning.

Furthermore, it takes away from the play aspect of the play center. The purpose of the play center

is to give the children a fun and creative outlet to practice their skills. Therefore, a play center

should not be designed with the purpose of students memorizing information. Because of this, I

felt my expectations for the play center were not met. However, I believe the students enjoyed

the game and in fact were eager to play it again.

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References
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Frost, J. L., Wortham, S. C., & Reifel, R. S. (2012). Play and child development. Upper Saddle

River, NJ: Merrill, Prentice Hall.

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