Education Commons^™

Barrington Bunny: Case Of The Curious Clouds A Narrative Picture Book For Symbolic Play And Stem Curriculum, Claudia Chung

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Adults constantly use their imagination to help them visualize, problem-solve, enjoy a book, empathize, and think creatively. Therefore, using one's imagination is a critical cognitive skill that can be used throughout life. And it is crucial for educators to encourage imagination, creativity and original ideas in childhood through pretend play, story, picture books, and narrative make-believe if we want our students to be mindful and functioning adults in society. Pretend play is also known as "symbolic play" because it involves the use of symbols. This type of symbolic thought is also needed for language and reading, as our words are …

Seeing Meaning, Barry Goldberg

Occasional Paper Series

Artist Barry Goldberg’s essay, Seeing Meaning, in which he narrates his personal experiences working with young children, exposes the limitations of words and suggests the possibility of a responsiveness from adults that serves to open and sustain creative thinking.

Playing In Literary Landscapes: Considering Children's Need For Fantasy Literature In The Place-Based Classroom, Sarah Fischer

Occasional Paper Series

Are the philosophies and pedagogical practices of literature-based classrooms congruent with place-based classrooms? In this paper, the author argues that not only is imaginative literature compatible with place-based philosophies, but it can become a powerful centerpiece of a curriculum aimed at educating for a sense of place and inspiring life-long readers.

Play As A Growth Process (1951), Barbara Biber

Bank Street Thinkers

"What do play experiences do for child growth? If a child can have a really full wholesome experience with play, he will be having the most wholesome kind of fun that a child can have. For a child to have fun is basic to his future happiness. His early childhood play may become the basic substance out of which he lays down one of his life patterns, namely, not only that one can have fun but that one can create fun...."

Imaginary Stories In School: First Steps Toward Literacy, Gillian Dowley Mcnamee

Occasional Paper Series

This essay holds that to forgo opportunities for children's pretend play and conversation around storytelling in school is to distort the very nature of language development and literacy.

The Creative Process: A Symposium, Charlotte B. Winsor

Books

A collection of papers encompassing an education conference about the creative process, in honor of Lucy Sprague Mitchell - founder of Bank Street College. The collection examines the creative process theoretically through psychodynamic and Piagetian viewpoints, as well as the effects of creativity on cognition and development. The works cover a large range of discussions on creativity and include an array of studio-workshop reports using music, food, needlework, and many more materials to stimulate creativity.

Play Making In The School Group; The Use Of Pantomime In Developing Acting Techniques, Ellen W. Steele, Charlotte Perry

69 Bank Street

Volume 1 Number 4, January 1935

"Play making in the school group" describes the kind of play that grows through the school experience (in this case, a field trip) and takes form in the school life."

"The use of pantomime in developing acting techniques" describes the teacher's first steps in guiding young children beyond pretend play toward dramatic form through the use of pantomime."