InnoPlay - Innovative Playful Learning Environments

Co-project of the InnoSchool Consortium Project

>> InnoPlay's website at the University of Lapland
>> InnoPlay's research website

Playful learning environments (PLEs) -environments that emphasize game-based learning, physicality, creativity, and knowledge co-creation -have much potential for meeting the challenges of the schools of the future. The particular goal of InnoPlay-project is to replay the educational challenges of the future by developing the concept of Playful learning for the Future School. The concept relates to playful learning environments enriched by technological tools such as SmartUs -playgrounds (see www.smartus.fi ) which are rapidly gaining popularity and provide new forums for educational investigations; many educational organizations in Europe have adopted PLEs in their daily educational practices, for instance in following countries: the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain and Germany.

InnoPlay has used a variety of methods to investigate how PLEs can serve curriculum-based learning and what factors influence students' and teachers' satisfaction with PLEs, implemented via the technology-enriched playground. The research has included cross-cultural studies, and research data have been collected from schools in Finland and in the Netherlands. In addition, InnoPlay participates in Global Campus Pilot — GLOBUS project, which broadens InnoPlay's studies from SmartUs contexts to other playful learning environments.

The objective in the second phase is to study in more general level how to break boundaries between virtual, physical, and social spaces in education by:

• facilitating creative learning processes and media proficiency;
• creating playful learning environments that generalize across classrooms, schools, and cultures;
• developing integrated playful learning models and curricula to enhance lifelong and life wide learning.

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