Psychology 206 - Psychology of Play

(Offered as PSYC 206 and EDST 206) This course will explore how children learn through play. The first part of the course will focus on defining play and exploring researchers’ differing perspectives on whether children can learn by playing. The second part of the course will involve visits to the Beneski Museum, the Holyoke Children’s Museum, and Amelia Park Children’s Museum to explore the role of museums in studying and advancing children’s playful learning. Students will learn about the unique strengths and weaknesses of museum-based research and how socio-economic, educational, ethnic, and racial factors affect how children and families interact with museum exhibits. The third part of the course will be devoted to designing interventions that will encourage playful learning goals established in cooperation with the director and administrators at Amelia Park Children’s Museum in Westfield, MA. These interventions will be designed in small groups and implemented in the museum. This class requires a significant amount of work and travel that takes place outside of class meeting time. Enrollment will be decided via an interview process during preregistration. This course fulfills the lab/research methods requirement for the Psychology major.

Requisite: PSYC 100. Limited to 15 students. Offered Spring semester. Professor Palmquist.

How to handle overenrollment: Priority given to psychology majors and students who have taken Developmental Psychology

Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: emphasis on written work, readings, independent research, oral presentations, in-class participation, and group work. Students should also be prepared to travel (both locally and to California) to take part in this course.