Early Childhood Seminar Series 2025

Early Childhood Seminar Series 2025

Laureate Professor Marilyn Fleer presents Conceptual PlayWorld: Empirical model to support imagination and creativity

By Faculty of Arts and Education

Date and time

Location

Online

About this event

  • Event lasts 1 hour

Abstract:

Imagination and creativity do not just happen in children’s play. As professionals we plan exciting and creative moments to support the development of children’s play. There are many approaches to planning and very different models of play practice. Many of these are based on research undertaken in the 1950’s. Some models were never based on research. In addition, little guidance on the role of the teacher in supporting children to develop their play is given – other than to set up resources. In this presentation, we will explore an evidence-informed model of play that was developed from 20 years of research with and for teachers in the birth to 8 years settings. The model known as a Conceptual PlayWorld has been shown to support teachers to plan and implement creative and imaginative play environments that are exciting and motivating for children. In addition, the research has shown that high quality child-teacher interactions are promoted through this model, enabling rich and expansive learning and development across a range of curriculum areas. The presentation will go through all the 5 characteristics of the model. The presentation will showcase through video examples the model in practice. You will see the joy of both children and teachers in action.

The research that underpins the presentation sits within a suite of activities and resources developed through the Monash University Conceptual PlayLab, originally funded through the Laureate Fellowship Scheme of the Australian Research Council. Some examples of free resources include:

https://www.monash.edu/education/research/projects/conceptual-playlab

https://www.monash.edu/conceptual-playworld

https://research.monash.edu/en/persons/marilyn-fleer

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNULBvqxdcSp31osNlUJInQ/videos

https://x.com/marilynfleer

https://www.facebook.com/groups/ConceptualPlayWorld/

https://thesector.com.au/2023/05/01/laureate-professor-marilyn-fleer-named-as-sir-john-monash-distinguished-professor/

https://www.vic.gov.au/manufacturing-world-first-co-teaching-model

The presentation content has been designed for teachers and researchers and will discuss evidence informed early childhood pedagogy, research methods and theoretical concepts.

About the Presenter:

Laureate Professor Marilyn Fleer is an Emeritus Sir John Monash Distinguished Professor at Monash University, Australia. She was awarded the Australian Research Council 2018 Kathleen Fitzpatrick Laureate Fellowship and was a former President of the International Society of Cultural-historical Activity Research (ISCAR). Additionally, she holds the positions of an honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Education, University of Oxford, and was a second professor position in the KINDKNOW Centre, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (2018-2023), and has been bestowed the title of Honorary professor at the Danish School of Education, Aarhus University, Denmark. She was presented with the 2019 Ashley Goldsworthy Award for Outstanding leadership in university-business collaboration, elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences, and inducted into the Honour Roll of Women in Victoria as a change agent. Her YouTube Channel has many resources to view, and the Conceptual PlayLab Website provides free resources to download.

Organized by

FreeAug 3 · 9:30 PM PDT