Full Description
Cooperative Games in Education is the first comprehensive guide to the world of cooperative play and games for pre-K-12 learning. It includes a thorough pedagogical rationale and guidelines for practice, a survey of related research and scholarship, engaging anecdotes, illustrations, historical background, and an array of sample games to try. In cooperative games, players win or lose together, sharing the experience of fun and challenge. No one can be eliminated in a cooperative game. What is eliminated is us-versus-them perception and zero-sum thinking. When students come to see each other as allies, rather than rivals, there are profound interpersonal effects that enhance community, inclusion, and a positive classroom climate where all can learn and thrive. This accessible, lively resource explains the value of cooperative games with guidance to help teachers use them for maximum social-emotional and academic benefit. Cooperative Games in Education will also interest the broader community of administrators, therapists, school psychologists, game designers, child-care providers, and others who care for children and need tools that foster healthy development, positive relationships, and joy.
Book Features:
Discussion of relevant research and theory.
Best practices for choosing and facilitating cooperative games, including how to integrate them into any curriculum, guide post-game reflection, and convert traditional competitive games to cooperative ones.
A full chapter of educational cooperative games correlated to their educational purpose.
Discussion of some of the most salient applications of cooperative games, such as social-emotional learning, academic subject-area instruction, cooperative learning, trauma-sensitive practice, bullying prevention, early childhood education, and more.
User-friendly features such as questions for reflection, end-of-chapter games, charming author-generated illustrations, and classroom vignettes.
A synthesis of interdisciplinary scholarship that includes the work of Montessori, Piaget, Froebel, and Dewey, as well as perspectives from neuroscience and evolutionary biology.
The fascinating history of cooperative games, from their origin as a tool for peace education to their current role as a pop-culture entertainment phenomenon.
Contents
Contents
Foreword ix
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction 1
About Playing Together 1
Why This Book? 3
Contents of This Book 5
PART I. FOUNDATIONS OF COOPERATIVE GAMES
1. What Are Cooperative Play and Games? 8
Understanding Play 8
Defining Cooperative Games 10
A Brief History of Cooperative Games 10
Theories of Learning and Play Supporting Cooperative Games 12
Playful Learning 16
Meeting Current Challenges in Play with Cooperative Games 17
Chapter Summary 21
Play to Learn—Try This! 22
2. Learning to Cooperate 24
Understanding Cooperation 25
Forms of Cooperation 26
What Cooperation Is Not 27
Roots of Cooperation 28
Social Interdependence Theory: Cooperation versus Competition 30
Learning Cooperation in School 32
Teaching Cooperation Through Play and Games 33
What Research Says About Teaching Cooperation Through Games 35
Chapter Summary 36
Play to Learn—Try This! 37
3. Rethinking Competition 39
Defining Terms 40
Documented Downsides of Competition 42
Handling Competition With Care in the Classroom 48
Chapter Summary 49
Play to Learn—Try This! 50
PART II. SOME COOPERATIVE GAMES AND GUIDELINES FOR PRACTICE
4. A Gallery of Cooperative Games 52
Cooperative Games for Welcoming and Inclusion 53
Cooperative Games for Trust-Building and Empathy 55
Cooperative Games for Community-Building 56
Cooperative Games to Prevent Bullying 57
Cooperative Games for Young Children 59
Cooperative Games for Older Children, Tweens, and Teens 61
Cooperative Games to Teach Language Arts 62
Cooperative Games to Teach Math 63
Cooperative Games to Teach Science 64
Classic Cooperative Play Activities 66
Chapter Summary 66
Play to Learn—Try This! 67
5. A Guide to Facilitating Cooperative Games 68
The Five Steps of Facilitating Games 69
Designing Cooperative Games 75
Converting Competitive Games to Cooperative Games 78
Chapter Summary 79
Play to Learn—Try This! 79
PART III. APPLICATIONS OF COOPERATIVE GAMES
6. Cooperative Games to Support Cooperative Learning 82
Background on Cooperative Learning 83
Using Cooperative Games to Support Cooperative Learning 85
A Cooperative Games Training Program for Cooperative Learning 86
Chapter Summary 91
Play to Learn—Try This! 91
7. Cooperative Games and the "Soft Skills" 93
Teaching the Whole Student 93
Pedagogy of Cooperative Games for Social and Emotional Learning 94
Cooperative Games and Classroom Climate 98
Cooperative Games for Moral Education 100
Chapter Summary 101
Play to Learn—Try This! 102
8. Cooperative Games to Prevent Aggression 103
The Aggressive Student 103
Group Aggression: Fighting Together 105
Treating Group Aggression 110
Cooperative Games to Reduce Group Aggression at School 112
Chapter Summary 116
Play to Learn—Try This! 117
9. Cooperative Games in Early Childhood Education 119
Young Children and Play 120
Cooperative Play—The Capstone of Early Childhood Social Development 122
How Cooperative Play Promotes Social Development 123
Two Definitions of Cooperative Play 125
Summary of Important Differences Between Competitive and Cooperative Play 126
How to Use Cooperative Games in the Early Childhood Classroom 128
Chapter Summary 133
Play to Learn—Try This! 134
Epilogue: Putting It All Together: A Pedagogy of Cooperative Games 136
Elements of the Pedagogical Framework 136
Conclusion 139
Appendix A. Answers to Questions for Reflection 141
Appendix B. Resources for Further Exploration 145
References 147
Index 154
About the Author 161
