Foreword by: Alfie Kohn
Publication Date: February 14, 2022
Pages: 176
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:
Suzanne Lyons is a former physics and general science teacher; co-author of Conceptual Integrated Science, a textbook program used internationally and now in its third edition; a teacher trainer; and an award-wining game designer. Suzanne provides workshops and conference presentations on cooperative games, and she continues to educate the public through her website CooperativeGames.com.
“Ultimately, this book is most insightful for teachers, educators and researchers to reflect and realise the possible abuses of fossilised cooperative learning practices in our educational field and change them into more ‘peaceful’ and ‘humanist’ paradigms.”
—Journal of Education for Teaching
“As Suzanne Lyons argues in the pages that follow, by setting up a scenario where everyone is rooting for everyone else, cooperative games teach children important lessons about the possibility, the practical benefits, and the deep satisfaction of doing things with, rather than against, other people.”
—From the Foreword by Alfie Kohn
“Cooperative Games in Education presents the rare combination of a deep dive into the research and theory behind cooperative play and learning while also providing a comprehensive guide for bringing games into school and community contexts. Lyons makes a compelling and timely case for the power of playing and learning together and provides a treasure trove of tools and ready-to-use activities.”
—Mimi Coughlin, professor, Sacramento State University
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
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