'Seeing' play through the virtual looking glass: A metaphysical laboratory for de-framing and re-framing play for ECE
type: CreativeWork
description: In this thesis I address the ambiguous nature of play by interrogating alternative ways of ‘seeing’ play beyond what I assert to be its contemporary Enframed state. I argue that to gain alternative insight into the basic features and functions of play, the concept of play needs first to be Deframed. Play is described as an ambiguous, elusive phenomenon, which makes it susceptible to being framed in ways that deter learning and development of children in ways consistent with the basic purpose of play. Such Enframing is evident across many situations and settings, including unsubstantiated assumptions about the way children’s learning is best assessed in early childhood education. These assumptions contribute to misperceptions of teachers regarding play, including the effects of their presence or absence in children’s play. The ambiguity of play also accounts for difficulties in empirical research; applying traditional researching approaches to investigate such an elusive phenomenon has proven ineffective. These investigative shortcomings have contributed to a lack of clear pedagogical and methodological insights about play. As an alternative methodological framework to ‘see’ beyond the elusiveness of play I shift the focus from asking questions about how play can support learning to instead employing a phenomenological investigation of what play is that enables Deframing. I argue that to gain alternative insight into the basic features and functions of play, the concept of play needs first to be Deframed. Utilising Heideggerian phenomenological notions of Enframing and poiesis, I enter into a metaphysical laboratory in the virtual space, accessed through virtual reality (VR). This space offered insights into players’ subjective experiences when engaged in play. Play could thus be examined through empirical engagement rather than studied as an object. Two distinct yet related theoretical concepts were employed to encounter the phenomenon of a virtual representation of…
abstract: In this thesis I address the ambiguous nature of play by interrogating alternative ways of ‘seeing’ play beyond what I assert to be its contemporary Enframed state. I argue that to gain alternative insight into the basic features and functions of play, the concept of play needs first to be Deframed. Play is described as an ambiguous, elusive phenomenon, which makes it susceptible to being framed in ways that deter learning and development of children in ways consistent with the basic purpose of play. Such Enframing is evident across many situations and settings, including unsubstantiated assumptions about the way children’s learning is best assessed in early childhood education. These assumptions contribute to misperceptions of teachers regarding play, including the effects of their presence or absence in children’s play. The ambiguity of play also accounts for difficulties in empirical research; applying traditional researching approaches to investigate such an elusive phenomenon has proven ineffective. These investigative shortcomings have contributed to a lack of clear pedagogical and methodological insights about play. As an alternative methodological framework to ‘see’ beyond the elusiveness of play I shift the focus from asking questions about how play can support learning to instead employing a phenomenological investigation of what play is that enables Deframing. I argue that to gain alternative insight into the basic features and functions of play, the concept of play needs first to be Deframed. Utilising Heideggerian phenomenological notions of Enframing and poiesis, I enter into a metaphysical laboratory in the virtual space, accessed through virtual reality (VR). This space offered insights into players’ subjective experiences when engaged in play. Play could thus be examined through empirical engagement rather than studied as an object. Two distinct yet related theoretical concepts were employed to encounter the phenomenon of a virtual representation of…
author: Novak, Rene
keywords: Early childhood education, Play, Methodology, Visual pedagogy, Immersive pedagogy, Virtual reality, Immersive video, Learning from experience, Embodied cognition
license: https://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/bitstreams/8fffa284-bc72-4082-8436-2502b66224b1/download
date published: 2021
date modified: 2026-07-24T05:57:21Z
provider: University Waikato
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: The University of Waikato