Setting open-ended goals
Setting open-ended goals in play helps students experience success in different ways and assists teachers to adopt differentiated teaching strategies. In this video excerpt, we see how having an open-ended goal, such as exploring patterns, supports students to draw on their existing understandings, and to share these with others to further develop their own knowledge. Even though the question was teacher-led, the play context enabled students to explore the topic in their own way and demonstrate their current knowledge.
In the following video, Marie discusses open-ended learning goals that support diverse capabilities in her classroom.
More professional perspectives
Although play provides students with open-ended opportunities to learn, effective differentiated play-based inquiry learning, from a teacher's perspective, is deliberate and strategically planned with student learning as the top priority. We invite you to look at open-ended play from another Foundation teacher's perspective. This demonstrates different ways in which explicit planning for play-based and inquiry learning can be approached.
Kelly reflects on Play-based practices and goalsetting
In this video, Kelly discusses how she incorporates play into her weekly classroom planning, cycling from explicit teaching to open-ended play, through different group formats and individual instruction, as well as student's own choice of learning activities.
Listen to her explanation of how she approaches planning for student differences in terms of their readiness to learn, prior knowledge and understanding, interests and learning needs. Now, consider how you might differentiate a similar play experience for your students, to accommodate their learning progress and needs. What options for engaging with learning about shapes could you provide to support your student's understanding of this area of the Victorian Curriculum? Could you modify and adapt any of Kelly's practices in your own classroom?
Engage with the questions and provocations that appear as you watch this interactive video.
Personalised learning, IEPs and differentiated play-based and inquiry learning
In Module 4.2 we explained how differentiated play-based and inquiry learning can facilitate the learning and development of individual students within a safe and inclusive learning environment. In this section, we consider how play can support the diverse and personalised learning goals of individual students, including students requiring an Individual Education Plan (IEPs).
Types of play experiences and differentiation
The following interactive considers each of the types of play introduced in Module 2 and how each play type can support students and their learning goals as identified in their IEP's or other personalised learning plans.
The material in the interactive below draws on the 8 types of play focused on in Module 1. This framework emphasises learner profiles and the learning goals that can be addressed through play. It is important to note that play-based and inquiry learning can be differentiated to respond to the personal learning needs of all students, regardless of whether or not they have any diagnosed or identifiable additional learning needs addressed through an IEP.
Thinking about your own differentiated play-based and inquiry learning approach
Go back to one of your existing learning plans and review it from the lens of differentiated teaching in play-based and inquiry learning. Reflect on how open-ended your learning goal is and how this allows for differentiation and demonstration of learning. How could you incorporate play into your plans to better support diverse learners? Specifically, what adjustments might you make to:
- content
- process
- products, and
- learning environment.