Browsing by Subject "Play"
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Item A Child Development Center: Choreographed growth(Texas Tech University, 1993-05) Marthaller, Tina SNot Available.Item A cognitive and behavior modification technique using cognitive plus make-believe training for preschoolers(Texas Tech University, 1983-05) Lessenberry, Leigh AnnNot availableItem A relationship between toy structure and pretend play in male preschoolers(Texas Tech University, 1980-12) Ethridge, LaNelleNot availableItem An exploratory study of emergent literacy development as demonstrated through play(Texas Tech University, 1998-12) Baker, Michelle D.The purpose of this study was to explore the use of play as a resource for examining children's emergent literacy development. Specifically the study addressed the following questions: 1. What types of emergent literacy demonstrations do children exhibit while playing in a literacy-enhanced environment? 2. What do these demonstrations reveal about children's knowledge of literacy? The study took place in my pre-kindergarten classroom, which is a part of the kids-day-out program of a Southern Baptist church in the southwestern Untied States. The classroom consisted of 10 four-and five-year- old children who were due to start kindergarten in the fall of 1997. The class followed a daily schedule which included a seventy-five minute play period. My observations focused on one five-year-old girl who played in a variety of centers. This is a participant observation study of a prekindergarten child during play in literacy-enhanced centers. Data were collected using the participant observation guidelines of Bogden and Biklen (1982), Glesne and Peshkin (1992), Lincoln and Guba (1985), and Hatch (1995). Descriptive data were recorded through the use of field notes and videotaping. Additional data included a collection of participant artifacts and informal interviews. The data were analyzed using the constant comparison method as described by Bogdan and Biklen (1982). This study adds to the research base in the area of emergent literacy assessment using play. This study offers implications for practitioners about the importance of including literacy-enhanced play centers and time to play in the classroom. This study also describes how play observations are a useful resource for assessing a child's knowledge of the functions and concepts of print. Further, this study demonstrates how some children more clearly demonstrate their emerging literacy abilities in less structured, authentic settings than on more structured literacy assessments.Item Arrested professional development : some workplace taboobs(2006-05) Howe, Kelly Britt; Dolan, Jill, 1957-This document includes the performance report and script for Arrested Professional Development: Some Workplace Taboobs, a semi-autobiographical play conceived, written, and directed by Kelly Howe in collaboration with many colleagues at the University of Texas at Austin (UT) and staged in the campus's Winship Drama Building on March 3 and 4, 2006. The performance's dramaturgical process - in many ways a textual analysis of the author's personal experiences relative to the policing of women's bodies at work - engaged feminist theory, Augusto Boal's Image Theatre dramaturgy, reception theory, Foucauldian analysis, sociological theory, critical performative pedagogy, and queer theory. The play and its report stage a variety of intertwining inquiries all connected to one core question: What might be at stake, and for whom, in constructing what constitutes appropriate dress for women professionals, both in academia specifically, and in more generalized public spheres?Item Context matters : the role of settings in sport development(2011-08) Bowers, Matthew Thomas; Green, B. Christine; Chalip, Laurence; Harrison, Tracie; Hunt, Thomas M.; Todd, JaniceSport participation in the United States is often characterized as a unitary experience that naturally instills a standardized set of values. In this work, however, I challenge the mythology of a unitary conceptualization of sport participation and examine how the experiences and outcomes of playing sports change depending on the setting in which the participation occurs. Specifically, I undertake an investigation into the differences between playing sports in an organized setting and playing them in an informal, unstructured setting. Drawing from the findings of three distinct studies, I first demonstrate through a mixed-method historical study how the field of sport management has narrowed its focus over time to exclude the more playful forms of sport and physical activity. In the second and third studies, I show the experiential and developmental outcomes that are potentially overlooked by maintaining a narrow definition of sport that excludes sport played in unstructured settings. In the second study, a phenomenological examination of pre-teen youth sport participants reveals that the meaning of the experience of playing youth sports derives not from playing in one setting alone, but emerges through the synthesis of experiences accrued in both organized and unstructured settings. In the third study, the relative influences of time spent participating in organized sports and informal sports during childhood are assessed with respect to the development of participant creativity. Like the phenomenological study, the results of this quantitative analysis again point to the importance of balancing participation in both organized and unstructured settings. The most creative individuals are those who split their sport participation time across both settings, as opposed to individuals with below-average creativity, who spent the majority of their sport participation time in organized settings. Combined, the results of these three studies demonstrate the historical shift (in both research and practice) away from unstructured sport settings, and highlight the potentially transformative sport development implications of reincorporating unstructured sport settings on the overall experiences and outcomes of sport participation.Item Designing a Real-time Strategy Game about Sustainable Energy Use(2011-08-08) Doucet, Lars AndreasThis thesis documents the development of a video game about sustainable energy use that unites fun with learning. Many other educational games do not properly translate knowledge, facts, and lessons into the language of games: mechanics, rules, rewards, and feedback. This approach differs by using game mechanics in new ways to express lessons about energy sustainability. This design is based on the real time strategy (RTS) genre. Players of these types of games must manage economic problems such as extracting, refining, and allocating resources, as well as industrial problems such as producing buildings and military units. These games often use imaginative fantasy elements to connect with their audience, but also made-up economic numbers and fictional resources such as magic crystals which have little to do with the real world. This thesis' approach retains the fantasy elements and gameplay conventions of this popular genre, but uses numbers, resources, and situations based on research about real-world energy production. The intended result is a game in which the player learns about energy use simply by trying to overcome the game's challenges. In addition, a combined quantitative/qualitative study was performed, which shows that players of the game learned new things, enjoyed the game, and became more interested in the topic of energy use.Item Effects of teacher and peer training on social interactions of children in an inclucive [sic] preschool(2008-08) Kim, Kyung-Hee, 1964-; Schaller, James L., active 2013The purpose of this study was to train teachers and peers to increase social interactions of children who had been identified as having a lack of social interactions in an inclusive preschool in Korea. Four children with disabilities were identified by teachers as lacking social interactions with peers and teachers, and were the focal subjects of the study. The focal children, four teachers, and four classes of peer children participated in two interventions, an initial training on naturalistic teaching strategies with teachers and a training on social skills with peer and focal children, and a combined intervention. A multiple probe design was employed to examine effects of the two interventions during free choice play periods. The four teachers were trained on naturalistic teaching strategies, and peers and focal children in each class participated in a training on social interactions for the first intervention phase. The second intervention was a combined intervention consisting of both naturalistic teaching strategies of teachers and a ‘group game’ in which peer children used social interaction skills with focal children. This study consisted of baseline I, training teachers and children with baseline II, the combined intervention, and the maintenance phase. The results of this study indicate that focal children’s mean percentage of social interactions with teachers and peers in free choice play periods increased from baseline I after the initial training with baseline II. The maintenance phase indicated that mean percentages of social interactions of focal children increased from the mean percentages of social interactions in baseline I. This study may contribute to issues of training teachers on naturalistic teaching strategies and children on social skill interactions in an inclusive preschool in Korea, and the United States, for promoting social interactions with children with disabilities.Item Enhancing the effectiveness of a play intervention by abolishing the reinforcing value of stereotypy for children with autism(2009-05) Lang, Russell Bennett; O’Reilly, Mark F.Children with autism often experience substantial delays in the development of play behavior. Interventions to teach play skills are often complicated by challenging behavior and stereotypy. Previous research has demonstrated a potential relationship between stereotypy, challenging behavior and play in children with autism. However, few research-based methods for addressing stereotypy and challenging during play interventions are available to practitioners. The purpose of this study was to reduce stereotypy and challenging behavior during a play intervention for five children with autism by adding an abolishing operation component to a common research-based procedure for teaching play skills. The abolishing effect is one of several possible effects of MOs. An abolishing operation is any stimuli or series of events that reduces the value of a particular reinforcer. If an individual has unrestricted access to a particular reinforcer for an extended period of time that stimuli may eventually lose its reinforcing value. Incorporation of the abolishing operation concept into play interventions may allow practitioners to effectively reduce the reinforcing value of stereotypy prior to beginning a play intervention. If the reinforcing value of stereotypy is reduced, then the child may engage in less stereotypy and less challenging behavior when stereotypy is interrupted. By reducing these interfering behaviors, it was hypothesized that a research-based play intervention would be more effective and efficient. The effects of two conditions were compared. In one condition (abolishing operation condition) the child is allowed to engage in stereotypy freely prior to the implementation of an intervention targeting play skills. In the second condition the same play intervention was implemented without the prior free play period. The levels of functional play, symbolic play, stereotypy, and challenging behavior were compared across these two conditions. Results show decreased levels of stereotypy and challenging behavior and increased levels of functional play in the abolishing operation condition. Symbolic play did not occur following either condition.Item Exploratory study of infant/toddler involvement with selected outdoor equipment(Texas Tech University, 1981-08) Nauman, MarjorieNot availableItem Filial therapy: outcome and process(Texas Tech University, 1982-12) Lebovitz, Christina KNot availableItem Gender segregation in early childhood: a test of the play style compatibility hypothesis(Texas Tech University, 1998-05) Tietz, Julie AnnMaccoby and Jacklin (1987) have suggested that gender segregation occurs for reasons other than a simple socialization explanation; rather, differences in interactional styles may cause children to prefer playmates of the same sex, leading to segregated play. Boys have often been found to display rough and tumble and verbally dominant behaviors during social interactions, whereas girls are more likely to engage in more socially skilled activities. According to the play style compatibility hypothesis, girls find boys' play style to be aversive and thus segregate according to gender during play. Cognitive factors, such as awareness of gender categories, are also thought to play a role. Research up to this point has been largely observational. The current study used an experimental manipulation to test the play style compatibility hypothesis. Preschool boys and girls were shown videotaped clips of other preschoolers playing in one of three play styles: (1) rough and tumble, (2) verbally dominating, or (3) friendly (neither rough and tumble nor verbally dominating). Participants were asked which of the videotaped models they preferred. Younger children were expected to base preferences on play styles; that is, females were expected to prefer models demonstrating friendly play, whereas males were expected to prefer models demonstrating rough and tumble or verbally dominating play. Older children were expected to base preferences on gender; that is, females were expected to prefer female models, and males were expected to prefer male models because they have learned to associate preferred play styles with a particular gender. When comparing rough and tumble play versus friendly play, younger participants preferred rough and tumble play in females but friendly play in males; when comparing verbally dominant play versus friendly play, there was limited support for the hypothesis that younger females would prefer friendly play whereas younger males would prefer verbally dominant play. Older participants did display the predicted same-sex bias; furthermore, friendly play was liked more than the other two styles, suggesting socialization effects in this age group.Item In search of transformational play : a qualitative analysis of narrative serious games(2016-05) Winzeler, Elena Marie; Liu, Min, Ed. D.; Hughes, Joan EThis report aims to improve understanding of how narrative design elements in serious games contribute to the gameplay experience, with the goal of providing guidance in narrative serious game design. Despite the strong theoretical justification for narrative serious games, no consensus exists regarding what makes an effective narrative. Transformational play theory provides a framework for narrative serious game design based on the intersecting elements of person with intentionality, content with legitimacy, and context with consequentiality. This report examines high-quality narrative serious games through the lens of transformational play to derive explanations for design effectiveness. A diverse sample of three narrative serious games is examined: Mission US: A Cheyenne Odyssey, Quandary, and Citizen Science. The findings are described for each game, and compared across games. The significance of the findings to narrative serious game design are discussed and distilled into a set of narrative game design heuristics.Item Parent-toddler play interactions with feminine sex-typed toys(Texas Tech University, 1996-12) Sciaraffa, Mary AileenParents and toddlers have been observed in a variety of situations. In this study, forty-two parent-toddler dyads were observed interacting with feminine sex-typed toys. The toys included in the study were two baby dolls and a soft, stuffed clown. It was proposed that the type of toy used during the play session was to be the determining factor in how the parent and toddler played. The baby dolls were expected to elicit more nurturing and caretaking responses from both parents and toddlers; while the soft, stuffed clown was expected to evoke more object type play. Parents and toddlers were observed for their suggestions and/or initiations to their partner for play behaviors. Responses of the parents and toddlers to their partner's suggestions and/or initiations were also observed. In general, parents were found to encourage more feminine sex-typed play behaviors with the baby dolls than with the clown. It was also found that toddlers as young as 18 months of age were able to discriminate between different play behaviors with the baby dolls and clown. In terms of the responses, boys and girls accepted more responses from the same sex parent and rejected more responses from the other sex parent. This study lends evidence that all "dolls" are not alike, with baby dolls being different from a soft, stuffed clown. Children learn about their environment and how to interact with their environment through play. Therefore, parents who provide their child with baby dolls are scaffolding different experiences for their child than those parents who provide their child with a soft, stuffed toy.Item Play : a study of preservice teachers' beliefs about a complex element of early childhood education(2009-05) Sherwood, Sara Anne Sauer, 1973-; Reifel, Robert StuartUsing one-on-one interviews, classroom observations, and document analysis, this basic qualitative study (see Merriam 1998) examined preservice teachers' beliefs about play and the influences on those beliefs. Research for this study focused on seven preservice teachers enrolled in an early childhood through grade four practicum course at a small private university in south central Texas. Using Nespor (1987) and Vygotsky (1986) as frameworks for transforming the collected data (see Wolcott, 1994), the findings of this study indicated that multiple influences--such as experiences before and during teacher education, feelings, ideals, and universal assumptions--worked in concert to shape the preservice teachers' beliefs about play. And, these influences set the foundation for the content of the preservice teachers' beliefs. Specifically, for the preservice teachers, play seemed to have multiple meanings that fluctuated and were at times contradictory. These defining qualities suggested that the preservice teachers had not fully synthesized their beliefs about play. This study's findings came about because two frameworks instead of one were used to describe, to analyze, and to interpret the preservice teachers' beliefs about play. Together these frameworks provided insights into the preservice teachers' beliefs about play and the influences on those beliefs that neither framework could have provided alone. Specifically, the findings of this study reveal challenges and opportunities for early childhood teacher educators. On the one hand, the multiple meanings, fluctuations, and contradictions present within the preservice teachers' beliefs about play highlight the challenge of defining and conceptualizing play within teacher education. On the other hand, the broad set of influences that shaped the preservice teachers' beliefs about play and their complex interrelationship suggest that by using multiple frameworks to explore preservice teachers' beliefs about play, by viewing preservice teachers' beliefs as an asset to their learning about it, by identifying the sources of preservice teachers' beliefs about play, and by engaging in one-on-one discussions with preservice teachers about their beliefs, teacher educators have the opportunity to address this complex element of early childhood education in their programs with the hopes of ultimately influencing their preservice teachers' practice.Item Prayers, poems and questions : plays that point toward the unknown(2014-05) Bender, Katie J.; Dietz, Steven; Lynn, KirkThis thesis document explores the open systems I have used to develop my plays throughout my three years at the MFA Playwriting Program in the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of Texas at Austin. Looking closely at two plays, The Fault and Still Now, from inspiration to production, I will chart how they are structured as open systems; the former a prayer, the later a question, and ask how these plays activate an audience towards the unknown.Item Preparation, protection, and practicality : anxieties in progressive era education(2013-08) Perez, Laine Elise; Barrish, Phillip; Murphy, Gretchen, 1971-This project explores the anxieties and contradictions that appeared in discussions of education during the Progressive Era by examining education theory, as found in the journals Education and The Playground, and comparing this theory to children's books of the era. I argue that turn of the century educators and authors promoted practical education so that they could use the school, the home, and the playground to accomplish two goals simultaneously: protecting children from economic concerns in the present and preparing children for the future by helping them develop the skills they would need to be productive citizens. However, in attempting to accomplish both of these goals, these individuals turned the home, school, and playground into contradictory spaces. This project first explores how these educators and authors resolved the tensions and contradictions present in these spaces--and the problems of class and gender underlying their resolutions--before examining why they were invested in creating a protected space for childhood in the first place and finally showing how the protected space they attempted to create became destabilized. Ultimately, I claim that these educators and authors made the protected space of childhood contingent upon the child's ability to submit to and absorb practical lessons learned on the playground and in the classroom and the home. Consequently, it appears that these individuals believed that children must earn their right to a protected childhood, but by insisting that children earn their protection, these individuals allowed economic concerns to creep into the supposedly separate childhood space. Each chapter of this dissertation will explore a particular facet of Progressive Era education--specifically, humanities courses, vocational education, and the play and playground movement--to reveal the anxieties that surrounded the intersections among the establishment of practical education, the desire to protect children from the workforce, and the need to prepare children for their futures as productive citizens.Item Reflection-Impulsivity in the Play of Preschool Children(Texas Tech University, 1979-05) Asher, Rita AnnNot Available.Item Response to the performed story : tracking emotional response to a theatrical performance using galvanic skin response(2014-05) Busing, Stephanie Alice; Otte, CharlesPsychologists have used biometric data since the early 1900s to analyze the emotional responses of such subjects as students, patients with autism, and adults suffering from stress. Biometric data, the recording of physiological responses such as galvanic skin response, heart rate, and eye blinking frequency, shows peaks in emotional response to stimuli in a human’s environment. Galvanic skin response (GSR) is the most potent form of biometric data used for the study of emotional arousal. GSR, if studied in tandem with stimuli, can help researchers identify events in a subject’s environment that trigger emotion. GSR has been used to analyze responses to performance arts, but these studies are typically performed in controlled environments using video-taped performances and not under live performance conditions. Furthermore, this research is more often conducted using dance and not theatre, and often the material studied is less than ½ hour in length. This study combines techniques from several prominent studies of GSR for performing arts response research and applies them to the analysis of a 1 and ½ hour theatrical performance. GSR data is collected from six audience members during live performances of this theatrical work and the subjects are interviewed based on their galvanic skin response recorded during the play. The results of the analysis and interviews are reported to the director and design team of the play in order to inform them of the emotional impact of their work. Such information holds the potential to inform the creative team’s future play-making processes.Item The student's experience of multimodal assignments : play, learning, and visual thinking(2012-12) Nahas, Lauren Mitchell; Faigley, Lester, 1947-; Roberts-Miller, Patricia; Syverson, Margaret; Hodgson, Justin; Pena, JorgeMuch of current pedagogical discussion of the use of multimodal assignments in the writing classroom argues that one benefit of such assignments is that they foster student engagement, innovation, and creativity while simultaneously teaching writing and argumentation concepts. Although such discussions rarely use the term “play,” play theorists consider engagement, innovation, creativity, and learning to be central characteristics and outcomes of play. Thus, what many scholars view as a major outcome of multimodal assignments might most accurately be described as playful learning. In order to investigate the validity of claims that playful learning is a product of multimodal assignments, this dissertation reports on the results of a comparative case study of four different classrooms that used multimodal assignments. The objective of the study was to better understand the students’ experience of these assignments because the students’ perspective is only represented anecdotally in the literature. The study’s research questions asked: Do students find these assignments to be playful, creative, or engaging experiences? Do they view these assignments as related to and supportive of the more traditional goals of the course? And what role does the visual nature of these technologies have in the student’s experience of using them or in their pedagogical effectiveness? Each case was composed of a different writing course, a different assignment, and a different multimodal computer technology. The results of the study show that students generally did find these assignments both enjoyable and useful in terms of the learning goals of the course. Many students even went so far as to describe them as fun, indicating that for some students these were playful experiences in the traditional sense. However, comparison of the results of each case illustrates that the simple injection of a multimodal assignment into the classroom will not necessarily create a playful learning experience for students. The students’ experience is a complex phenomenon that is impacted by the structure of the assignment, whether or not they are provided a space for exploration and experimentation, their attitude towards the technology, and the characteristics of the technology.