Recognizing the Value of Play

Abstract

For humanity to positively shape its own future, we must recognize the value of play as an essential activity for learning and creative expression. Cognitive Science researchers, Neuroscientists, and Educators, have told us this for a while, but lectures by top researchers in Physics stress that playful exploration is also crucial to progress in both experimental and theoretical Physics. Play allows us to learn and innovate. The value of play to research is greatly under-valued—compared to its benefits—by modern society. Given opportunities to playfully explore; anyone including students and scientific researchers will learn more, faster. Thus; encouraging play fuels innovation and progress—the engines of economic prosperity. Experts from all the fields above echo that observation, both in published works and in personal conversations or correspondence. To retain our sense of humanity and survive to shape the future, human beings must realize that play is every bit as essential as hard work is, to our growth as individuals and as a culture. For humans to positively shape our own future, we must exalt that which makes us human, and to do that we must recognize the value of play.

Play is the highest form of research.

Albert Einstein

Endnotes

10.1.1 Dimensional Estimation Through Triangulation

Triangulation—the ability to triangulate, to navigate or to determine the size and distance of objects, depends on perspective—as generalized in Projective Geometry—but the basics are encapsulated in Trigonometry, the study of triangles. Using ‘observe, explore, compare’ one could note that a lighthouse tower on shore at sea is as big as one’s fingernail at arm’s length—when it is first sighted—and as large as the entire finger at arm’s length—once one moves closer (as in Figs. 10.1 and 10.2). Using the properties of right triangles; we can calculate how much closer we are, or even exactly how far away—if the angles of elevation have been measured precisely and it is a landmark of known size. But this essential skill for navigators is acquired at an early age by every child, in the process of their learning how to gauge the dimensionality of objects and the environment.

Fig. 10.1

A lighthouse tower appears smaller at a distance

Fig. 10.2

The same tower appears larger when closer

The most basic relation in Trigonometry is called the Pythagorean Theorem, which states that $c^{2}=a^{2}+b^{2}$, where c is the hypotenuse, and a and b are the legs of a right triangle (Fig. 10.3). This formula allows us to calculate the length of any side, knowing the other two, and given that the angle between a and b is a right angle. It is almost as simple to find the unknown distance, given one side and an angle. If we know the height of the tower (which stands at a right angle) and measure the angle of elevation $\Theta$, we can calculate our distance from the tower using the formula $\tan \Theta =\frac{\textit{height}}{\textit{distance}}$. This allows our estimates to be made precise.

Ranging—the process of dimensional estimation requires calibration, in order to be effective. We must learn how big things are. Very young children display ‘dimensional confusion’ when experimenting with the calibration of their grids, to determine what is ‘close enough’ to work and what fails to match their needs or expectations. Children above the age of ${2\frac{1}{2}}$ lose this ‘confusion’ and display increasingly more ability to distinguish the dimensions of objects and their background environment correctly. In addition to estimating size and distance, children learn to tell the difference between 2-d surfaces or images and 3-dimensional objects, as well. This is one of the key factors that sets the stage for the acquisition of knowledge using symbols, and for symbolic reasoning, in human children.

Fig. 10.3

The Pythagorean theorem gives any side of a right triangle, if we know the other two

10.1.2 Playful Comments

Michael Mendizza commented (after reading an earlier draft):

You are circling around the tip of a galactic iceberg.

Consciousness is play. Thought is play. To treat thought and consciousness any other way is to ‘play falsely,’ pretend that thought-consciousness is not what it is, which is a form of self-deception and shared delusion.

And he continued with these words:

Personally I question pinning so much of your thesis on science. Humanity, sanity, appropriate and sane social orders, kindness, the ability to see ‘what is,’ which is the essence of science and also what contemplative traditions call enlightenment, is much more fundamental. All of this critically depends on appreciating that play, Maya, is what thought and consciousness is. To not see this is to live in delusion, which we do. Play liberates us from ‘playing falsely’ with thought and consciousness.

Play is also the gymnasium of imagination, the place where we develop our capacity to create, which mirrors and is creation itself. The enlightened use of imagination is causal, literally we are the image and likeness of creation (God if you must), but playing falsely with thought consciousness means that what we create is distorted, and therefore we become the enemy. We are the enemy because we don’t understand the true nature of what consciousness-thought really is. Play!—Michael Mendizza (on 1/31/14)

10.1.3 Playful Learning Resources

There is such a wealth of information about play available, that my repeated attempts to collate the relevant sources have only increased the number I found. I should start by recommending the books and articles of several authors I cited, especially Alison Gopnik, Joseph Chilton Pearce, and Michael Mendizza. Of course; books by Richard Feynman like “Surely you’re joking..” and “What do you care what other people think?” contain plenty of insights on how a playful attitude benefits learning in Physics, but Michael Mendizza heartily recommends the works of David Bohm, as well, for deeper insights into how play is integral to learning and thinking. He also introduced me to the work of Dr. Stuart Brown, whose book “Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul” reinforces all of the messages in this essay, and provides additional insights on how play is essential to a broad variety of activities. The following links may also be helpful.

http://www.nifplay.org The National Institute for Play—founded by Stuart Brown M.D.

http://www.ted.com/talks/stuart_brown_says_play_is_more_than_fun_it_s_vital

A TED talk by Dr. Brown “Play is more than just fun”

http://ttfuture.org Touch the Future—a project of Michael Mendizza with a team of experts

http://www.nurturing.us The Nurturing Project—another effort of Michael Mendizza

http://www.journalofplay.org The American Journal of Play—a multi-discipli nary journal devoted to the study of play. It has an impressive collection of papers stressing the importance of play to learning, as well as documenting its role in establishing a healthy society.

And finally; I am assembling my own collection of work on this subject, which will feature additional links to content found on the web, emphasizing the importance of play to Science.

http://www.scienceisplay.org Science is Play—a project of Jonathan J. Dickau

In closing; as my departed friend Ray Munroe would say,

Have Fun!