Johanna Blakley

We've all heard about different "learning styles" - some people supposedly respond better to hands-on instruction, others are more visual, and some just want to read books. I always thought these models were terribly reductive, but they held sway among many who worked with me developing edutainment software in the late 90s.

I was very pleased to read a new book by two of my USC colleagues, Doug Thomas and John Seely Brown, that emphasizes the role of "play" in the process of learning. I'm a big fan of Jane McGonigal and her efforts to harness the addictive power of multiplayer games for constructive social purposes. In A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change, Brown and Thomas invoke Johan Huizinga, the great philosopher of play, in order to explain why the role of play should be significantly expanded within our educational institutions. Huizinga argued that playing is crucial to the development of all human culture, both sacred and profane. Brown and Thomas claim that

All systems of play are, at base, learning systems. They are ways of engaging in complicated negotiations of meaning, interaction, and competition, not only for entertainment, but also for creating meaning.