Forum Internationaler Spielemarkt Potsdam
The nuceleus of the May seminar ‘Finding diversity through play’ is the active involvement of the Best Practice Project. Seminar participants have the opportunity to explore the Spielmarkt and examine its goals. This will be facilitated with a round table discussion with the Spielmarkt organisers. An additional discussion will allow you to exchange ideas with the creators of the international workshops. This is all about how far the Spielmarkt is an international platform for country specific (play) pedagogic approaches and how diversity and gender roles are considered. In individual workshops participants will be both learners and teachers.
Further details about the Bildungsforum Internationaler Spielmarkt Potsdam can be found on: www.spielmarkt-potsdam.de
Every Spielmarkt has a particular theme. 2015 will be the 25th anniversary and will be celebrated. This Spielmarkt will run under the motto ‘Ways of playing’.
25th Education Forum “International Game Market Potsdam” 2015
Topic: „play wisely“ – the wisdom of play
In nearly all cultures worldwide, wisdom is seen as a cardinal virtue. Wise men and women are respected and their advice, wisdom and life experience are actively sought out, even long after their deaths.
The roots of the Indo-Germanic word “weisheit” (wisdom) reveal it as an ancient metaphor expressing both knowledge and the ability to interpret the visual world. Wisdom is “in-sight” (knowledge of both self and things earthly, knowledge about the background and origin of life, a deep understanding of nature, and of God’s creative plan). This leads the wise to a particular attitude and lifestyle with a high ethical and moral standpoint. The epithet “Druid” nods to this connection. Celtic druids were those who gained their wisdom through this intense feeling for nature (Dru = tree/oak, hid = see, recognise, sense). They were the ‚seers’: Women and men with foresight and wisdom.
Wisdom also plays a central role in Asian culture. The Chinese symbol for wisdom consists of the symbol for “arrow” (shooting right in the heart of the matter), the sun (illumination), mouth and heart (speaking with the heart).
In the tradition of Hellenistic Judaism lies the notion that the embodiment of wisdom is “Sophie” or “Miss Wisdom”. This binds together wisdom, play, creativity and knowledge of the secrets of nature (especially creation).
“The Lord brought me forth as the first of his works,
before his deeds of old;…
I was there when he set the heavens in place,…
and when he marked out the foundations of the earth.
Then I was constantly at his side…
I was filled with delight day after day,
rejoicing always in his presence,
rejoicing in his whole world
and delighting in mankind.”
(The Bible, Proverbs 8:22-31)
Play is the “godliest” quality of mankind. When we play, we are closer to God’s wisdom. Our purpose: “Play, the companion of wisdom.” Or, as Schiller put it:
“Man only plays when in the full meaning of the word he is a man, and he is only completely a man when he plays.”
As an “Image of God” we partake in God’s creative power.
Homo Ludens (‚Man the Player’) the playing man, is therefore the ‚crowning glory of creation‘. The man, who develops his abilities through play, discovers in play his individual qualities and through his experiences he develops his personality. Children and youths, women and men need play for elementary discovers of the senses, for maturity and wisdom and for a healthy body, soul and mind. The theologist Ernst Lange expressed it so:
“Play is the method used to keep one’s possibilities open.”
The journey is play.
What typifies the method, the art of play and what are the features of this play-wisdom?
The German language gives the term ‚play‘ plenty of room for interpretation. There are uncountable expressions with ‚play‘ and just as many types of play. It is then not really surprising that there is no universally recognised, united definition of what play is. The pedagogue Hans Scheuerl researched the background of various play theory to define six all-encompassing characteristics of play:
- Freedom: The freedom of play space allows development in all directions.
- Internal lack of time limit: In contrast to the definitive goal oriented method with a quick end result.
- Illusionary Fantasy: The playful reality of ‚what if‘ right up to the visionary ‚almost here‘.
- Ambivalence: The openness of the initial situation (,on and off, back and forth’).
- Cohesion: Openness requires boundaries, Play flows without form in the absence of rules.
- Presence: In successful play the moment counts.
The psychologist and sport scientist Siegbert Warwitz named factors limiting the playful acquisition of knowledge and wisdom in our societies:
- Too much – (surplus of offers)
- Too fast – (rapid bombardment of stimuli)
- Too early – (confrontation too soon of non-age appropriate themes and media)
- Too easy – (much is too fast and to easily available, without great effort)
- Too oblique – (entertainment, computer, ‚second-hand’ adventure)
- Too inauthentic – (little child’s play from own initiative, e.g. The disappearance of street games)
These societal developments have changed the possibilities and nature of play for children and youth and the understanding of play dramatically.
The current discussions on life-long learning increasingly take a view of formal and non-formal learning. “Learning is experience. Everything else is just information” (A. Einstein). Wisdom is therefore more than knowledge and can grow best where play, free room and authenticity are available. The personal and societal development potential made available by play appears to lie in a contrary world: play assumes the adherence to certain rules, also makes possible new chances. In play additional knowledge and unusual construction of senses become clear in ways never seen before: Play as the highest form of research (A. Einstein).
In his book “Playing by Heart: The Vision and Practice of Belonging” the American educationalist Fred Donaldson pleads for more and more intuitive connections between the hearts of two players. In original play, according to Donaldson, there are neither winners nor losers. For him, play is an interaction which goes beyond the moment. The ever-developing game is therefore a mirror of the momentary relationship between the players.
400 years ago, Johann Amos Comenius grounded his concept of the “Schola Ludus” (School by play). Comenius based his complex system on the structure of play and continually referred to the play of wisdom. For Comenius, play is an excellent way to obtain knowledge through experience, to internalize and present it. In his school tests were repaved by pieces of theatre, showing parents and teachers what the pupils had learnt.
When wisdom is linked not with intelligence, but with the drive to play, then it has a link to the theoretical educational dimension of religious and congregational education. Play can then not just be a complementary method. In play the wisdom of God is joined with the figure of man. From this point of view, play is a central part of religious education and training.
Play developers are permanently troubled with the question how to best ensure interaction between people. Is it possible to unfurl oneself in a system of strict rules, without regarding rules as a limitation? The German game-maker Marcel-André Merkle calls for politics to busy themselves with the rule system of play and this “play wisdom” to govern societal challenges. “A rich treasure of experience, stemming from the design of a rule system is available to us. It simply has to be elevated by politics” (See: “Agora 42”).
It should therefore come as no surprise that the “stone of wisdom” is a playing piece.
On the 8th and 9th of May 2015 the 25th International Educational Play Forum takes place in Potsdam.
The topic for this anniversary year is “play wisely”. Between 10am and 6pm daily there are workshops, activities and stands with international participation.
Warmly welcomed, like every year, are educators of all sorts and interested parents.
Thomas Lösche, Spielmarkt team
Full details of the Spielmarkt are now available at the following:
http://www.spielmarkt-potsdam.de/seite/77095/veranstaltungsplan.html
