Connecting & Comprehending through Play Workshop Delivered at 20th ESRC Festival of Social Science - Dr Paula Clarke and Dr Peter Hart

Dr Paula Clark and Dr Peter Hart launched the beginning of a new project looking at board games as a way to develop reading comprehension. Peter explains that while many children are able to use phonics to read complex words, we find that their understanding of the text can lag behind their ability to decode the words on the page. That’s partly because not all children have access to the same vocabulary, which is usually related to their knowledge of the world. It can also be because inferring hidden or obscure meaning from text can be a difficult skill to master that takes practise. However, Peter and Paula believe that playing games can be a way for children to share their collective knowledge of vocabulary, and they can provide an intense way of engaging with hidden meanings without requiring much reading. Their  workshop, delivered to an international audience of teachers, home educators and parents at the 20th ESRC Festival of Social Science, demonstrated the potential for games that require students to infer meanings from clues – with their preferred games being ‘Just One’ and ‘Mysterium’.