Building Compassionate, Connected Learning Communities: Play with Intention and purpose
Howard Moody and Maureen Burford
Description: Play is one of the most natural ways young people explore, connect, and make meaning of their world. Yet as students move through the K–12 years, opportunities for playful learning often diminish—even as students’ need for agency and connection grows.
This strand invites you to explore play through an intentional, holistic lens. Together, we will examine how thoughtfully designed, playful learning supports the whole child or teen, deepens engagement across subject areas, and empowers students with greater agency in their own learning and well-being. Integrating compelling new research on holistic human development and playful learning, you will experience specific, practical ways that intentional playfulness in learning can strengthen focus and discernment, inspiration, self-discipline, empathy, and other foundational capacities—and support students’ ability to learn and engage meaningfully with others.