Play: A Polyphony of Research, Theories, and Issues: Volume 12(Play and Culture Studies)

The Association for the Study of Play (TASP) (www.tasp.org) is the sponsor of volume twelve in the Play & Culture Studies series. TASP is a professional group of interdisciplinary researchers who study play.
Polyphony, defined as having many tones or voices, was used by the Russian philosopher Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin to describe the immense plurality of experiences in relationships. The chapters in volume 12 of Play & Culture Studies address the polyphony or many voices in the study of play from an interdisciplinary cadre of scholars in the fields of anthropology, education, psychology, linguistics, and history. In this time of globalization, hyper-capitalism, and discourses that disqualify children’s play, we invite the reader to participate in diverse ways of thinking about play and pedagogy. To this end, Play, Volume 12 addresses research methodology, contemporary theories, technology, and advocacy. Applications to practice and policy implications are presented.

Contents
List of Illustrations
Foreword
Jim Johnson
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Lynn E. Cohen & Sandra Waite-Stupiansky
I. A Polyphony of Play: Researchers' Voices
1. Children’s Playful Consumption: The Hidden Negotiations of the Playground and the Home
Abby Loebenberg
2. Children’s Play Preferences in the Pacific Rim: Then and Now
Robyn Holmes
3. Play-based vs Teacher-Directed Pedagogy: Rationale for Action Research in Teacher Education
Michael Patte
4. Family Words as Creative and Affiliative Play
Evangeline Nwokah, Kelly Graves, and Joanne Naylor
II. A Polyphony of Play: Theorists' Voices
5. The Conservation of Meaning as a Function of Constraints in the Social Context of Puzzles: Piaget’s Social Theory Revisited
Keith Alward
6. Pinpointing Play at the Edge of the Uncanny Valley
Scott G. Eberle
III. A Polyphony of Play: Voices from Technology
7. Play, Technology Toy Affordances, and Brain Development—Considering Research and Policy Issues
Doris Bergen

8. Game-ify Learning: Using What We Know about Games and Play to Motivate Learners
Nancy Marksbury
IV. A Polyphony of Play: Advocates' Voices
9. Play in the New Developmentally Appropriate Practice: Analysis and Critique
David Kuschner
10. Preserving Play in Early Childhood Classrooms: Suggestions for Early Childhood Teacher Education and Policy
Jennifer A. Vu, Myae Han, & Martha J. Buell

Lynn E. Cohen is an associate professor in the Department of Special Education and Literacy at Long Island University, C.W. Post. Her research interests are related to the social and philosophical dimensions of children’s play and equity in school settings. She has been involved in a university school partnership, providing administrative support for a play-based early childhood curriculum.
Sandra Waite-Stupiansky is a professor of early childhood and special education at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. She studies and teaches child development and early childhood education curriculum, particularly the role of outdoor play. She edits Play, Policy, and Practice Connections, a publication of the Play, Policy, and Practice Interest Forum of the National Association for the Education of Young Children.