Center for Play
and Social Action
Play matters. A healthy, productive, and equitable society is one that values and creates space for its citizens—both children and adults—to play. We often talk about the well-being of young people in a world of social media, digital innovation, and interconnectedness. Yet, it seems like we are always two steps behind the issues of today, reacting with punitive measures to reassert control.
Fear of social media? Ban it. Worried about gun violence? Arm teachers. Concerned about learning loss? Cut recess.
Rather than react to problems, what would happen if we focused on possibility? What might be happen if we imagined three steps ahead, rather than reacted two steps behind?
This is where play comes in. Play insists on creativity, imagination, and an opening up of possibility. Play is filled with serendipity, experimentation, and exploration—things happen during play that we don’t expect! Play has the potential to bring about future thinking for today’s problems.
The primary goal of the Center for Play and Social Action is to build, study, and share play spaces that improve the lives and wellbeing of all.
The Center for Play and Social Action:
Enacts and supports interdisciplinary research that stresses an applied approach to addressing social issues.
Mobilizes projects and social action around play and wellbeing.
Sponsors and supports innovative projects centering play and its possibility in the lives of young people.
Develops media, materials, and content that communicates the values of play and wellbeing to the general public.
Facilitates professional development and inquiry groups for educators to develop curriculum and classroom practice that fosters inquiry and play.
Center for Play and Social Action Leadership Team
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Haeny Yoon
Teachers College, Columbia University
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Nathan Holbert
Teachers College, Columbia University
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Lalitha Vasudevan
Teachers College, Columbia University
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Michael Preston
Joan Ganz Cooney Center
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Emily Reardon
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Matthew Berland
University of Wisconsin, Madison
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Aaron Trammell
University of California, Irvine
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Sonali Rajan
Teachers College, Columbia University
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Karen Wohlwend
Indiana University
