Integrated Approaches to Teaching and Learning

Integrated approaches to teaching and learning

What does it look like when children learn playfully at school? Over the next steps we introduce eight approaches to teaching and learning and describe how they incorporate the five characteristics of learning through play. We also present evidence of their impact on children’s learning and some of the essential factors that underpin their success as strategies for teaching and learning.

There is clearly much overlap across the approaches described in this chapter. However, we address each approach separately as this enables us to see the similarities, rather than just assume them. It enables education stakeholders to locate different approaches, including those used by their system or school, to compare descriptions and evidence, and draw informed conclusions about the efficacy and enabling factors that support successful implementation. Additionally, we can identify small, yet often crucial pedagogical differences, and avoid making generalisations where they do not apply.

Integrated pedagogies are ubiquitous and framed by researchers and practitioners ranging from techniques (for example, the act of inquiry) to detailed strategies (inquiry-based learning). Many appear to be delivered in combination. Fidelity – that is, the loyalty of the delivery when compared to the design – is cited as an issue when comparing approaches (Hixson, Ravitz, & Whisman, 2012). However, definitions are sometimes inconsistent or lacking, which means evaluations or research studies cannot be combined and generalised when it is unclear which ‘version’ of the approach the researcher is referring to. Comparing and contrasting approaches could therefore be a flawed exercise, given that definitions are contested and intertwined (Hood Cattaneo, 2017).

What makes project-based learning work in Singapore might be the ability of teachers to collaboratively and innovatively deliver the curricula in novel ways.

This means that, in this context, project-based learning is effective. It does not, however, mean that project-based learning as a strategy is inherently effective. We make these distinctions here.

The eight approaches

The eight approaches described in this chapter are related to learning through play, as they are derived from the same learning theories of social constructivism.