Learning in Playful Environments

I've just been reading a fascinating book recommended to me by our librarian: Cultural Foundations of Learning: East and West (2012)   by Jin Li, Associate Professor of Education and Human Development at Brown University. The book really stirred me up (as a good book should); below is the email I sent to my librarian. I feel very pretentious making such broad statements in response to such a well-researched and argued book, but I also feel my response is an important one. In the school where I teach, the need to account appropriately for differing cultural perspectives on learning is incredibly important, not just because we want to teach our students well, but also because the ethos of the school is grounded in a belief that we must respect diverse cultures and explore what it means to make a better world for all cultures. Here are my thoughts: I found the ideas and arguments fascinating and - for me as a Western reader - very useful as I learn more about teaching students from an...