This book focuses on key issues and current research evidence of links between children's behavior in outdoor play environments and children's development. Specific attention is given to ways that outdoor play environments are extensions of other development settings, like the classroom or family. Since most work up to this point has focused on development in indoor classroom settings or in other developmental contexts, this book makes an important contribution.

This concise, useful book identifies organisational, social and physical barriers to disabled children's inclusion in primary school playgrounds, and suggests ways to overcome these barriers in the future, as well as examining examples of good practice. This is essential reading for teachers, special educational needs coordinators, personal support assistants, lunchtime supervisors, playworkers, and architects and landscape professionals involved in play.

A thought-provoking re-examination of children's play drawing together insights and experiences across fields such as education, sociology, philosophy and psychology to encourage an inter-disciplinary approach.

Play is critical to children’s well-being and development. All students should have access to and adequate time for positive play experiences every day. Learning and Connecting in School Playgrounds invites parents, teachers, principals and education administrators to take another look at their school playgrounds as spaces crucial to learning, well-being and development. This book combines research findings, commentary and the authors’ personal experiences and observations together with the views of teachers, principals, parents and students related to play and play spaces. Key content includes consideration of the role of adults in the school playground, the influence of technology on play, the challenges experienced by children transitioning to new school environments and consideration of strategies to support students’ access and participation in the playground. Cases are presented to illustrate the use of an audit tool to enhance school playgrounds. The future of school playgrounds is also considered through the reported hopes and dreams of adults and students and a range of recommendations are made for the review and development of schools’ outdoor play spaces. Learning and Connecting in School Playgrounds is written with a sense of urgency, calling for the recognition of positive play experiences as invaluable to children’s education. It includes important and challenging insights to inform and guide decision-making and will be an essential resource for all stakeholders who share responsibility for children’s participation and learning during school break-times.

This book is a research guide for implementing contemporary playground strategies to promote active, healthy students. A number of school playground strategies have succeeded in reducing the decline in students’ activity levels by introducing equipment and policies that encourage further engagement. The book outlines these strategies and ideas and offers insights into their multiple levels of influence on engaging students in school playground activities that can promote student health. It also discusses previous investigations into the effect of playground strategies on students’ activities and the differences between structured and unstructured playground activities; investigations that have explored the translatability and feasibility of specific school playground strategies and potential recommendations for future school playground research. It also provides observations on the features students desire in their playgrounds and what features are important in terms of safe activities, enjoyment levels, which in turn offers suggestions for future research directions.

How technology shapes play in America—and vice versa. In this romp through the changing landscape of nineteenth- and twentieth-century American toys, games, hobbies, and amusements, senior historian of technology Carroll Pursell poses a simple but interesting question: What can we learn by studying the relationship between technology and play? From Playgrounds to PlayStation explores how play reflects and drives the evolution of American culture. Pursell engagingly examines the ways in which technology affects play and play shapes people. The objects that children (and adults) play with and play on, along with their games and the hobbies they pursue, can reinforce but also challenge gender roles and cultural norms. Inventors—who often talk about "playing" at their work, as if motivated by the pure fun of invention—have used new materials and technologies to reshape sports and gameplay, sometimes even crafting new, extreme forms of recreation, but always responding to popular demand. Drawing from a range of sources, including scholarly monographs, patent records, newspapers, and popular and technical journals, the book covers numerous modes and sites of play. Pursell touches on the safety-conscious playground reform movement, the dazzling mechanical innovations that gave rise to commercial amusement parks, and the media's colorful promotion of toys, pastimes, and sporting events. Along the way, he shows readers how technology enables the forms, equipment, and devices of play to evolve constantly, both reflecting consumer choices and driving innovators and manufacturers to promote toys that involve entirely new kinds of play—from LEGOs and skateboards to beading kits and videogames.

10 years ago Barbara Hendricks brought together thinking from child development and child psychology perspectives on play with practical issues confronted by designers and policy makers. The result was a beautifully-crafted, well-illustrated guide challenging established notions of play provision. This second edition brings the text up to date from 2001 to 2010 with added discussion about new ideas for play area designs and what has not worked in the past decade.

This edition has offered a unique platform for a constructive dialogue with the students and experts in the field of Architecture. Also, providing an opportunity to participate in an offline as well as online mode. The conference has prioritized on broadening the students’ knowledge and contribution towards the profession. Research fosters critical thinking and analytical skills and helps in defining academic, career and personal interests. Through the 4th National Students Conference on Research in Architecture our purpose to promote innovative, diverse, and scholarly exchange of ideas has been met. The conference has aimed to deliver the most recent relevant research, best practices, and critical information to support higher education professionals and experts. It has provided a professional platform to refresh and enrich the knowledge base and explore the latest innovations. It also provides a platform to the students of architecture to present their research to academicians and professionals as well as receive valuable feedback from them.