The Homo Ludens gives learning the swing that is needed Man only plays when he is in the fullest sense of the word a human being, and he is only fully a human being when he plays. (Friedrich Schiller). "Playing creates, brings order. It realises in the imperfect world and the confused life a temporary, limited perfection" (Huizinga, page 10). Not only Schiller claims that play is at the centre of culture, also Huizinga as historical, cultural researcher, the cultural anthropologist (Victor Turner) and the psychologist (M. Csikszentmihalyi). They all capture why play is at the heart of human development. So as a consequence play needs to be in the centre of education for an art of living. Four connotations of Play Huizinga: play Schiller: play Turner: play Csikzsentmihalyi Integration of all four: 1. as sport, games, rituals 2. as theatre or drama 3. as liminal and liminoid rituals 4. flow experiences in play 5. playful flow moments in liminoid school rituals The four have in common that they don t take reality as a law to be obeyed. They go beyond reality, invite the unconscious as source for the unknown, welcome the free space and challenge to go beyond the fixed spaces, rules, knowledge, habits, welcome the experiment and broaden strict rules. Theatre and drama as art form is not the aim for Ludic Pedagogic. The aim is the as- if mode, so we use those sources which realise a playable as if mode. The website offers concrete possibilities with: play interludes, play compositions, magic teaching. Here we write a more theoretical fundament for LuPe. 1. Playing is the source The Dutch cultural-historical researcher J. Huizinga claims that culture develops by playing, and playing is the centre of culture. Both Huizinga and Schiller capture why it is that playing is central in the development of human beings, so consequently for me this also means the play is the centre of education. The play quality is the quality which keeps the us moving further by dreams, ideas, intuition, impulses, experiments, improvisations, trial and error. Play includes imagination and is never- ending. Through play we are touched by passion, experience personal freedom and have the space to experiment. It unlocks closed knowledge, beliefs and laws by showing other possibilities, thereby stimulating the development of thinking and creativity. Playing seems to be an aimless unfocused action. However, on the contrary, it requires concentration to transcend reality, to focus completely on the imagination and the imaginative world in which the players are acting and reacting. The as if world is open for ideas, solutions other than the expected ones, different ways, imaginary circumstances and allows trial and error.
Consequently, the participants can use their newfound insights from their as if experience to effect concrete changes in the real world. In my school-practice children became assertive and parents/colleagues complained about naughty children, for they dared to risk tension when they asked difficult questions or decided to go their own way. In my universitypractice, students used play to explore all kind of themes they wanted to know more about and trained desirable communication qualities. Multiple Intelligences There are many definitions of intelligence. Some are static; some are fluid; some speak of one intelligence (cognition), others of more intelligences (kinaesthetic, emotional, intuitive). In daily life we experience that we are capable or incapable in different situations, which most of the time has little to do with what we have learned in school. In the movie What the Bleep do we know? and Down the Rabbit Hole, scientists explain the borders of our cognition. Howard Gardner is not the first to recognise more than one intelligence but presently the most popular. Let us look at what he has to offer education, that goes beyond the conscious. Education that honours also the unconscious, by giving space to play as a useful tool to study. The world of play offers imagined contexts in which we can act and react as if it were real. For imagination we need all our senses and creativity to enter the 'as if' mode. In Gardner's terms, we use the visual, spatial, musical/rhythmic, and verbal/linguistic intelligences. For the body as " play instrument" we use our motor abilities and imagination. These equate to Gardner's bodily and kinaesthetic intelligences. For play - ensemble we need our social and emotional abilities to stress the confrontations, these equate to Gardner's called interpersonal intelligence. For design we need cognitive knowledge to realise a presentation or, in Gardner's intelligences, employing the naturalistic and logical/mathematical intelligences. For insight we need creative ability in reflecting on the previous steps, to make a statement in our own way. In Gardner's system, that involves the already mentioned intelligences and the intrapersonal and existential intelligences. Each teacher can choose a way of teaching, that honours more or less the multiple intelligences. Using play as an educational tool, the teacher may consider the several intelligences as so many ways into learning. The curriculum of the 21st century should be 'bottom up': starting from the pupils interests, imaginations, questions, wishes, problems, and ideas. In the old Greek time the upper classes went to school and learned the seven arts, to go beyond the feeding of the society, the economic and military aspects. Nowadays there are school systems and parents who find this useless and the same undervaluation means the multiple intelligences. They don t recognize the qualities for today s personal life and finding everyone s own way in tomorrow s society. 2. Drama as source for a Ludic Pedagogical approach to Education The most concrete form of play that is strongly related to reality, we find in theatre. For a Ludic Pedagogical approach we use therefore the core elements in a dramatic way [see the same named article ].
The focus of this approach is on groundwork, using the ideas of the participants, giving attention to body language, training them to work ensemble and theatrical forms, allows participants to reflect on all aspects of an interdisciplinary research process. An authentic expression accompanies a re-interpretation of (renowned) knowledge. In this way, everyone is an artist/scientist/believer; each participant is inspired, using the senses and imagination, voice and movement, partaking in the ensemble, using aesthetic forms and thereby gaining insight. For practical possibilities the work of Dorothy Heathcote is highly recommended. LuPe s focus is on process drama but does not mention this playful way of working: process drama. LuPe includes Ludic elements such as music, dance, painting, sculpture, film. Also all kinds of role plays, computer games, board games are welcome. On the Dutch site there are play interludes, play compositions and Magic Teacher tips to use play as an enjoyable research tool. 3. Liminal and Liminoid rituals In "From Ritual to Theatre" Victor Turner introduces two important concepts. He deeply researched rituals of non-western societies. He refers to the Latin term limen, which means threshold and to van Gennep (1902 1960) who applies the term limen to a "transition between". As I understand the concepts, one could compare liminal with forced and holy rituals (obligatory for full acceptance as member of the society) and liminoid with chosen or/and social rituals. For most of the people in the Western world holy rituals are liminoid and no longer liminal. One ritual is still till holy of forced by society: education. School is the Western variation of a liminal ritual Schooling is a long-term western liminal ritual - a ritual with myths and secrets, strict boundaries and rules. It is not chosen in freedom but enforced. Instead of a 1-2-3 week ritual to be accepted as adult, western children are forced 10 to 14 years into that ritual. In some countries, schools have uniforms and opening and closing ceremonies. Sometimes a myth is told. The question remains, nevertheless, whether these features collectively have the impact of a ritual. Schooling takes place over too long a period of time to be considered a ritual. There are too many real life interruptions. School requires too much rational thinking and written knowledge. Simultaneously it limits the opportunities afforded by dancing or singing to create the intensity of experience that could constitute 'holy' moments. School exists between the real world of home and the written world, between the here and now and the future focus, between being a youngster or an adult, between being taken seriously and being treated as just a pupil. Pupils experience study as work, not as leisure, and not at all as play. Turner states that leisure is a 'betwixt and between' concept, neither work nor play, it is playful work. If schools were to realise an interaction between work (skills and crafts) and play (freedom to experiment), a kind of leisure could be available at least occasionally to everyone. If the focus is not only on career after leaving school and status in tomorrow's society, but on their questions and dreams of their here and now, maybe pupils become more dedicated to their studies. Youngsters need group creativity, negotiation skills, research and experiment, impulsive creations, new forms, and openness to the unknown not only facts and absolute data. They want to present own expertise as an expression of their own cocktail of
intelligences. With playful experiments in chosen content and context with individual solutions, we come nearer to the 'betwixt and between' situation of leisure. Turner set me at ease with his discovery that "In liminality is secreted the seed of the liminoid, waiting only for major changes in the socio-cultural context to set it a-growing into the branched 'candelabra' of manifold cultural genres" (page 44 ). In play we recognise this seed. We can create possibilities for real insights which can lead to major changes. Liminoid rituals in the long-term liminal school ritual Turner states "One works at the liminal, one plays with the liminoid" ( Turner page 55*). Ludic education can be very intense. Some years ago my drama students created a ritual around J. Huizinga's Homo ludens. They needed to assume roles, entering the stage where the first edition (1938) was laid on a kind of altar. Behind that altar was a big mirror. The participants needed to come on stage, look into the mirror, lay their hands on the book, and add a personal word to the beginning line: Times are changing but playful play will. They felt the intensity change from a discussion to this kind of vow as a ritual to find their point of view on play as education. A commentary of a student that day: "Discussion is just an exchange of meanings, this ritual touched me as a complete person." They as beginning drama teachers felt personally more responsible for their words in the latter situation. I could recognize this in the way my students coped with the described ritual on Homo Ludens: some were thinking really very deep and asked for more time (serious play), others just walked on the stage and did their vows (just a game). Inventive play cannot arise in mechanical (liminal) situations, but needs organic solidarity (liminoidality). In school we can create rituals in which participants can attend or avoid, perform or watch, play or game in order to develop their wisdom besides some knowledge. "Good Schooling: Is It Work or Leisure?" In ancient Greek 'schole' means 'having nothing to do'. That provides a considerable challenge for raising questions about the school of today. Aiming for a high level of involvement, Lupe seeks an enjoyable and challenging way for pupils to learn. Victor Turner explains the concepts work, play, leisure, liminal, and liminoid in a way that challenged me to transfer these ideas much further to the school as an institution. I was thrilled by his quotation of Joffre Dumazedier: having nothing to do. What implications does this phenomenon have? Turner does not explain this quotation, but implicitly there is a correlation between this having nothing to do and his concept of leisure time: "True leisure exists only when it complements or rewards work" (p 36 ). Can schooling ever become liminoid in the 21st century? Can society offer youngsters free choice in when they go to school and how they learn? Would that discard the seed that needs to be planted in order to flourish later? Can school support the development of independent thinking and selfdetermination while still delivering the basic knowledge required by society? 4. Flow experiences in play. Csikszentmihalyi suggested in his study "Flow, the Optimal Experience" that flow activity provides a sense of discovery, creative feeling, and new reality. "It pushed the person to higher levels of performance and led to previously undreamed- states of consciousness...
In this growth of the self lies the key to flow activities" (1990, page 74.) Csikszentmihalyi inspires to develop a subtle way of coaching. Coaching with respect for the participants' individual sources. School laws mention only global guidelines. The content and the way of learning is the given freedom to find auto telic elements (I want) in the exotelic (I must) guidelines. This gives space to ask pupils: what do you want to research or make or what personal issues drives you to study certain sources? It is only the first rough step and very simple to do. Facilitators often still work in the follow up from their own imagination and values, instead of finding ways to spark the imagination of their pupils or listen to their worthwhile questions and items. The art of questioning and reflecting on the proposals does not get enough attention. Facilitators should almost always withhold their associations and solutions if it comes to content and problem solving. It gives pupils the freedom to develop in one s own direction, to say yes to what one wants to do. If we can say that the concepts of exotelic and auto telic for an individual are the equivalents of liminal and liminoid for a group, there are some implications for schools. Csikszentmihalyi's 'conditions for flow' present questions for education about how teachers and pupils can enjoy the learning. He started his research in leisure time but discovered that flow experiences also exist during work. "Alienation gives way to involvement, enjoyment replaces boredom, helplessness turns into a feeling of control, and psychic energy works to reinforce the sense of self, instead of being lost in the service of external goals" (1990, p 69). Environment and participant are like body and mind, at one with the action, and all conscious reflection is switched off. The participant enjoys the action, forgets time, and is free from daily cares and worries. A high degree of motivation stimulates optimal concentration, careful action, and presence. Participants become more and more at one with their action, allowing themselves to be carried along by the action while remaining active. Their attention is concentrated on the activity, and irrelevant stimuli are excluded because the field of influence is limited. Of course such moments are holy and cannot be disturbed by the school bell or another interruption. (See for practical guidelines the article Why and for Flow the article with the same name). 5. Playful flow moments in liminoid school rituals Schools can create a liminoid learning possibility for pupils in which they may enjoy the auto telic challenges and experiences of being capable. They discover new abilities and feel appreciated for their own expertise. When working at a freely chosen liminal level, they will come to flow and a school task that started out liminal becomes liminoid. Flow moments in Ludic situations where there is space for imagination, impulses, intuition that is the knowledge ahead, have the same intensity as a ritual. But the actors are not in trance and can return to everyday reality at any moment if necessary. They can skip in and out of the ritual, but without disturbing the process for others. Playful rituals can be created and need to be taken seriously if flow is the focus, to go for. Individuals at different times can feel a flow moment, so the facilitator needs to observe and coach carefully. A high level of involvement in a liminoid ritual moment rarely arrives for everyone at the same time, if at all. But such individual flow moments are the motor that influences other participants. They keep them going and can bring them to deep level learning. The pleasure
challenges them to flourish; they make discoveries and achieve quality in their research, classic schoolwork or artistic performance: liminoid rituals in leisure time. Mastery of the teaching craft in play is shown in the ability to represent: reality from everyone's own imagination, interests and capacities in an aesthetic way, related to players and audience in an environment that creates deep involvement and flow in order to bring to life the essence of human motivation References Csikszentmihalyi, M Flow the psychology of optimal experience. New York: published Harper & Row 1990 Huizinga. J. The Homo Ludens. Haarlem, Tjeenk Willink, 1938 Turner, V. From Ritual to Theatre. The human seriousness of play. PAJ Publications 1992 Turners citations of Dumazedier, J. Leisure article in David Sills ed., Enclyclopedia of thesocial Science. New York: Macmillan and free press pp 248-253, 1968 Gennep, A. van The rites of Passage. London: Routldedge and Kegan Paul, 1960 Verwijderd: