The First Truly Comprehensive Resource for Educators on Cooperative Games!
This new book gives the why and how-to of using cooperative games in education. Written and illustrated by Suzanne Lyons, classroom teacher, teacher trainer, and founder of this site. Published by Teachers College Press. With a Foreword by Alfie Kohn!
This must-have resource shows how to use cooperative games for social-emotional learning, bullying prevention, teaching academic subjects and more.
Now Available
Cooperative Games in Education
Building Community Without Competition Pre K-12
By Suzanne Lyons
Buy Direct from the Publisher & Get 15% Off plus Free Shipping!
Teachers College Press is the university press of Teachers College, Columbia University. Founded in 1904, it is a non-profit publisher that has published professional and classroom materials for over a century.
Order from Amazon.com
Available in paperback, hardback and Kindle editions.
Book Description
Cooperative Games in Education is the first comprehensive guide to the world of cooperative play and games for pre-K–12 learning. It includes a thorough pedagogical rationale and guidelines for practice, a survey of related research and scholarship, engaging anecdotes, illustrations, historical background, and an array of sample games to try.
In cooperative games, players win or lose together, sharing the experience of fun and challenge. No one can be eliminated in a cooperative game. What is eliminated is us-versus-them perception and zero-sum thinking. When students come to see each other as allies, rather than rivals, there are profound interpersonal effects that enhance community, inclusion,and a positive classroom climate where all can learn and thrive.
This accessible, lively resource explains the value of cooperative games with guidance to help teachers use them for maximum social-emotional and academic benefit. Cooperative Games in Education will also interest the broader community of administrators, therapists, school psychologists, game designers, child-care providers, and others who care for children and need tools that foster healthy development, positive relationships, and joy.
Table of Contents
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction
About Playing Together
Why This Book?
Contents of This Book
Part 1. Foundations of Cooperative Games
Chapter 1. What Are Cooperative Play and Games?
Understanding Play
Defining Cooperative Games
A Brief History of Cooperative Games
Theories of Learning and Play Supporting Cooperative Games
Playful Learning
Meeting Current Challenges in Play with Cooperative Games
Chapter Summary
Play to Learn—Try This!
Chapter 2. Learning to Cooperate
Understanding Cooperation
Forms of Cooperation
What Cooperation Is Not
Roots of Cooperation
Social-Interdependence Theory: Cooperation Versus Competition
Learning Cooperation in School
Teaching Cooperation Through Play and Games
What Research Says About Teaching Cooperation Through Games
Chapter Summary
Play to Learn—Try This!
Chapter 3. Rethinking Competition
Defining Terms
Documented Downsides of Competition
Handling Competition With Care in the Classroom
Chapter Summary
Play to Learn—Try This!
Part II. Some Games and Guidelines for Practice
Chapter 4. A Gallery of Cooperative Games
Cooperative Games for Welcoming and Inclusion
Cooperative Games for Trust-Building and Empathy
Cooperative Games for Community-Building
Cooperative Games to Prevent Bullying
Cooperative Games for Young Children
Cooperative Games for Older Children, Tweens, and Teens
Cooperative Games to Teach Language Arts
Cooperative Games to Teach Math
Cooperative Games to Teach Science
Classic Cooperative Play Activities
Chapter Summary
Play to Learn—Try This!
Chapter 5. A Guide to Facilitating Cooperative Games
The Five Steps of Facilitating Games
Designing Cooperative Games
Converting Competitive Games to Cooperative Games
Play to Learn—Try This!
Part III. Applications of Cooperative Games
Chapter 6. Cooperative Games to Support Cooperative Learning
Background on Cooperative Learning
Using Cooperative Games to Support Cooperative Learning
A Cooperative Games Training Program for Cooperative Learning
Chapter Summary
Play to Learn—Try This!
Chapter 7. Cooperative Games and the “Soft Skillsâ€
Teaching the Whole Student
Pedagogy of Cooperative Games for Social and Emotional Learning
Cooperative Games and Classroom Climate
Cooperative Games for Moral Education
Chapter Summary
Play to Learn—Try This!
Chapter 8. Cooperative Games to Prevent Aggression
The Aggressive Student
Group Aggression: Fighting Together
Treating Group Aggression
Cooperative Games to Reduce Group Aggression at School
Chapter Summary
Play to Learn—Try This!
Chapter 9. Cooperative Games in Early Childhood Education
Young Children and Play
Cooperative Play—The Capstone of Early Childhood Social Development
How Cooperative Play Promotes Social Development
Two Definitions of Cooperative Play
Summary of Important Differences Between Competitive and Cooperative Play
How to Use Cooperative Games in the Early Childhood Classroom
Chapter Summary
Play to Learn—Try This!
Epilogue. Putting It All Together: A Pedagogy of Cooperative Games
Components of a Pedagogical Framework
Conclusion
Appendix A. Answers to Questions for Reflection
Appendix B. Resources for Further Exploration
References
Index
As Suzanne Lyons argues in the pages that follow, by setting up a scenario where everyone is rooting for everyone else, cooperative games teach children important lessons about the possibility, the practical benefits, and the deep satisfaction of doing things with, rather than against, other people.
– From the Foreword by Alfie Kohn
Lyons makes a compelling and timely case for the power of playing and learning together and provides a treasure-trove of tools and ready-to-use activities.
– Mimi Coughlin, Sacramento State University