Culture’s Contribution to Play

In this week’s discussions, you have explored play in relation to culture and have examined personalities of play, including your own. In this week’s assignment, you will learn more about culture as it relates to play, which can help you further refine your personal framework of play that you have been developing in this course. Children’s play can be personally meaningful through their physical environment, which is often influenced by sociocultural factors and the cultural context in which they live.

For this assignment, you will engage in a conversation with a relative, friend, or colleague to examine the ways in which culture has influenced his or her play. To prepare for this assignment, read Chapter 7 in the course text, and then conduct a conversation with a relative, friend, or colleague about how he or she played as a child. Ideas for questions you might ask during the conversation are provided in this week’s Instructor Guidance. Construct your assignment to meet the content and written communication expectations below.

Content Expectations

• Introduction (1 point): Discuss who participated in this conversation with you and list the questions you asked during your conversation. 
• Questions Asked: 

1. What did your friend or relative pretend?
2. What games did your colleague, friend or relative play?
3. What did it mean for your colleague, friend or relative to play?
4. How is the play your colleague, friend or relative described characteristic of his or her cultural heritage?
5. How did the economic structure of your colleague, friend or relative’s community determined the types of play activities he or she participated in?
6. What were the specific beliefs your colleague, friend or relative’s community had about the value of play?
7. How were your colleague, friend or relative’s community values conveyed to him or her during play?

• Family Role (3 points): Explain the role of family in the facilitation of play from the cultural lens described in Chapter 7 of the course text.  
• Course Text:  Frost, J., Wortham, S., & Reifel, S. (2001). Play and child development (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice-Hall.

  Conversation Analysis (5 points): Provide a summary of the responses to the questions you asked your relative, friend, or colleague during the conversation. Describe how the responses provided by your relative, friend, or colleague align with what you have learned from the course content. Cite at least two additional scholarly sources to support your analysis.

• Conclusion (1 point): Discuss the possible influence those experiences had on your relative’s, friend’s, or colleague’s development (social, emotional, cognitive, physical).

Written Communication Expectations    

• Page Requirement (.5 points): Two-to-three pages, not including the title and references pages.
• APA Formatting (.5 points): Use APA formatting consistently throughout the assignment as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site..
• Syntax and Mechanics (.5 points): Display meticulous comprehension and organization of syntax and mechanics such as spelling and grammar.
• Source Requirement (.5 points): Reference three scholarly sources in addition to the course text to provide compelling evidence that supports your ideas. All sources on the references page need to be used and cited correctly within the body of your assignment.

Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.