The Luminos Fund: Learning Through Play Dr. Susan Rauchwerk | Associate Professor at Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts This article is an expansion on research from a broader program evaluation conducted by the University of Sussex Centre for International Education. Introduction Kkalama helps the other children in her group draw the hop-scotch spaces using only multiples of three as the teacher instructed. She hums the counting song she learned yesterday as she tosses her rock which lands on the number 12. As she hops, the whole group excitedly shouts 3, 6, 9, 12! Firew, the student recorder, asks how many spaces it took to get to 12. Together they count 4, and Firew scratches 3x4=12 in the dirt. Simhal is next, it lands on 21, and they start the process over. Kkalama’s hears her brother Abush count 5, 10, 15, 20 as he jumps rope with another group across the yard. He practiced at home last night with Kkalama, can he make it to 100? Kkalama and her classmates spend a good portion years. For example, in a grade one lesson on of each Second Chance1 day moving through the numeracy, children learn how to follow directions curriculum independent of the teacher, playing and work with others while playing counting and games designed to encourage sorting games with natural collaboration and stimulate objects. By grade two, learning through both the mind children engage in discourse and the body. The Second Chance and argumentation through program, an initiative of the ball-tossing games that Luminos Fund, is an accelerated teach multi-digit operations learning program for out-of- and probability. In grade school children between the ages The Luminos Fund is dedicated to three, students might of eight and fourteen living in creating education innovations to construct tools and toys that rural or remote areas of Ethiopia unlock the light within every child. illustrate fractions, multiples, and Liberia who have never By developing and scaling innovative or relative events over time. attended or who have dropped approaches to learning for the most In the process of designing vulnerable children, we’re able to work out of school. Through a play- and building these objects, at the margins of the education system, based pedagogy that places the in a space where we can create real students learn to analyze, child at the center of learning, change. As we scale new approaches to reflect, and revise. Play is students cover the first three bringing quality education to children essential to the success of years of the national curriculum in the greatest need, we work together the Second Chance model in just ten months and prepare with local governments to drive at all levels, providing a to rejoin government schools systems-level change. framework for cohesive at the third or fourth grade The Second Chance program is one learning experiences and level. The academic module of such innovation, helping children inspiring creativity, risk- the Second Chance program get a second chance at education. taking, and initiative. With is supplemented by parent and Since 2011, we have brought 100,000 a focus on small group play, children back to school in Ethiopia community engagement groups students not only catch up and Liberia through this model. 90% that catalyze long term support of Second Chance graduates transition on their basic skills, they for their children’s education. The into government schools. Four years become proficient learners program also includes exposure after program completion, 75% of the (University of Sussex, 2016a; training for local primary school children educated through Second Mardell, et al. 2016). teachers on the student-centered Chance have remained in school. pedagogy. This note attempts to reinforce the importance of A pedagogy of play is central to the Second Chance play in helping children learn and highlight how the curriculum, evolving in sophistication as children Second Chance model incorporates various principles move through grade levels in months rather than of learning through play in its pedagogic approach. 1 The Second Chance program previously went by the name Speed School. This document was updated in November 2020 to reflect the current program name. No other edits were made. 1 Second Chance Success The Second Chance curriculum uses the Ethiopian government textbooks and Minimum Learning “The whole experience over the ten months Competencies (MLC’s) for grades 1-3 in literacy appears to create learners who are not only skills, Amharic, English, environmental science, reflexive but autonomous and resilient, having and mathematics. Second Chance graduates’ learnt how to learn over the ten months of comprehension and aptitude levels are much their immersion in Second higher than peers in government Chance. In knowing how to schools, and graduates exceed their government school peers process and make creative and on placement exams. Ethiopia intellectual use of new concepts woreda and kebele officials, learnt, and how to problem- school principals, and even the solve and work collaboratively students themselves recognize this, in groups, graduates are highlighting greater motivation, well set up to succeed in the better attendance, classroom contrasting classrooms and participation, and good behavior as social environment of the Link contributing to their success. School when they integrate.” 90% of Second Chance (University of Sussex, 2016a) graduates transition into government schools. Play in Education Play conjures up images of children According to studies of sub- Four years after program completion, 75% of the using toys to create and tell stories, Saharan Africa and South running, laughing, negotiating children educated through Asia, large class sizes, teacher rules, etc. We see it as tactile and Second Chance have remained absenteeism, and “chalk and talk” kinesthetic, and synonymous with pedagogy lead to many children in school, and in some cases, exuberance and creativity. Play is dropping out of school. Those who skipped grades (University of usually associated with free time do manage to stay in school fail to Sussex, 2016b). rather than school, however research progress. Second Chance children shows that play paves the way for come from impoverished, often learning, leading to cognitive and social maturity. When illiterate families, and their education may have been there are other children to play with and adults who disrupted or absent due to family needs and values. can encourage and guide children to play effectively Because of the persistent, pernicious belief that without with each other, play inspires and even drives learning basics early on in life, the rest of the curriculum is (Bodrova and Leong, 2010; Smith, 2009). inaccessible, Second Chance children are considered among the least educable by local teachers and school administrators (Pritchett and Beatty, 2012; Sumra, Play in Second Chance 2010). “We were learning like playing and the things Second Chance has re-conceptualized who can learn we learned as play have remained inside us and why. Second Chance facilitators believe that all like heritage.” – female Second Chance student children can learn. They are trained to support all (University of Sussex, 2016b). students and utilize current pedagogies that encourage students to interact in small groups and learn from not In Second Chance, play is a platform for only the teacher but local experts and peers as well. communication between teachers and students where Rather than focusing on memorization and recitation, teachers actively draw upon students’ life experiences Second Chance children are taught to think and how and promote an environment where students feel safe to acquire new knowledge and skills. (University of and supported, ultimately leading to positive student Sussex, 2016a). outcomes. Play provides a pedagogical framework (Baker, et al., 2016) that shapes both the social structure “It is because of what I learned in Second Chance and content delivery within the Second Chance that I can read better and know how to study. classroom. Classrooms are interactive, and learning is a It helps me to have confidence in my academic process rather than an outcome (Krug, 2011). performance, which I did not have previously.” In Second Chance classrooms, the student/teacher – male Second Chance student (University of paradigm shifts from authoritative to collaborative, Sussex, 2016b) from teacher-centered to student-focused. Second Chance facilitators emphasize how learning happens and are shaped by their own experiences and understanding of the teaching and learning process. 2 Communication with students is the priority, and play The difference between Second Chance classes is at the center of that communication (University of and here [Link School]... is in Second Chance Sussex, 2016a). we learn and re-learn the points until all of The following section identifies and describes the various us understand... the teacher explains but here stages of the Second Chance model which incorporate there are teachers who simply write notes and the above principles of learning through play. do not explain. – female Second Chance student (University of Sussex, 2016b) Facilitator Training Westbrook, et al. (2013) found that when teachers Research strongly suggests that a combination formed more positive attitudes towards their pupils of intensive and principled teacher training and and the pedagogy promoted in their training, they were pedagogic structure enables Second Chance students