Imagining
Overview
Imagining allows students to step back from a problem or task and think about it from multiple angles. Through this kind of play, learners naturally take on different roles to act out multiple perspectives and possibilities, developing their Cognitive Flexibility. When this type of pretend play mimics real-life literacy activities such as playing a doctor writing prescriptions, children are developing early reading and writing skills.
Example: Use This Strategy in the Classroom
Watch a preschool classroom that supports student learning through dramatic play. By exploring pretend situations, students learn how to communicate with peers and develop their Social Awareness & Relationship Skills.
Design It into Your Product
Videos are chosen as examples of strategies in action. These choices are not endorsements of the products or evidence of use of research to develop the feature.
Learn about an educational game, Dr. Panda Town, that allows learners to roleplay daily interactions in an imaginative town. By acting out different social interactions among characters, learners practice and explore their own Social Awareness & Relationship Skills.
Additional Resources
Additional examples, research, and professional development. These resources are possible representations of this strategy, not endorsements.
Factors Supported by this Strategy
More Active Learning Strategies
Creating and acting out texts or original narratives can enhance literacy for young learners, solidifying their comprehension and building Narrative Skills.
Students activate more cognitive processes by exploring and representing their understandings in visual form.
When young children draw and are encouraged to explain their drawings, they are sharpening the cognitive and motor skills involved in conventional writing.
When students explain their thinking process aloud, they recognize the strategies they use and solidify their understanding.
Visiting places connected to classroom learning provides opportunities to deepen understanding through firsthand experiences.
Free choice supports learner interests and allows more complex social interactions to develop.
Games help students visualize new information and immerse themselves in the learning process.
Reading aloud allows students to hear and practice reading and fluency skills.
Playful activities, including pretending, games, and other child-led activities, can support the development of learners' Metacognition and also inspire their narratives and writing.
Project-based learning (PBL) actively engages learners in authentic tasks designed to create products that answer a given question or solve a problem.
Response devices boost engagement by encouraging all students to answer every question.
