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 possible problem-solving scenarios, developing their Cognitive Flexibility.
Example: Use This Strategy in the Classroom
Watch a preschool classroom that supports student learning through dramatic and pretend play. By exploring pretend situations, students learn how to communicate with their peers and develop their Social Awareness and 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.
Watch how Supermarket - Game for Kids allows learners to pretend play with interactions at a supermarket. By roleplaying the tasks of a store manager, learners practice and explore their own Social Awareness and Relationship Skills while also improving their Symbolic Number and Counting 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
Building with blocks is ideal for promoting early geometric and Spatial Skills.
Students activate more cognitive processes by exploring and representing their understandings in visual form.
When students explain their thinking process aloud with guidance in response to questions or prompts, they recognize the strategies they use and solidify their understanding.
Free choice supports learner interests and promotes the development of more complex social interactions.
Math games use numbers and Spatial Skills, allowing students to practice many math skills in a fun, applied context.
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.
