Uppeldi og menntun - 01.07.2006, Page 114

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situations. knowledge of the real situation at a fire station would be complemented
with dramatisation, stories and other forms of narration in order to demonstrate to
the children why fire fighters are helping people, how they help and behave. In other
words, volition and motivational basis of acting is essential in narrative learning. a
central developmental aspect in play situations is identification with the characters
and their willingness to do something for other people. Children may not be able to
do anything concretely, but they want to be like heroes.
Narrative learning in plays focuses on personal qualitative traits of role characters.
The same sensitivity to the emotional quality of an unknown person is seen in the
reactions of small children. Safe ex­perimentation in play with the qualities of role
characters has relevance in child development. Vygotsky emphasised in his sketch of
play theory the importance of imaginary situations as the challenge for changing the
acting persons’ traits. He ex­plained the mechanism of change in simple terms. Taking
a play role forces the child to follow the hidden rules of the role and thus h/she can
ignore situational stimuli, which without role taking would guide actions. Sticking to
the role and its rules is not a conscious planned decision of the child, but rather a desire
to try something ex­citing. Role behaviour creates a tension between two subjects – the
imaginary subject of role actions and the real child. This tension can lead to changes
and development of the real child.
Joint pretend play introduces several points of view between different roles and
leads to negotiations on role relations and plots of play. Children have to decide what
could be possible in their interaction and how to relate their own role actions to the
emerging joint play. as in all improvisations, one person cannot create his or her own
individual solutions without breaking the joint emerging play. But play still proceeds
with children’s own joint initiatives.
If we compare narrative learning with typical school learning which starts in many
countries at the age of four or five, it is possible to see what is missing in school lessons.
Children’s own initiatives are limited and ex­perimenting with different possibilities is
ex­changed with solving problems and assignments which often have only one correct
answer. Emphasis on cognitive and formal intellectual skills replaces the worry about
children’s personality development and moral characteristics. Learning situations do
not challenge the child to think about what kind of person he or she is or would like
to be. This challenge is met in other life situations.
Today virtual environments in games and other electronic media present the
challenge of learning and development in a simplified way. Good and bad is con-
trasted and rapid reaction is necessary. We can hear children ask the critical question
“are they good or bad?” and when the problem is settled, the good ones start to fight
against the bad ones. Technical effects and game design can even eliminate the need
for asking and support this kind of role taking. In a game situation there is no time
for empathy or reflection because you can be killed if the reaction is not fast enough.
The conditioning of fast reactions in the fight against the bad is easily transferred to
free play situations and changes the nature of children’s joint play. In these kinds of
game situations the child can identify him/herself with the hero by developing fast
reactions, as the focus of identification in classical folk tales is the will of the hero
V ið­Horf