Psychology professor believes enjoyable actions are honest play

Psychology professor believes enjoyable actions are honest play

Associate Professor of Psychology Erin Way has just about at all times been thinking about gaining a greater understanding of individuals – what makes them tick, so to talk. Especially kids. Having a mom who was a kindergarten instructor definitely fueled that curiosity. And the psychology class she took in faculty lit a fireplace in her, too.

Her roles at Alvernia are good examples of placing her passions to work, one thing she hopes every of her college students is ready to do by their experiences on the college.

Way serves as coordinator of Alvernia’s S.U.R.F. (Student Undergraduate Research Fellows) program, which sees college students and professors be a part of collectively to conduct analysis.

“For me, the biggest component is the collaboration,” Way explained. “This is not a faculty member telling you [the student] how to do something, like in this superior role. It’s that you’re working together. You’re both on relatively equal footing. You’re both approaching some new problem, some new question, that the faculty member does already have the answer to. In this experience, they are learning along with you. They’re working with you. And there is so much about the process of doing research that is so relevant to the rest of your life. You’re going to be approaching problems and trying to solve problems where there’s not a clear answer, where things are going to go wrong…and you have to pivot. I think all of those skills end up being so important and so critical for students as they move forward and go into careers or go to graduate school or wherever else they’re going to go when they finish.”

It sounds critical, and is, however there’s completely enjoyable concerned. Just as there’s in a particular course Way teaches: the Psychology of Play class.

The class, which fills up shortly every semester, happened when Way was educating lifespan growth and introduced in some actions for college kids to do when the subject was preschool growth.

“I brought in some puppets and some games and crayons and things, and they didn’t know what to do,” she remembered. “I was like, ‘Just play with them,’ and they didn’t know what I wanted them to do. So, I began to realize there is an expectation to stop playing when you get older, and that’s counter to what we know about how important play is and all of the benefits play gives us, not just as kids, but throughout our lives, so I really designed the course to kind of help students to recognize the connection between play and a lot of positive outcomes.”

Aside from educating the category, Way credit her 8-year-old son for maintaining her trustworthy about making time for play at residence.

“When I set aside that time to play with him, it’s really not just for him,” she admitted. “It’s for me, too. It makes me better in the other areas of my life, more productive. It’s important for me.”