Developing a New Pedagogical Model of Immersive Play for Punchdrunk Enrichment

Shaping ‘Affective’ and ‘Effective’ Playful Pedagogies (November 2021)

In this webinar presented by the CREATE Centre, Peter Higgin (Artistic Director of Punchdrunk Enrichment) and Dr Angela Colvert Senior Lecturer in Education at University of Roehampton) will discuss rationale and principles that underpin Punchdrunk Enrichment’s educational practice in school settings. They will share their work on a new three-year teacher development programme, the Immersive Learning Collective and draw out some of the core-approaches that shaped the first year of the programme. The Immersive Learning Collective provides an opportunity for teachers from a range of schools meet regularly with Punchdrunk Enrichment practitioners to deliver new projects, learn about and apply immersive principles in their school and share knowledge with peers and the wider sector. This webinar will highlight that when understanding the social and educational impact of Punchdrunk Enrichment’s work it is important to attend to, and value, the process of play as practices evolve and merge. A new pedagogical model of ‘immersive play’ will be presented, which emerged from Colvert’s empirical research into Punchdrunk Enrichment’s practice. This model foregrounds the way that artists, teachers, and children’s ‘affective’ and ‘effective’ engagements often inflect and intersect in complex ways. It also highlights that a developing sense of purpose, place, urgency, and community all inflect with the learning outcomes that teachers and artists observe.