Child’s Play Re-envisaged through Virtual Reality

Introducing the Immersive Research Methodology

Rene Novak (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

184 Seiten

2025
Brill (Verlag)
978-90-04-73580-4 (ISBN)

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In this book, Dr. Rene Novak explores how immersive VR Pedagogy and Heidegger’s phenomenology can transform our understanding of children’s free play. Teachers become “invisible observers,” transcending standardised outcomes and embracing play’s transformative, self-actualizing potential in early learning and development.

In this book, Dr Rene Novak reveals new ways of understanding children’s play by liberating it from the constraints of standardised educational agendas. Drawing on Heidegger’s concepts of Enframing and poiesis, and phenomenological inquiry, this innovative study explores how immersive virtual reality (VR) videos can serve as metaphysical laboratories. Through vivid, embodied experiences, early childhood educators cross the cybernetic looking glass to become one with play and discover transformative insights for holistic child development.

Dr Rene Novak investigates the potential of immersive pedagogy by merging visual pedagogy with embodiment theory to highlight the critical role of teacher presence in educational phenomena. Educators become “invisible observers,” stepping inside the flow of play while relinquishing preconceived enframed discourses and misconceptions. The result is a reshaping of pedagogy and policy, steering away from prescriptive goals toward play as a self-actualising educational experience.

By reconceptualising how free play unfolds, this book challenges educators, policymakers, and parents to embrace the true essence of play in early learning. This book is an essential resource for anyone seeking to understand how to foster creativity, social-emotional growth, and deeper engagement in a play-based curriculum.

Rene Novak, Ph.D. (2021, Waikato), is a Senior Leader at BestStart, New Zealand. He publishes on VR pedagogies and early childhood education, including The Rise of the ‘Immersive Virtual Online Avatar Society (Brill, 2022) and The Paradox of Contemporary Play (Brill, 2020).

Preface: A Reflection on Play

Acknowledgements

List of Figures and Tables

Introduction

1 The Role of Play In and Out of Education

1 The Many Faces of Play

2 The Attitudes toward Play

1 Capture of Play

3 Methodology

1 Re-framing Play in the Metaphysical Laboratory

4 Research Method

1 Immersive Video as a Research Method

5 Findings

1 Insights beyond the Cybernetic Looking Glass

Epilogue: Personal Insights about My Research on Play

References

Index

Erscheinungsdatum	14.06.2025
Reihe/Serie	Visual Pedagogies, Methodologies, and Educational Research ; 3
Verlagsort	Leiden
Sprache	englisch
Maße	155 x 235 mm
Gewicht	435 g
Themenwelt	Schulbuch / Wörterbuch ► Unterrichtsvorbereitung ► Unterrichts-Handreichungen
Themenwelt	Sozialwissenschaften ► Pädagogik
ISBN-10	90-04-73580-1 / 9004735801
ISBN-13	978-90-04-73580-4 / 9789004735804
Zustand	Neuware