Week # 26 PLAY and Experimentation

Serious Play: Why Experimentation Matters for Teenage and Adult Learning

This week’s theme is all about LEARNING ENVIRONMENT and LEARNING DESIGN.

As educators, coaches, and leaders, we often aim for structure and rigour to match the “serious” nature of our work. As we know through The Crafted Concept, learning should be deliberate, be focused, and be purposeful. But amidst that precision, we can overlook one of the most powerful tools in the learning process: play.

Not childish, aimless play. We are not talking about unstructured play associated with stages 2-3 of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development.

Instead, cognitive play. Curious experimentation. The freedom to test, explore, iterate, and try again.

For teenagers and adult in education and elite sport, and adults in the corporate space: play isn’t the opposite of learning—it’s how deep learning happens.

The Psychology Behind Playful Learning

Cognitive and educational psychology point to several reasons why experimentation enhances learning in adolescence and adulthood.

1. Generative Learning
Research shows that learners retain more when they generate knowledge themselves—by predicting, exploring, or explaining—rather than passively receiving it, or, as the adage in education goes, “being spoon-fed”. Playful environments encourage this generation. When we try things out before being told the answer, our brain builds stronger memory traces and learns through encoded motor programmes and schema of thought, rather than just responding to a specific stimulus, which fails to be applied to the world around us.

2. Productive Failure
Productive failure highlights the value of letting learners explore complex problems without immediate instruction. When learners fail forwards—through experimentation—they’re more receptive to instruction that follows. Far from being inefficient, this “messy” phase primes the brain for durable understanding. This type of learning should be approached with caution, though, as clear scaffolding to inform the learning intention is required so that learners make the “right failures”.

3. Exploratory Behaviour and Transfer
Studies show that learners who engage in playful exploration (e.g., manipulating variables, testing ideas) are more likely to transfer knowledge to new contexts. They don’t just remember—they understand. They connect ideas, see patterns, and adapt. This is a classic example of why schematic or motor programmes of information are vital for durable long-term memory learning and wider application.

4. Autonomy and Motivation
Self-Determination Theory reminds us that motivation is fuelled by autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Play offers autonomy. It gives teenagers and adults space to own their learning, make decisions, and feel a sense of agency—all essential for sustained engagement.

Crafting Conditions for Play

The Crafted Concept believes in play. That means LEARNING DESIGN where experimentation is part of the process. It’s about crafting spaces where learners can try, fail, and adjust.

Where rigour grows out of curiosity.

In Summary:
For teenagers and adults, play and experimentation aren’t distractions from learning—they’re a vital component of it. When we allow space for exploration, we nurture deeper thinking, intrinsic motivation, and long-term understanding.