Learn more about Professor Emily Mann's class focusing in on the science of play
By Katy Davis, Service-Learning Teaching Assistant, Science of Play Honors Seminar
This past May and June, Emily Mann, teaching professor of human services, embarked on a pedagogic adventure unlike any other at Northeastern, framing a summer course around the science of play with a deeply interwoven aspect of service-learning and community engagement.
Along on this journey were 14 Honors students of varying academic backgrounds (and degrees of skepticism), as well as her trusty TA: me. Having been on a variety of intellectual pursuits under Mann’s brilliant guidance, I had no doubt this would be an incredible class. While our students may not have been so sure on their first day, our seven weeks together convinced them otherwise – and firmly instilled in them a belief in the power of play.
The first week consisted of some literary definitions of play. But as students began to reflect on play memories of their own, it quickly became apparent that this was a more complicated concept than they thought.
Learn more here.
