Functional game
Functional games or exercise games are forms of play in which your own physical features are experienced and developed, objects from the environment are tried out and made accessible to one's own options for action. They already characterize early childhood play, but can also be found as a generally practiced method of playful acquisition of a new area of life.
phenomenon
The functional or exercise game was named after the activity with which the phenomena of the environment are understood and made available to one's own repertoire of action. The sports scientist Günter Hagedorn describes this category as " sensorimotor games", with which bodily functions can be learned and targeted coordination can be practiced. The learner constantly repeats this newly acquired coordination and perfects it by experiencing and experiencing the environmental stimuli as precisely as possible. This process of exact experience presupposes that he notices every time whether the effects produced are similar or not. The cognitive activity is to acquire this experience for oneself, to assimilate it. The testing of his new skills is already experienced as pleasurable by the toddler and tends to be repeated and varied frequently. Because of this repetitive character, Jean Piaget also referred to the early forms of functional play as 'practice games'. In these games, motivation and emotion merge in the desire to function ; that is the pleasure in the effect on the one hand and the joy of being the author of the effect on the other. This is complemented by the (more cognitive) experience of being able to bring about the effects again through one's own handling, which Piaget calls a creative game .
The Swiss developmental psychologist Jean Piaget assigns the functional game in his game theory, which is based on the development of the child's thought structures, to the initial phase of the child's appropriation of the world. According to Piaget, it is the “main form” of playing during the first months of life. With the increasing maturation of the game assets, this stage is largely in its view, between the second to seventh year by the symbol game replaced, which in turn, as the final stage of the development process, the playful rule match follows.
The game scientists Siegbert A. Warwitz and Anita Rudolf recognize the functional or exercise game not only a phase-related, but a lifelong meaning in all new processes of appropriation: They speak of an innate "drive impulse", which causes even the toddler to develop his own body and to explore and understand its functions as well as the people and objects of its immediate environment with its sensual possibilities of touching, tasting and eyeing in a playful way. They point out that this game form and method of “world exploration” is also used by adults when they develop a new field of activity. For example, the paraglider pilot undertakes and enjoys exploring the properties and possibilities of his glider by repeatedly pulling up his aircraft on the ground, by playing with the cloth in the wind, by trying out the brakes and control functions: “Animals and humans try to find each other to familiarize them with new conditions in their environment, with new devices, instruments and people. These become game occasions and game partners. ” The behavioral researcher Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt speaks of a“ dialogue with the environment ”in this context.
example
If a child drops a glass that breaks into pieces with a clang, the desire to function is aroused and they will try to do the same with other objects. The psychologist Karl Bühler also called this game a functional game. Many things can be tried out in functional games, for example by putting them in the mouth or dropping them. This also includes actions such as driving around the room with a chair or buggy, bringing or even holding a gaming phone to your head. Over time, these actions become more and more correct.
literature
- Günter Hagedorn: Play . Rowohlt, Reinbek 1987, ISBN 3-4991-8603-9 , page 199.
- Hans Mogel: Psychology of children's play. Springer-Verlag, Berlin and Heidelberg 2008, ISBN 978-3-540-46623-9 .
- Jean Piaget: Imitation, game and dream , Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2009. ISBN 3-608-94375-7 .
- Friedrich Pohlmann: The social birth of man. Introduction to anthropology and social psychology of early childhood. Beltz, Weinheim and Basel 2000.
- Siegbert A. Warwitz, Anita Rudolf: Thoughts on the game . In: Dies: On the meaning of play. Reflections and game ideas . 4th edition, Verlag Schneider, Baltmannsweiler 2016, ISBN 978-3-8340-1664-5 , pp. 8-11.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Günter Hagedorn: Play . Rowohlt, Reinbek 1987, page 199
- ↑ https://www.hf.uni-koeln.de/data/eso/File/Schaefer/Vorlesung_Spiel.pdf
- ↑ Jean Piaget: Imitation, Play and Dream , Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2009.
- ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz, Anita Rudolf: Thoughts on the game . In: Dies: On the meaning of play. Reflections and game ideas . 4th edition, Verlag Schneider, Baltmannsweiler 2016, pp. 8-11.
- ↑ Warwitz / Rudolf ibid p. 11.
- ↑ Irenäus Eibl-Eibelsfeldt: Comparative Behavioral Research , Selecta XI, No. 47–51, 1969, p. 250
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from February 1, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
