PZ PGH Learning and Thinking that Make a Difference (May 2026)

This interactive workshop invites educators to observe “learning in the wild” and discover the many ways thinking and learning are made visible in spaces beyond the classroom. Participants will engage with a transferable routine they can bring back to their own settings to help identify and interpret examples of thinking and learning in the environments around them.

The session also emphasizes the importance of using a lens to guide observation. Educators will explore how focusing on themes such as joy, collaboration, failure, community, curiosity, or agency can deepen their understanding of how environments are intentionally designed to support different forms of learning.

Participants will have time to explore the Children’s Museum—the country’s largest children’s museum campus—and experience its inspiring learning spaces firsthand. Through guided observation and reflection, they will leave with practical strategies for noticing, interpreting, and designing for learning in a wide range of educational contexts.

This hands-on workshop invites educators to move beyond play as a "break" and re-examine it as a pedagogical tool for deep thinking and equity. Drawing on Project Zero frameworks—including Pedagogy of Play, Art | Play, and Agency by Design—participants will consider how we might think critically about play and its relationship to learning and equity in educational contexts. Practical questions we will think about together include: What are we talking about when we talk about play? What are some connections between play and learning? And, who gets to play, where, and how? Attendees will test-drive a new Play Journaling tool that can be used in a variety of teaching, learning, and childcare contexts to support critical reflection on play and its place in equitable learning. Attendees will gain frameworks, tools, and examples for fostering more inclusive and critical approaches to play in diverse teaching and learning contexts.