"and a take-apart seal in a pear tree..."

"And a take-apart seal in a pear tree...": Bruner's Legacy and the Material Histories of Playful Pedagogies

Nicole Weinberg, Texas Christian University

Abstract: This article traces the pathways to which curriculum theorizing takes place within historic context and is eventually materialized into specific curricular objects. Revisiting the history of Jerome Bruner’s Man: A Course of Study (MACOS) curriculum, which was implemented in the United States and United Kingdom in the late 1960s and early 1970s, my specific point of analysis is the course’s pedagogic use of learning games and toys. Looking at the MACOS curriculum as a historic text, I analyze the course as a pedagogy of play-things, within larger structures of coloniality and epistemic privilege. I consider the materiality of play-things in relation to the curriculum as it relates to its embedded civilizationism, epistemic excess, and (mis)representation of communities of color. In conclusion, I invite readers to consider the distinction between a pedagogy of play versus pedagogy of play-things, and to imagine a more emancipatory pedagogy of play for futures in education. 

Keywords: Curriculum studies, curriculum history, pedagogy and play, social studies

To cite this article: Weinberg, N. (2025). "And a take-apart seal in a pear tree...": Bruner's legacy and the material histories of playful pedagogies. The Critical Social Educator, 3(2), 53-69. https://doi.org/10.70707/ncsk11243e