Creative Play: Learning to Fail through Digital Tinkering
Funded studentship opportunity at Northumbria University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
- Flexible start dates (October 2024/March 2025).
- Application deadline: 1st July 2024.
- This studentship consists of payment of tuition fees and a maintenance allowance at the UK Research Council’s national rate (currently £19,237 for the academic year 2024 to 2025) funded for up to three and-and-half years.
Thinking creatively and managing setbacks are crucial for all young people. Playful digital tinkering in family groups can help develop creativity and build resilience by reducing fear of failure. However, play can unintentionally exclude families from disadvantaged backgrounds, and we need more evidence of how best to support children to learn from their mistakes.
In collaboration with the Life Science Centre, a science visitor centre in Newcastle, this research will explore how to maximise inclusivity in playful design, how best to facilitate learning through failure, and provide evidence of the impacts of this approach on fear of failure and creativity.
This studentship will be supervised by Professor Nic Whitton (Professor of Digital Play and Learning) in the department of Computer and Information Sciences at Northumbria University.
The project is funded by Northern Bridge, and you can view the full project proposal.
To apply
Applicants should complete the Northumbria University Doctoral Application form, including:
- A CV;
- A 1000-word personal statement that explains why you are interested in the studentship, along with the knowledge, skills and experience you bring;
- A short research statement (max. 500 words) that explains the perspective you will bring to the project;
- Two academic references;
- The reference code NBC24/WHITTON.
Further information
Please contact Nic via email if you are interested; she is very happy to discuss this opportunity with potential applicants.
