Don’t Lose Your Marbles: Visualizing Narrative Structures in Academic Writing

Many university students find assignment writing challenging, particularly in relation to how they construct and narrate an academic argument. Participants that are either engaged in writing and/or setting written forms of assessment will, in this activity, learn alternative forms of visualizing, communicating and aiding student/their essay writing practices. The activity will be of interest to any IMOBTS delegate who wants to explore open space learning strategies for supporting their students' academic writing and/or those who want to discuss their own experience of using play-based learning in Higher Education. This face-to-face, 60-minute activity explores the ways in which embodied, object-based experiential learning (using marble runs) can be used to support students' assignment-writing skills and build confidence about how to structure essays. The aim is to demonstrate that play-based learning can help Undergraduate/Postgraduate students engage with abstract concepts in academic writing, allowing them to test and communicate their understanding in an enjoyable and engaging format.