The Play Make Learn (PML) Conference promotes high-quality learning opportunities for educators, researchers, developers, designers, foundation leaders, policy makers, museum and library professionals, and school leaders who are dedicated to promoting making, gaming, and playful learning.
The PML 2024 Conference will be held July 18-19, at the Memorial Union (800 Langdon St.) in Madison, WI. We aimed to engage our audience in cutting-edge learning science ideas and experiences; communicate state-of-the-art design, education, and research; demonstrate new and upcoming games and technology; and network to spark new projects in the following themes:
- Playful learning
- Games for learning and positive social impact
- Making and makerspaces
- STEAM Education
- Arts integration in formal and informal spaces
- Research/practitioner partnerships
Our conference keeps growing! We continue to see the demographics of our audience expand, both in the fields they represent and how far they travel. Attendees and presenters have joined us from across the United States and five other countries, including Canada, Germany, Taiwan, Kingdom of Bahrain, and India.
Play Make Learn is hosted by the UW-Madison School of Education’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction and the office of Professional Learning and Community Education (PLACE). This partnership was made possible by the generosity of the School of Education’s Impact 2030 Initiative.
News
2024 Conference Keynotes & Schedule Released
REGISTER HERE
July 18-19, 2024, at the Memorial Union in Madison, WI
Register by May 31 for Early Bird Rates!
The Play Make Learn (PML) Conference promotes high-quality learning opportunities for educators, researchers, developers, designers, foundation leaders, policy makers, museum and library professionals, and school leaders who are dedicated to promoting making, gaming, and playful learning. We aim to engage our audience in cutting-edge learning science ideas and experiences; communicate state-of-the-art design, education, and research; demonstrate new and upcoming games and technology; and network to spark new projects in the following themes: playful learning, games for learning and positive social impact, making and makerspaces, STEAM education, arts integration in formal and informal spaces, and research/practitioner partnerships. Learn more at our website and follow us on social media for keynote announcements.
The 2024 Conference Schedule is now available! Check out the stellar panel, poster, workshop, and other presentation sessions available at this year's conference!
When: July 18-19, 2024
Where: Memorial Union | 800 Langdon St. | Madison, WI
2024 Conference Keynote Speakers:
Aaron Trammell (July 18th keynote) is an Associate Professor of Informatics at UC Irvine. He's interested in how tabletop games further values of white privilege and hegemonic masculinity in geek culture. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Analog Gamea Studies, Multimedia Editor at Sounding Out! and the co-editor for the Tabletop Gaming series at University of Michigan Press. He has written two books: Repairing Play (2023 MIT Press) is a theory of play that centers BIPOC people and The Privilege of Play (2023 NYU Press) is a history of games and race in the 20th Century. His third book, Designing Dragons: Quantifying Fantasy in Dungeons & Dragons, will be available late 2025 on Duke University Press.
Dr. Rilla Khaled (July 19th keynote) is an Associate Professor of Design and Computation Arts at Concordia University in Tiohtià:ke / Montréal. She is Associate Director of the Technoculture, Art and Games (TAG) Research Centre. Her work focuses on how playful media can improve daily life, and spans establishing foundations for recoverable, materials-based game design research, articulating boundaries for experimental uses of AI, designing award-winning games, creating speculative prototypes of near-future technologies, and working with BIPOC communities to materialise inclusive futures.
If you have any questions, feel free to email Chris Baker, Public Library Consultant with the Library Services Team at Chris.Baker@dpi.wi.gov.
Wisconsin Connections
Wisconsin is fortunate to be a growing hub for these topics and resources. Here is a short list of some free example resources. Find or share more in WISELearn Resources.
Field Day
This UW-Madison lab makes games and game-making platforms to enhance learning through play, technology, and creativity.
- Explore physics, earth, and life science with standards-aligned mini-games/simulations in The Yard Games.
- Make augmented reality (the Pokémon Go genre) experiences with ARIS.
- Use Atom Touch to virtually get hands on with molecules.
- Detect neutrinos at the South Pole in virtual reality with IceCube.
- Introduce students to the social studies inquiry process in Jo Wilder and the Capitol Case.
- More at fielddaylab.org
Filament Games
Filament's mission is to "create playful experiences that improve people's lives." Although most of their content has a cost, free resources include:
- Explore iCivics - a suite of games for inspiring and learning about civics.
- Experience how Marie Curie, Grace Hopper, and Jane Goodall worked in Breaking Boundaries VR.
- Read how educators in WI and beyond use games to improve learning in the ebook How to Teach with Games.
- Check out the Smithsonian Science Education Center Game Center, featuring select games from Filament.
- Find research roundups like this K12 one on their blog.