Spielend lernen

This study shows that play and games were much more significant in medieval education than previously assumed. Teachers in monasteries and cathedral schools as well as teachers entrusted with the education of young princes and princesses agreed that movement games were necessary for the physical health of their pupils. To a certain degree, this also applied to the training of young scholars at the universities. They were admonished not to exaggerate their game sessions and to choose right and honest games. Educational use of play and games was by no means restricted to physical conditioning, but also involved board games, language games, mimetic games and movement games used for moral, language and science instruction. Moreover, according to Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas, well-educated people should acknowledge the necessity of play for human life and at the same time be able to shape their conduct in play in a moderate and virtuous way.