A Child’s Power in Game-play 1 Running Head: A Child’s Power in Game-play A Child’s Power in Game Play

This paper is the first of its series that studies the power children have in game play and examines its implications for teaching and learning. As a start, the paper describes a framework of power based on a synthesis of various types of power underlined in literature. The paper then looks into the power issue through observation and interviews of one twelve-year-old boy’s game-play. Several initial findings are delineated. Connections are made between the framework of power and different kinds of power that the twelve-year-old negotiates in playing games. The study sets a foundation for further research in the power issue in education. A Child’s Power in Game-play 3 A Child’s Power in Game-play “Especially among young people, the new media together with the erosion of old concepts of authority open the way to acute awareness of this new bondage. The young perceive that their right to say their own word has been stolen from them, and that few things are more important than the struggle to win it back. ” (Shaull