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Centers and Institutes- The Center for the Study of Play
The Center for the Study of Play
In the early 1970s, Dr. Louis Bowers, a professor with the Professional Physical Education Department, was awarded a three year grant from the U.S Department of Education to provide funding for the design, construction, and evaluation of the play behaviors of children with disabilities at three developmental play centers. Upon the completion of the grant project in 1977, the Center for the Study of Play was founded for the purpose of disseminating the results of the research and to provide information regarding accessibility and safety of play structures. In 1980, the Center for the Study of Play merged with the “I’M SPECIAL” project and became the Center for the Study of Physical Education and Sport for Persons with Disabilities. It conducted and reported the results of the first National Playground Safety Survey for Pre-Schools, Elementary Schools, and Community Parks in the United States in 1983. From 1979 to 2000, Dr. Bowers developed 85 different designs of safe and accessible play structures for preschool centers and schools and distributed hundreds of playground booklets throughout Florida and the United States. The program ended in 2000 with the retirement of Dr. Bowers from the College of Education.
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