Designing for Playful Math Engagement Across Learning Environments

Abstract

This symposium offers considerations for designing playful mathematics learning environments by synthesizing empirical research across four contexts that differ in location, formality, timescale, materials, facilitation, and participation structures. Despite the importance of play across the lifespan, mathematics classrooms are often spaces students feel a void of agency and enjoyment. This has strong implications for students’ sense of competence and their identities as individuals who participate in and enjoy mathematics. Thus, designing playful environments where children enjoy and participate in mathematics as a form of meaning making is a critical issue for equity in education. By putting these four studies in conversation with one another, we hope to develop a refined understanding of how particular design decisions influence learner engagement in mathematics, with an eye towards making mathematical play more accessible both in and out of school.