RUME 25
2023
Omaha, Nebraska
Students’ and Mathematicians’ Playful Math Engagement
Page: 108
Mathematical play is hypothesized to foster student dispositions that mirror authentic disciplinary engagement, such as exploring, conjecturing, and strategizing. However, most research on mathematical play investigates the mathematics that can emerge from children’s natural play or play in informal spaces. We introduce the term “playful math” to highlight the potential of playifying school mathematics tasks and investigate both students’ and mathematicians’ problem-solving activity through this lens. Drawing on teaching experiments and mathematician interviews, we found evidence of playful engagement in both populations and identified similar activity structures across both groups, which we call Explore-Focus Cycles. We present two such cycles and discuss implications of playful math for student activity.