Triggering Motivation through Play and Curiosity
A special issue of Education Sciences (ISSN 2227-7102).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 June 2025) | Viewed by 731
Special Issue Editors
Interests: motivation; teacher–student interactions; diversity; inclusion
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
In this Special Issue, we aim to investigate the ways in which play and curiosity have a role in education. Thus far, in educational research, the focus has often been on motivating students to perform predefined school tasks that are not intrinsically motivating per se. Play is intrinsically motivated: when children get the opportunity, they will play. Furthermore, a playing child is interested to see “what happens if…” and is not occupied with reaching an extrinsic goal. Play is an essential part of the social, emotional, creative, and cognitive well-being of children 1. The right to play is part of the UN convention on the rights of children.
We welcome a variety of research, ranging from studies with young children to studies with adult students in various educational contexts. Relevant themes include the role of play and curiosity in decreasing stress and anxiety, something which many students nowadays experience unhealthy amounts of. We anticipate that in education, allowing for play and triggering curiosity may foster intrinsic motivation and, thereby, diminish the extrinsic motivation that is accompanied by stress and anxiety.
Another theme we believe could be particularly relevant for this Special Issue is creativity. Thus far, research on motivation and creativity has typically been about their interrelationship, i.e., showing that motived students deliver more creative work. However, especially of interest to this Special Issue is how allowing for play and triggering curiosity in education may induce both creativity and motivation and allow reinforcement of one other.
1 E.g. Barros, R.M., Silver, E.J., Stein, R.E.K. (2009). School Recess and Group Classroom Behavior. Pediatrics 123 (2), 431–436. 10.1542/peds.2007-2825
Dr. Kim Stroet
Dr. Ineke Haakma
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- play
- curiosity
- motivation
- engagement
- anxiety
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