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 576

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Institute of Education and Child Studies, Leiden University, Wassenaarseweg 52, 2333 AK Leiden, The Netherlands
Interests: motivation; teacher–student interactions; diversity; inclusion

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Guest Editor
Research Centre Art & Society, Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Meeuwerderweg 1, 9724 EM Groningen, The Netherlands
Interests: autonomy; motivation; art education; creativity

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

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Keywords

  • play
  • curiosity
  • motivation
  • engagement
  • anxiety

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

17 pages, 2971 KiB  
Article
An Educational Trading Card Game for a Medical Immunology Course
by Vincent Singleton, Ciara Bordeaux, Emma Ferguson and Tyler Bland
Educ. Sci. 2025, 15(6), 768; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15060768 - 17 Jun 2025
Viewed by 191
Abstract
Medical students face cognitive overload and disengagement due to the rigorous demands of their education. This study evaluates the impact of Medimon Learning Cards, a mnemonic-based trading card game, on engagement, satisfaction, and knowledge retention among students in a medical immunology course. These [...] Read more.
Medical students face cognitive overload and disengagement due to the rigorous demands of their education. This study evaluates the impact of Medimon Learning Cards, a mnemonic-based trading card game, on engagement, satisfaction, and knowledge retention among students in a medical immunology course. These cards incorporate visual and linguistic mnemonics, coupled with strategic gameplay, to create an interactive learning experience. This study was conducted on 39 first-year medical students enrolled in an immunology course, divided into experimental Learning Card and control groups. The Learning Card group received the Medimon Learning Cards and participated in a structured play session, while both groups received identical in-class instruction. The results from the Situational Interest Survey for Multimedia revealed high engagement and satisfaction among the Learning Card group, with students expressing enthusiasm for expanding the scope of the cards to other topics. However, no significant differences were observed in knowledge retention or exam performance between the groups. These findings suggest that Medimon Learning Cards can serve as a valuable supplementary tool with which to enhance motivation and interest, though their impact on cognitive outcomes requires further investigation. These findings suggest that incorporating mnemonic-based card games such as Medimon Learning Cards can enhance learner motivation and interest, although their impact on cognitive outcomes warrants further study. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Triggering Motivation through Play and Curiosity)
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