#495: Playful Activities in Mathematics Learning: Comparing Early-Career and Experienced Teachers

Playful activities have been shown to facilitate engagement, problem-solving, and social-emotional skills in educational contexts. This pilot study examined teachers’ attitudes towards playful activities in primary mathematics education, focusing on their frequency of use, perceived effectiveness, and challenges. We were specifically interested in whether early-career teachers differ on those variables from experienced teachers (up to 2 years vs. 11 to 20 years of teaching experience). Findings indicated that experienced teachers reported higher agreement with statements supporting more frequent use of individual, pair, and small-group mathematics games and viewed these activities as more effective for engagement and skill-building than early-career teachers. They also agreed more with statements indicating difficulties finding necessary equipment and unreliability of digital resources. These results suggest that professional development may focus on supporting early-career teachers with implementing playful learning while also increasing experienced teachers' confidence with digital resources.