Abstract
Interest-driven activities, such as mathematical play, can support student agency, motivation, and engagement, and can foster dispositions that reflect authentic disciplinary engagement. However, the bulk of research on mathematical play investigates the mathematics that emerges in young children's natural play or in informal spaces such as video games. We introduce the term "playful math" to highlight the potential of playifying classroom-based activities, and we explore the nature of students' activity when engaged in playful math tasks in a teaching experiment. Our findings show that playful math tasks increased students' agency, authority, investment, and goal selection, as well as encouraged the development of creative, challenging ideas. We present a case of two students' playful engagement in the form of an Explore-Strategize Cycle and discuss implications of playful math for student engagement. [For the complete proceedings, see ED630210.]