My fifth grader recently had a dentist appointment scheduled during school hours. I rescheduled it for a different slot after school hours, but to my confusion, she told me that she would rather have four teeth extracted than go to school. I asked my 16-year-old how she felt about school, wondering if she felt similarly. She reported that her 11th grade school experience was blah and mostly boring. Like many kids, both girls couldn’t wait for the end of school, either to pursue the things they enjoy or to just…be somewhere else. This is normal, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Wouldn’t it be great if kids loved school so much that they dreaded the last day?
Research indicates that student engagement is critical for learning. Disengagement, conversely, can result in greater chronic absenteeism, which peaked during the COVID-19 pandemic but has not returned to prepandemic levels, and poorer outcomes. Winthrop and Anderson’s research in “The Disengaged Teen” identified four different modes of learning that students use to navigate their daily experiences in school: resister, passenger, achiever, and explorer. They found that “explorer” mode, where a student has high agency and high engagement, is the sweet spot. As a parent looking at my children’s experiences, I assumed they were very engaged and happy in school, but realized they were not. And that is the case among many parents. There is a huge divide between student engagement in school and parents’ beliefs in their children’s engagement: Only 26% of 10th graders across the U.S. say they love school, but 65% of 10th graders’ parents think that their children love school. Similarly, only 29% of 10th graders report they learn things that interest them, but 71% of parents think that their children learn things that interest them. This dip in engagement begins around grades 5 and 6.
As I began to dig deeper, I learned some things about my daughters’ school experiences. My younger daughter had a debate in one of her classes, but the teachers told them what to say. One highlight of her learning experience, however, was a mini-UN activity where she researched the impacts of climate change on Mexico and represented the country at a multi-school conference for fifth graders. My older daughter reported similar feelings. She often had to complete projects where the teacher assigned the topic rather than giving students a chance to choose topics that excited them. A highlight for her was a History/English project that enabled her to choose a topic of interest, do research, write a paper, create a display, and connect it to an action she could do in the community. Yet, this project came during the last few weeks of school, only after testing was complete. Both girls expressed how some of these school experiences, while interesting, truncated their agency.
So, why isn’t school more interesting or engaging? Examining structural barriers within the education system can provide some answers. Teachers may not have access to sufficient professional development, or the right kind of professional development. School districts and state officials need to measure standards and outcomes across schools making it hard for them to provide flexibility to each teacher. This often confines teachers to strict curricula and standards that do not allow them to provide space and time for students to explore deeply, creatively solve problems relevant to their lives, and just have fun. Parents have a role to play too; They may place the onus for their children’s learning on the education system rather than sharing the responsibility, or they may preemptively remove themselves from the process because they feel that their engagement is not welcome.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. In the coming weeks, as the new school year begins, we have an opportunity to reimagine education in order to boost learning, engagement, and joy.
What can we do? Incorporate playful learning
Playful learning is an umbrella term used to describe learning activities that, with adult scaffolding, provide more freedom and agency to students. It enables teachers to integrate imagination, games, and fun into learning standards and competencies designated by their school or school district. This approach activates multiple senses and parts of the brain to encourage students to creatively solve problems, think critically, work collaboratively with others, and clearly communicate in oral and written form. The key to playful learning is that it is not fully adult designed and controlled. The best part—it has shown positive results for young children and teens alike.
Though playful learning can seem to consider only younger children, the philosophy is applicable to older students and young adults as well. Some examples include:
- Project-based learning: A student-led approach where students actively engage in real-world, often complex problems that require in-depth investigation, problem solving, and teamwork. Learnings can be presented in creative ways like power point presentations, art, photography, or film. This has resulted in positive learning outcomes, higher engagement, and more joy.
- Role play, debates, simulations, and case studies: Reacting to the Past and Case Method teaching, developed respectively at Barnard College and Columbia University, are two approaches used in colleges and universities. Model UN, as previously mentioned, is also a popular activity for students of all ages. Both of my daughters have participated—my youngest as described above, and my eldest through a course at her school. She had fun developing arguments from the perspectives of different countries and finding solutions to seemingly intractable global problems like the Israel-Palestine conflict, climate change, and more. These all have been effective in increasing engagement and learning outcomes.
- Sports also provide an avenue for student learning and joy. The University of California, Irvine, created a fraction and decimals game based on basketball called Fraction Ball. Research indicates that the game fosters learning and positive math-related emotions among upper elementary and middle school students.
These approaches and models, already known to some educators, have shown positive benefits to students by helping them develop core academic and social emotional knowledge and skills such as analytical and critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and problem solving.
A call to action
We all have a role to play in creating an environment where teachers can implement playful approaches in the classroom and shift more students into Explorer mode for a larger part of the day.
Parents can start by having conversations to better understand their children’s experiences. They can help their children figure out what sparks their imagination and passion and find ways to support those activities, in and out of school.
Teachers and school-based education staff can more closely examine their curriculums and see what they can modify in their classrooms to increase engagement and playful learning while still following district and state level requirements. Teachers can also help others through peer-to-peer training and mentorship.
Actors at the district and state levels can consider how they see teacher and school-level practices and outcomes. They can include engagement and playful approaches in the classroom as metrics for performance reviews. They can also provide more autonomy and flexibility for teachers and school-based education staff to adjust district and state level requirements for their student population’s needs and interests.
As the poet William Butler Yeats said, “Education is not about filling of a pail, but igniting a fire.” It’s urgent that we integrate the approaches we know work so our children can develop into the innovators and creative problem solvers we need now and in the future.
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Reimagining Fall learning: Playful, purposeful, engaging
July 23, 2025