[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-591497-105":59,"doc-detail-591497-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","play-as-the-learning-medium-for-future-scientists-mathematicians-and-engineers","Play as the Learning Medium for Future Scientists, Mathematicians, and Engineers","","The article argues that playful learning has largely vanished from classrooms and everyday life at a time when science, mathematics, and engineering urgently need creative and innovative thinkers. It explains playfulness through classical theory, describing play as a key adaptive mechanism and a driver of human adaptability in unpredictable environments. It then outlines essential qualities of play—enjoyment, internal control, motivation, and reality—linking playfulness to creativity and innovation, and emphasizing its necessity in contemporary scientific fields.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/play-as-the-learning-medium-for-future-scientists-mathematicians-and-engineers/591497/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/play-as-the-learning-medium-for-future-scientists-mathematicians-and-engineers/591497.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"supergirl","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-03","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":34},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"Why does the article claim playfulness should matter for future scientists and engineers?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It argues that professions in science, mathematics, and engineering increasingly need creative and innovative thinkers, and playful learning can develop the intellectual abilities required for excellence in these fields.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What does the article identify as essential qualities of play?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"Play must be enjoyable, and it should involve internal control and internal motivation, with an internal sense of reality that players can shape. 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This disappearance of play is especially unfortunate because it is happening at the very time that professionals in many scientific, mathematical, and engineering fields articulate the need for creative and innovative thinkers in their professions and advocate forthe use of playful learning methods to assist students in developing the intellectual abilities required for excellence in these fields. This article discusses the importance of returning educators’ attention to play as the learning medium that can best develop these abilities and motivate students to pursue careers in science and mathematics.  \nLong ago, sociologist Johan Huizinga suggested that an appropriate way to characterize the human species was with the term Homo ludens (man the player) because, as he asserted,“civilization arises and unfolds in and as play.”1 One of the mysteries that theorists and researchers have pondered, however, is why playfulness so characterizes the human species. Most recognize play as the primary medium for learning for young children, of course, but play pervades the whole of human life. Recent brain research has suggested that the playfulness of a species relates to the brain’s proportion of body size; that is, the larger the proportion of the body devoted to the brain, the more playful the species and the longer the period in which the species plays.2 Proportionally, of course, humans have a large brain size, making play important for humans at all ages. Even older adults often keep their thinking and life skills sharper through play.  \nAccording to Michael Ellis, play has been important throughout human existence because it serves as a primary adaptive mechanism that has allowed humans not only to survive but to flourish on this planet. He asserts that in play,  \n© 2009 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois  \n“Humans are most human. They learn to extend the limits of human experience and to develop the capability to deal with the unknown.”3 Human beings live in unpredictable, constantly changing environments. Throughout the centuries, their capacity for play has enabled them to invent a proliferation of ideas, products, and behaviors that have served both as change adaptersand as change agents. Currently, the processes of change in human society seem to be accelerating atan ever faster rate. Almost daily, the news outlets announce recently invented or redesigned products, rapidly occurring social and political events, and newly discovered or developed scientific ideas. Thus, we need to develop our capabilities for the adaptability that playfulness offers us.  \nEssential Qualities of Play and Playfulness  \nResearchers and theorists focused on children’s play have long agreed on the qualities that make an action playful.4 Most importantly, they say play must be enjoyable! If an activity does not provide some element of fun, it definitely is not play. Other clear elements that must be present are those identified by Eva A. Neumann: internal control, internal motivation, and internal reality.5 If players choose an activity, if they actively engage in it, and if they can shape that activity to fit their experiences, then the activity has most of the qualities of play. In contrast, if others control all aspects of an activity, if the choice of engaging in the activity rests with others, and if the activity must be executed ina completely “realistic” way defined by others, then it has none of the qualities of play. Those engaging in such an activity experience it as the extreme of repetitive, tedious work.6 Even young children, when interviewed, use these criteria to differentiate between activities that are play a","cbCaioUYZiyuOiOy","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaioUYZiyuOiOy","pdf",159152,16,"English","# Play as the Learning Medium for Future Scientists, Mathematicians, and Engineers\n## Essential Qualities of Play and Playfulness\n## The Need for Play and Playfulness in Present Scientific Fields","[{\"question\":\"Why does the article claim playfulness should matter for future scientists and engineers?\",\"answer\":\"It argues that professions in science, mathematics, and engineering increasingly need creative and innovative thinkers, and playful learning can develop the intellectual abilities required for excellence in these fields.\"},{\"question\":\"What does the article identify as essential qualities of play?\",\"answer\":\"Play must be enjoyable, and it should involve internal control and internal motivation, with an internal sense of reality that players can shape. When others control the activity and it must follow a strictly predefined “realistic” execution, it becomes work.\"},{\"question\":\"How is playfulness connected to creativity according to the article?\",\"answer\":\"The article summarizes research defining playfulness as an internal predisposition and highlights components such as cognitive and physical spontaneity, social spontaneity, manifest joy, and humor. It reports relationships between playfulness and creativity, including links to verbal intelligence and creative behaviors in children.\"}]","Play as the Learning Medium for Future Scientists, Mathematicians, and Engineers | PDF",1792072605]