Thematic dossier | Playfulness, Game & Education

2025-06-06

DOSSIER

Ludic Approaches, Play, and Education

Guest co-editors

Ivana Rivero, Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto, Argentina

Laura Camas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain

Publication date: June 2026

The link between play and education runs throughout history, from Plato's initial ideas, through the Renaissance strategies for teaching through enjoyment, to the beginnings of early childhood education, special education, and the psychological-experimental school (Garfella Esteban, 2013).  Even so, play and games in modern educational institutions have been limited to early education classrooms and recess (Mardell et al., 2023), a trend that has been breaking down in recent years due to the influence of technology on active teaching methods.

The use of play to achieve educational objectives has taken various forms and strategies, especially during the 20th century, and is currently receiving a new impetus through new interactive technologies, from modern board games to video games. Today, new forms of instrumentalization of play (serious games, gamification, game-based learning) coexist with the recognition of the intrinsic value of play in learning (free play, playful learning), which constitute a continuum of pedagogical strategies between greater learner autonomy and greater educator direction (Pyle & Danniels, 2017). These can be seen in the classroom, from spaces for free play, through guided play, to the more structured forms of directed or regulated play (Strasser et al., 2023). Between the educational use of play and the promotion of spaces and methodologies for learning in a playful way, we find diverse experiences at all levels of school education and even in the diversity of proposals and audiences in the field of non-formal education (Lema & Machado, 2024) and in the organizational sphere.

Recognition of the role that play and games play in people's learning allows us to affirm that playful experiences are a powerful form of lifelong learning, as Ackerman (1999) argues: the brain's favorite way to learn.

The journal Páginas de Educación invites researchers to contribute studies that address the link between play and education (playful learning, game-based learning, gamification, educational recreation, etc.), including:

  • Experiences in designing playful devices for learning and applying various game-based methodological strategies.
  • Studies that investigate the predisposition and potential for learning in a playful way.
  • Research and experiences that consider the link between play and recreation with lifelong development tasks.
  • Experiences that address free play, guided games (inquiry-based or collaborative), playful learning, and learning or educational games.
  • Studies that analyze the link with learning that occurs in free play, guided play, or directed play.
  • Research that addresses the link between play, playing, and education in a creative and innovative way.

We invite authors to send their abstracts to the Páginas de Educación email address ([email protected]) to be considered for this thematic dossier. Abstracts should be a maximum of 1,000 words, in Spanish or English, and should indicate at least: 1) the problem addressed, 2) the context in which it is studied, 3) the methodological approach, 4) the results, and 5) the practical implications.

References

Ackerman, D. (1999). Deep Play. Random House.

Garfella Esteban, P. R. (2013). El devenir histórico del juego como procedimiento educativo: el ideal y la realidad. Historia De La Educación, 16, 133–154. https://revistas.usal.es/tres/index.php/0212-0267/article/view/10531

Lema, R., & Machado, L. (2024). Pedagogía de la lúdica. Espíritu Guerrero.

Mardell, B., Ryan, J., Krechevsky, M., Baker, M., Schulz, T. S., & Liu-Constant, Y. (2023). Una pedagogía del juego: Apoyar el aprendizaje lúdico en las aulas y los colegios. Proyecto Zero.

Pyle, A., & Danniels, E. (2017). A Continuum of Play-Based Learning: The Role of the Teacher in Play-Based Pedagogy and the Fear of Hijacking Play. Early Education and Development, 28(3), 274-289.

Strasser, K., Balladares, J., Grau, V., Marín, A., & Preiss, D. (2023): Efficacy and perception of feasibility of structured games for achieving curriculum learning goals in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten low-income classrooms. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 65(4), 396-406. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2023.08.006

IMPORTANT DATES

Call for submissions for the thematic dossier opens: June 6, 2025

Deadline for submitting abstracts: July 15, 2025

Response from co-editors of the thematic issue to submitted abstracts (acceptance or rejection): September 5, 2025

Submission of the full article via the Páginas de Educación platform, in Spanish or English, in accordance with the journal's editorial policies, for double-blind review: November 15, 2025

Double-blind review and evaluation decision (acceptance, minor revisions, major revisions, rejection): March 10, 2026

Submission of the article corrected in accordance with the evaluation decision: April 1, 2026

Publication of the thematic dossier: June 2026

CONTACT

Scientific editor: Dr. Alejandra Balbi ([email protected])

Journal’s website: Páginas de Educación

Editorial policies: About the journal

Guidelines for submitting articles: Submissions

Email: [email protected]

ABOUT THE GUEST EDITORS

Ivana Rivero

Teacher, professor, and graduate in Physical Education from the Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto (UNRC). Specialist in editorial practices. Master's degree in Education and University from the UNRC. Doctorate in Education Sciences from the Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Postdoctorate in Social Sciences from the Center for Advanced Studies at the Universidad de Córdoba. Research Professor (category 2) at the UNRC and the Universidad Pedagógica Nacional (UNIPE). Director of the Research Program on Play and Sport in Society and the Master's Degree in Play (UNRC), co-director of the research project Higher Education and Physical Education (UNIPE). Author of the book El juego en las planificaciones de Educación Física (2011, Noveduc), compiler of the books Estudios sociales en el juego y el jugar. Recorridos conceptuales en Argentina y México (2022, University of Guadalajara), La Educación Física que viene siendo (2009, Unirío), El juego en la formación docente (2017, Unirío), and numerous publications about play in specialized Social Science journals.

Laura Camas

Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Studies at the Faculty of Education of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (2023-present). Graduate in Primary Education (2010-2014), Master's Degree in Educational Psychology (2014-2015) and Master's Degree in Educational Research (2016-2017). Doctorate in Education with international mention and cum laude qualification (2017-2022; FPU, 2016). Her area of research is the theory and history of education. Her research covers the intersection between children's play, democracy, education, aesthetic experience, and cosmopolitanism based on the works of Jane Addams (1860-1935) and Neva Boyd (1976-1963). She has been a visiting researcher at Queen's University, Columbia University, Universitat de Barcelona, and the Universidad Nacional de Guinea Ecuatorial. She has received the XII José Manuel Esteve International Prize (2021) and the International Prize for Emerging Research on Children's Play (2019).