Mathematics is a notoriously disliked subject, a frequent punch line of jokes in popular culture. So little stigma comes with being “bad at math,” educated adults openly describe themselves in this way. There are many reasons for math’s unpopularity, and chief among them is that school mathematics seldom gives students opportunities to engage with the richness of this potentially fascinating subject. As a result, the mathematics education pipeline in the United States is more often a filter than a pump, siphoning students out rather than bringing them along. Children have libraries to help them fall in love with literature: Where do they get a chance to fall in love with math?

Every summer since 2015, a group of mathematics educators and mathematicians developed a mathematical playground called Math On-a-Stick at the Minnesota State Fair. Their goal was to provide a place for children to “fall in love with math” by playing with the various exhibits: exploring patterns, asking quantitative questions, and investigating shape, pattern, and numbers. Unlike traditional science museum math exhibits, however, Math On-a-Stick included Visiting Mathematicians, Mathematical Artists, and mathematics educators who engaged in conversations with children around their play, helping to enrich their mathematical thinking.

In the mathematical playground of Math On-A-Stick, visitors find new interest in mathematical thinking. For this reason, we wanted to investigate this event as a case of playful and emergent mathematical inquiry. By video recording and analyzing the interactions between visitors and mathematicians, supplemented with participant surveys and interviews, we can build a rich dataset to investigate the following questions about design, student engagement, and facilitation:

1. Design: How does the design of various parts of the exhibit differently support rich mathematical interactions between children and mathematicians?
2. Children’s Engagement: How do children engage different parts of the exhibit? How do differences in engagement relate to (a) exhibit design and (b) prior mathematical experience?
3. Facilitation: How do exhibit volunteers, mathematicians, and caregivers interact to support (or undermine) students’ mathematical  play?

Answers to these questions will provide an empirical basis for design conjectures that could inform playful mathematical learning environments in other settings, such as after school programs, summer camps, or classrooms.