Children’s playfulness, boredom, and text-reduction strategy use: a temporal analysis of achievement emotions

We examined how children’s playfulness and boredom relate to their effective use of a text-reduction learning strategy in primary classrooms. A total of 333 early-primary students participated in repeated learning activities that allowed us to track momentary emotions and strategy effectiveness over time. Results showed that when children felt more playful than usual before beginning an activity, they used the text-reduction strategy more effectively on that task. Boredom, however, was not related to subsequent strategy use. These findings highlight the importance of children’s positive emotional states in supporting effective learning behaviors.