Math apps and Games

Math is everywhere. 

We know this, but some of us still shy away from math when we are faced with it.  I know myself, I can be guilty of this by pulling out my calculator instead of attempting to solve a problem on my own.  This is most likely because of how I was introduced to and taught math.  As I spoke about previously, math has always been about the steps and procedures to me.  I am only now realizing that math is about the patterns!

This week, myself and all my fellow teacher candidates embark on our teaching placements.  I spoke with my associate last week and she stated how much she values math games and apps to further student learning.  Of course, I have spent my weekend exploring apps and games to bring into the classroom this week. 

We all know through our own exploration that good math games and apps can be hard to find.  There are of course the well known ones, such as prodigy.  Prodigy is a fantastic example of gamification in the classroom.  Students play a game that mirrors effects of an actual video game, while engaging in different math activities.  Teachers have control of the level they play at so teachers can always differentiate instruction for students if they are excelling or struggling with mathematics.  Students also love playing prodigy!  They can compete with themselves or others and achieve higher levels in doing so. 

Much of us have determined this week that an ineffective math game is focused on a timer.  When students are on a timer, they feel rushed and consequently, they do not think about the mathematics in front of them.  Rather, they are trying to beat a score.  Often what happens in this situation is that students begin guessing to beat a timer and what is actually being learned in this situation?

Through my research however, I did find another great app that I believe would be useful in the junior grades.  This game is called sushi math and works on students' ability to do addition and multiplication.  My nephew played it this weekend and he loved it!  While it does include a timer aspect, the player is not required to beat a particular time.  This allows the player time to think about their answer while answering questions.  Once they have completed levels, the timer allows an opportunity for students to go back and challenge themselves to beat their old time.

While these games provide opportunities to practice math skills, I think it also important that they understand the big ideas and patterns to their thinking.  I think this is a great opportunity for students to write in math journals after they play games to connect and reason concepts to the game.  

When my nephew was playing, I was sitting beside him and could easily recall afterwards what numbers he added to get a sum.  I could then ask "when you added 25 and 15, how did you know it would equal 40?"  He was then able to communicate his thinking.  He stated how the other numbers were simply too high, 40 and 120.  Therefore he knew 25+40 or 25=120 would not equal 40.  This is a pattern in math he had realized through the game, but this understanding is not understood by the teacher unless articulated.  

We know as educators it may not be possible to sit and watch individual students play, which is why math journals are a great idea to record student thinking and comprehension.  Journals are a great supplement to math games as a way for students to be assessed on their work.  Often I feel students feel games are simply games, but if an evaluation component is incorporated, they might view games in a different perspective.

Thank you to everyone for reading my blog, its been a great year.  My hope is that you've all learned as much as I have throughout these last couple of weeks so that we can all effectively implement 21st century math concepts into our classrooms!