How to Teach Primary Math With Games
Games are an important part of the elementary math curriculum. In her book, "A Biblical Home Education," Dr. Ruth Beechick states,"Games are great for thinking. . . To play games you must analyze and strategize. Think ahead." Games can engage the student in thinking and in learning important skills while encouraging the development of social relationships.
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Things You'll Need
- Strategy games, such as: Checkers, Battleship, Mancala, Sorry, Guess Who, Clue, Mastermind, Jenga
Instructions
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Teaching Math with Strategy Games
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Before starting, prepare the students by introducing the disciplinary rules. Students can get out of hand during game time. Set the expectation that all students will stay on task and remain at a medium noise level, and warn the students of the potential consequences of breaking the rules.
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Provide a variety of strategy games for the students (see materials list for suggestions). Set the games in different stations around the room, assign each student to a group and assign each group to a station. Briefly instruct the students on the rules of each game.
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Allow the groups to play at the station for a predetermined amount of time, such as 15 minutes. Be sure to give the students a two-minute warning. Then, guide the students to rotate to the next station and play a new game. Allow the students to rotate until each group has played every game.
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Have a helper available to instruct on the game rules and act as a judge at the stations. Spend time walking around the room, sitting in on several games and encouraging the students to discuss their thinking.
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Encourage a group discussion at the end of play time. Allow the students to share different strategies they learned with the game. Encourage them to suggest ideas for strategies to try during the next play session.
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Plan for the next game time. Gather student suggestions for new strategy games to try, and plan to purchase or borrow games of interest for the next session. The class may even want to try inventing a strategy game of its own.
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Tips & Warnings
According to Caine and Caine, encouraging students to talk about their experiences and thinking is essential to helping them make connections which contribute to deeper learning. Playing strategy games offers a great opportunity for students to talk about their thinking.
