What's your next move?

Our presentation from Math in Action 2017

Description: 

Games are an effective way to engage students in learning. Participants will experience how to support the development of pre-adolescent mathematicians through purposeful play. [Grades 3-5]

Consider what you think it means to effectively teach mathematics. Now take the Simile Survey provided below. What are the characteristics of your simile selection that relate to good mathematics teaching?

A while back, Dr. Doug Fisher introduced me to another teaching simile: Teaching is like being an expert commentator. During the lesson, the teacher highlights important aspects of the "routine" that the student might otherwise overlook. In cases where the action moves too quick, the teacher might need to "rewind and show it in slow motion" in order to clarify some move. Here is an example from the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials that demonstrates these characteristics. So what does this look like in math class?

Imagine we are in a 3rd-grade class playing BINGO. If the students are fluent in reading number symbols, there's not much to the game. So let's break it - add another dimension by allowing players to decompose the number that's called.

If you were in a 5th-grade class, they might ask why they can't decompose the called number into more than two addends ... or use operations other than addition. Then the challenge might be, "Can I get a BINGO with just one number called?"

After (or during the game), what sorts of things would you want the students to notice? What would you highlight and maybe have to slow down? It depends on the game and our players.

• If I was playing the regular game of BINGO with young kids still struggling with number recognition, I might be sure to call "thirteen" and highlight ways to tell the difference between 13 and 31.
• If we are decomposing, I might want kids to recognize that 38 can be decomposed into 30+8 or 31+7 and highlight the concept of compensation.
• For 5th graders, I might show how "thirteen" can be written as 13+8/(9-7)-4 and highlight an important property of zero in our number system. [To demonstrate another important property of zero, ask students if they could cover the entire board if "thirteen" was called.]

It is important that teachers have the opportunity to play games before using them with their students. That way the teachers can consider possible modifications (ways to "break" the game) that would meet their students' needs. It also gives them experience playing the games that can lead to insights into important mathematical aspects encountered while playing that the teachers might want to highlight for their students.

Game Centers 

Number and Operations - Fractions 

Grades 3-5 

• Fraction Go Fish 
• Fraction Memory [pdf] 
• Cookie Fractions [page36]
• DecimalPickle 
• Pattern Block Fraction Game
• Fraction Track [app]

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Other Game Resources

• Adventures with Mathematics [MCTM]
• Gameswith Fraction Strips and Fraction Cards
• Rational Number Resources [NRICH]
• Investigations Games

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After playing the games, we reflect on our experiences using Math Teacher Chair:

• What games did you play?
• So what mathematical ideas would you want to highlight?
• Now what would you do to break the game or slow down the play so students would benefit mathematically from playing?

Thanks for your participation. You can reach us using the following contact information. 

"Rocket science is child's play compared to understanding child's play."

~ Unknown

If you are attending the upcoming 2017 NCTM Annual Meeting and Exposition in San Antonio, we will be presenting this session again. 

We promise it will be better next time thanks to the feedback you've provided on your session evaluations (or in the comments below).

How did Bi-N-Bi go?

Awhile back, I promised to tell you how it went when I tried out a new game I developed while playing Bingo with Dad. Bi-N-Bi, or Decomposition Bingo, is an attempt to add a bit of strategy into the familiar game. Instead of finding a called number, you use a modified Bingo Board to try to find a pair of numbers that sum to the called number. At least that was the plan when I began testing it out with a couple of classes of sixth graders. But they had some other ideas. And some of their ideas were quite good.

The first game went pretty quickly. While the Bi-N-Bi rules allow for choice, a lot of the players used the same addends to make up the sums. I had given all of the sixth graders the same board, to test out my "choice" hypothesis (that the players would create different results) but they were unsatisfied with the ties, and many asked for a different board. Having anticipated this, I had several other boards available. There weren't enough for everyone to have a different board, but they seemed satisfied with the variety.

We played another game using the different boards and the players were happier with the results. Several sixth graders called "Bi-N-Bi" at the same time but they each had different numbers covered. After claiming their prize, a Bragging Rights Trophy, I asked if they had any suggestions for improving the game. They had a few:

• Use two or three addends;
• Use pairs (to stay with the "bi" theme) but allow for addition or subtraction; this would allow for using traditional Bingo Cards;
• Make the "Free" space a "Wild Card" that can be used to make a pair; I might use X to reinforce the idea of variable; and
• Perhaps the most ambitious idea was to use all four operations and parentheses to reinforce order of operations.

We tried the three addends version. For some of the sixth graders, this was a struggle. So I tried to model some strategies for them as I walked around. For example, I would say, "46. I could use 40+1+5 or 30+11+5 or 20+11+15." These weren't necessarily numbers on their cards but simply different ways they could think about decomposing 46.

The sixth graders also wanted to try using something more than addition, so we played a version that used any combination of addition, multiplication, or parentheses. But only if they wanted, because a few of the students seemed overwhelmed by this change. A couple of winners are shown below.

At the end of the last game, I handed out Bragging Rights Trophies to everyone as a way to thank them for their help testing Bi-N-Bi. I told them that each had demonstrated that they were mathematicians. And if they ever found themselves in one of my math education classes at GVSU, they could turn the trophy in for 1,000 Bonus Points. I do what I can to encourage the next generation of Lakers and possible MTBoS participants.

How do you play Bi-N-Bi?

I spent a lot of last winter playing Bingo with Dad - sometimes, three days each week; it was a bit much. Don't get me wrong, Bingo is a fine game. However, it isn't very challenging. 

"Find this number. And, by the way, it's in this column."

I understand the point (and keeping track of multiple cards with an "auctioneer" calling the numbers can be a struggle) but I wanted more. So I began to wonder what it would be like if I could cover a pair of numbers that summed to the number that was called. For example, 46 is called and I cover 30 and 16 instead. I tried this during a few games and found that most of the times when I could decompose a number into two addends, I was using the B and I columns. This lead me to create my own card.

I liked the simplicity of this design. It would be easy to create, and players would have to decompose numbers greater than 45. Also, because the game included the element of choice, everyone didn't need a different card. Hilary could cover 43, John could cover 22 and 21, and Andrew could cover 13 and 30. (I planned to only call the number, not the accompanying letter; this would allow players to pick numbers in any column.) Finally, I liked the name, Bi-N-Bi, because it could reinforce decomposing numbers into two (bi) addends.

Today, I tested the game out in the classroom of a teacher I've been working with this semester. For the first game, I gave everyone a copy of the card shown to the right to see if the element of choice was enough to keep it interesting. The B and I columns were repeated to make it easier for players to know what numbers were available. I started out making sure that everyone was familiar with the goal of Bingo - getting five in a row or the four corners. The sixth-graders agreed that this wasn't very challenging, and they were excited to explore the changes I was suggesting.

The last issue to address was checking to see if a winning card is accurately covered. A player cannot simply call out the numbers, as happens in the original game, since many covered numbers are the result of decomposition and not because they are directly called. I toyed with idea of players marking the number called on the two chips used to cover the addends but I found that confusing when I tried it (and it meant cleaning the chips or throwing them away afterwards - not very sustainable). So I had players write their number sentences out on scrap paper. For example, if I called 34, 8, and 22, players might write:

• 34 = 8 + 26
• 8 = 3 + 5
• 22 = 0 +22

And then they'd call, "Bi-N-Bi," provide each of the number sentences, and tell which of the addends they had use in their five in a row: "On the diagonal, I covered 8, 26, free space, 3, and 22."

With the instructions out of the way, I explained to the sixth-graders that I was looking for their feedback. I wanted to know what worked, what didn't, and what we might try differently. They were eager to be a part of the testing of this prototype and said so. 

A bit more nervous than I thought I'd be, I picked the first number. How'd it go? I'll tell you - in the next post.