8P29 Week 3 Post

            “It’s elementary, really, once you get the hang of it.”

                        --Shinra, Final Fantasy X-2    

Anonymous. "Sphere Break." Final Fantasy X-2. 
Retrieved from http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Sphere_Break

         One more week gone by. I went out on my first observation day to a grade 4/5 split. During the math portion of the day (review for a Patterning and Algebra test), there wasn’t any technique that came up in class that was any different from when I went to school. A couple patterns were put on the board and students were asked to figure out on their own what type of pattern it was (growing, shrinking, etc.) and what the rule of the pattern was (e.g. subtract by 2 each time). Students had time to work independently, share their work in pairs, and then take up the answers as a class. The previous class though (one I wasn’t there for), they had to solve word problems in groups, first using manipulatives, then trying to solve using T-charts. Students then reflected on what worked and what didn’t the next day, ultimately deciding that T-charts were the preferred method of representation. What this has shown me so far in teaching math is that there is a time and place for everything. Sometimes doing drills and practice problems are helpful, like when you need concepts to be fully lodged in your brain before a test, and there’s also a time to explore and test with games, word problems, group work, etc.

Another resource outside the classroom that reinforces that idea for me is the Jo Boaler video on “brain crossing”, where she states that you need to develop multiple neural pathways to aid in memory retention of a concept. That’s why it’s good to know how say, to represent numbers in different ways, for example to know that 10 is also 5+5 is also 12-2 is also 3+3+3+1, or how to represent 10 as a picture, like a square array of dots. In Making Math Meaningful, Marian Small says that the more flexible students are, the more successful they will be in mathematics (28).  

This is how math games come in handy as well. If students use their math skills in multiple contexts, those concepts are just in one part of their brain associated with school, but are associated with other activities. And besides that, sometimes you have to “trick” kids into learning. If they think they’re doing something just for fun all of a sudden it’s appealing, even if there are valuable skills they’re developing through their gameplay.

One such game I played a lot as a child that I never really thought was helping me with my mental math was the mini-game Sphere Break from Final Fantasy X-2. Admittedly one of the weaker games of the Final Fantasy franchise (I still liked it), but Sphere Break, which you play in tournaments to unlock items and dresspheres, involves quick addition and multiplication, as you race against a timer to make multiples of a core sphere based on randomized coins with number values on them. The Google Play store has an app of Sphere Break. It definitely doesn’t look as cool as in X-2, but the math skills still apply, and it is still as addicting. This game is appropriate for students in grades 4 and up, as the curriculum states that by grade 4 students can multiply and divide two-digit whole numbers by one-digit whole numbers (64), therefore, there would be enough basic knowledge of factors to play some levels. You may even be able to get away with playing earlier since most of the math work in the game is based on addition.

I investigated some other cool games this week, but because in class we were looking at number sense and numeration, I’ll stick to sharing Sphere Break for now. Let me know if you like the game, or think younger or older grades could play it!  

Anonymous. "Gullwing Airship Paine Dialogue." Final Fantasy X-2. 
Retrieved from http://lparchive.org/Final-Fantasy-X-2/Update%2007/"