“It’s elementary,
really, once you get the hang of it.”
--Shinra, Final Fantasy X-2
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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!
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Anonymous. "Gullwing Airship Paine Dialogue." Final Fantasy X-2. Retrieved from http://lparchive.org/Final-Fantasy-X-2/Update%2007/" |