Reading Response #3, Feb 27, Matthew Hallahan

"Numeracy Skills Practice Games" using Three Ideas

This reading talked about why numeracy was so important, but mainly it was an introduction to basic math games that can be used to increase numeracy for beginners. The use of games is so important because the basics of math can only be learned though repetion repetition repetition (or at least that is what the article claimed), and so it helps to make this as fun as possible. I chose three games I found interesting to discuss

Game #1) Equation Match. For this game each player gets 4 cards, and 3 cards are placed face up in the middle. On your turn you can pick up any cards in the middle that equal one of your cards upon using + - x /. For example if you had a 7, 5, 3 and 1 in your hand and a 9, 2, 3 on the table, you could pick up the 9 and 3 because 9/3 =3, or pick up the 2 and 3 becasue 2+3=5, or pick up the 9,2,3 because 9/3 - 2= 1. I really like this game because it stresses the mental manipulation of the numbers and forces learners to search for more than one way of doing something, which many of my students need help with.

Game #2) Number Dice. 5 dice are made containing numbers 0 through 9, and one die having +- and x on it. A player rolls and tries to create an equation with the numbers and operation shown. For example, someone rolls a 2,5,7, 8 and -. They could say 7-2=5. They would then cross 5 of their list of numbers. They must try to get each number 0-9, once and only once. I thought this was an OK game. More basic than the previous game. I think its good for stressing addition and subtraction as opposites.

Game #3) Roulette. A large board is created with a spinner in the middle and various numbers along the edge. Teams are created. An operation is chosen, + -x or /. Each team takes a turn spinning. The spinner points to two numbers on opposite sides of the board. A team representative or the entire team together answers the question for points. I thought this was a good game. I liked the group aspect of it.

Overall I thought these games were much too simple to ever be used in my classroom. These games seemed to have been made for people who have had literally no exposure to numbers. Like very young children or villagers in a secluded and impoverished country. They were all fun though and might be good for an elemetary teacher or peace corps volunteer. They were very social or competitive games. These characteristics might make them very successful depending on the situation and group of learners.