motivating students with math games

Motivating Students with Math Games

Doug Adams

ALTEC

dadams@altec.org

PowerPoint

http://slideshare.net/dadams.altec

Laser Sonic Spy

Using a protractor

Reading a protractor

Estimation

Angle of reflection/angle of approach

http://matrixgames.altec.org/

Why Games?

21st Century Skills

The Millennial Generation

• Millennials

• Generation Y

• N-Gen, Generation Next

• Digital Natives

• Oyayubizoku ( 親指族 ) “Thumb Tribe”

“Kids say e-mail is, like, sooooo dead.” – CNET News, July 18, 2007

The Millennial Generation

“Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach”– Mark Prensky

Characteristics of Digital Natives

• Active• Multi-tasking• Non-linear thinking• Ubiquity• Technical Fluency• Feedback• Individualization• Risk-taking• Collaborative

Tapping into 21st Century Learners!

Henry Jenkins James Gee

2:30-3:30

Why Games?

Brain Research

The brain developed to solve problems related to surviving in an unstable outdoor environment that occur in near constant motion. – John Medina, Brain Rules

If you wanted to create an educational environment that is directly opposed to what the brain is good at doing, you would probably design something like the modern classroom.– John Medina, Brain Rules

Why Games?

Brain Research

Patterns

The human brain loves patterns. We see patterns all around, in everyday life, in nature, in manmade objects.

We see patterns even when they don’t exist

Emotion

• Our brains work best when there are emotions involved– Excitement– Engagement– Enthusiasm– Exploration

– Frustration

Collaboration

Our brains want to work with others

Games…

…provide structured patterns

…create emotional connections

…encourage collaboration

“Better theories of learning are embedded in the video games many children play than in the schools they attend.”

– James Paul GeeWhat Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy

What kinds of theories?

• Student-centered learning• Peer teaching• Scaffolding• Feedback• Problem-solving• Empathy, role-play• Collaboration• Practice• Development of expertise

Frustration and Flow

5:20

Flow: the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity. (Mihály Csíkszentmihályi)

Is good for a player when they learn that their failure will never depend on luck, it's all because they strived, learned and finally succeeded.  And at the end, all the fun from this type of game comes down to the joy of learning (Gamasutra: The Art and Business of Making Games)

Concerns about Games

• They cause violence• They are just for boys• They are just for kids

Scientific American

A pernicious excitement to learn and play _____ has spread all over the country, and numerous clubs for playing this game have been formed in cities and villages. Why should we regret this? It may be asked.

We answer, _____ is a mere amusement of very inferior character, which robs the mind of valuable time that might be devoted to nobler acquirements, while it affords no benefit whatever to the body.

_____ has acquired a high reputation as being a means to discipline the mind, but persons engaged in sedentary occupations should never practice this cheerless game; they require out-door exercises—not this sort of mental gladiatorship.

Scientific American, July, 1859

A pernicious excitement to learn and play chess has spread all over the country, and numerous clubs for playing this game have been formed in cities and villages. Why should we regret this? It may be asked.

We answer, chess is a mere amusement of very inferior character, which robs the mind of valuable time that might be devoted to nobler acquirements, while it affords no benefit whatever to the body.

Chess has acquired a high reputation as being a means to discipline the mind, but persons engaged in sedentary occupations should never practice this cheerless game; they require out-door exercises—not this sort of mental gladiatorship.

Challenges for Teachers

• Time

• Alignment with Standards

• Cost– Software– Hardware

• Assessment– Rubrics, participation, presentations

Elementary

Math & Language Arts

Single & multiplayer

http://arcademicskillbuilders.com

Arcademic Skill BuildersArcademic Skill Builders

Goal: Use emerging technology games and digital tools in after-school programs to improve middle school mathematics achievement of students in urban and rural schools not making AYP.Ratio & ProportionLinear EquationsData & Statistics

http://matrixgames.altec.org

http://matrixgames.altec.org

Plotter PenguinPlotter Penguin

Linear equations•Coordinates•Adding to X and Y•Rise and run•Slope•Enemy boss

Laser Sonic SpyLaser Sonic Spy Using a protractor

Reading a protractor

Estimation

Angle of reflection/angle of approach

Vocabulary RankerVocabulary Ranker Multiplayer

Understanding vocabulary

Finding examples

Peer review

Engaging Videos with Teaching Guides

Project-Based Learning :: MathTube

Extreme Shoebox Makeover: http://www.youtube.com/user/matrixlearning

Math and Economics

• Planning and goal setting (Club Penguin)

• Auctioning and bidding systems

• Virtual stock exchanges– MarketWatch– Hollywood Stock Exchange

Economics in Virtual Worlds

• Thousands of buy and sell transactions occur daily, as players trade items within the game

• Economic transactions impact on real world

• Real economic and social models can be explored

City of HeroesSurvey of Discussion Topics 7/15/09

• Speculative markets

• Variants on auction strategies

• Market functions and mechanics

• Arbitrage

• “Trading transparency”

Protea's Guide to Market Participation

“The instant resolution nature of the consignment house has an interesting effect on steady-state properties of the market. Let’s suppose for a moment that the system is seeded with a large number of random entries for both bids and postings:

(b1 b2 … bN) and(p1 p2 … pN)

The subscripts here denote increasing denominations of [currency], i.e. both the bids and postings are sorted within their own pools.

As long as any bids are higher than any postings, the system will resolve transactions and remove those bids and postings from play. If there are any bids and postings left, which we would expect in many instances, there are by definition two domains in the market afterwards:

(b1 b2 … bM) ... (pM+1 pM+2 … pN)

That is, the highest remaining bid is lower than the lowest remaining posting. In other words, these two domains – known as the bid pool and the sell pool - are disjoint. They have in a very tangible sense become two separate markets.”

SourcesDon't Bother Me Mom--I'm Learning! by Marc Prensky – Paragon House Publishers (2006)What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy by James Paul Gee –

Palgrave Macmillan; 2nd edition (2007)How Computer Games Help Children Learn by David Williamson Shaffer – Palgrave

Macmillan (2008)Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives by John Palfrey – Basic

Books (2008)Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth About Violent Video Games and What

Parents Can Do by Lawrence Kutner – Simon & Schuster (2008)Brain Rules by John Medina – Pear Press (2008) http://www.brainrules.net/

“Reality Bytes: Eight Myths About Video Games Debunked” by Henry Jenkins http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/impact/myths.html

Federation of American Scientists - Summit on Educational Games (2006)http://www.fas.org/gamesummit/

“Games, Motivation, and Learning” - White Paper (PDF)http://caspianlearning.co.uk/Whtp_Games_Motivation_Learning.pdf

“You Play World of Warcraft? You're Hired! Why multiplayer games may be the best kind of job training” by John Seely Brown and Douglas Thomas (Wired Magazine, April, 2006)http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.04/learn.html

Games in Education video by Mark Wagner and Michael Guerena of the Orange County (CA) Department of Education's Educational Technology group -- http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6117726917684965691

Web SitesThis Presentation – http://www.slideshare.net/dadams.altec

4Kids – http://4kids.org Arcademic Skill Builders – http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.comMatrix Games -- http://matrixgames.altec.org/

Dimension Math (fee-based) -- http://www.dimensionm.com/Mr. Nussbaum -- http://www.mrnussbaum.com/mathcode.htm Oswego County School District -- http://resources.oswego.org/games/ National Library of Virtual Manipulatives – http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/vlibrary.htmlClub Penguin – http://clubpenguin.comVirtual Stock Exchange – http://vse.marketwatch.com/Game/Homepage.aspx Hollywood Stock Exchange – http://hsx.com/

Marc Prensky’s Web site – http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Henry Jenkins’ blog – http://henryjenkins.org

Doug Adams

dadams@altec.org

http://altec.org