Teach-Primary-Issue-20.1

Using both digital and analogue games in maths can help solidify concepts and expand understanding in theory and practice, says Dr Alison Borthwick U sing digital games to support teaching and learning has been a part of classroom pedagogy for many years, and there is a wealth of resources across many subjects. Within maths, many place children in digital versions of real-world scenarios, where they can do a wide range of things including counting, measuring, comparing, or sorting. This helps pupils begin to understand numbers and concepts and to see how maths can, and will, fit into their daily lives outside the classroom in a way that allows for endless practice. At the same time, there is a long tradition of providing opportunities for young children to engage and experience real-world play scenarios, from shops to kitchens to restaurants. Thinking about how we can combine these seemingly quite different approaches to learning offers interesting opportunities. Combo approach Often, the digital game is seen as an add-on resource – something that might be used to reinforce learning at home, as part of continuous provision in early years and as ‘golden time’ type activities in KS1. But digital games can also inspire real-world play scenarios in the classroom. This extends the value and impact of the game, and helps children to explore the concepts through their physical play experiences. For example, you may talk about money in class. This activity could run alongside the use of coins, offering children the chance to play a digital game, and setting up a shop in school. Collectively, this allows children to apply their learning in a variety of different physical activities with their peers. Giving pupils the chance to focus on each stage of their learning individually – number work, physical handling of coins, and the understanding of how this maths is used – sets up multiple opportunities to consolidate and reinforce learning. Digital games as a stepping stone, or a follow-on, to real-world activities offer children the chance to play in a non-threatening environment where they often feel less pressure around mistakes they may make within the game play. It can offer a chance to replay the scenarios again and again to build confidence. Strengthening the link between digital games and classroom practice also enables children to model the activity they have interacted with on-screen and to extend it. This borrows thinking from the well-known CPA approach (Concrete, Pictorial and Abstract), with the digital resource providing an excellent visual representation of the real-life challenge. Low-stakes learning Playful learning – whether digital or analogue – is a powerful approach, Play it AGAIN “Children see themselves as able to contribute; they need to think and therefore develop their personal agency” www.teachwire.net | 47 S T EM S P E C I A L