Teach Secondary Issue 13.4

Uncover the FUNFACTOR Rebecca Ginger shares some straightforward maths games that can help younger learners sharpen their mental arithmetic skills using just a deck of cards… L et’s try a thought experiment. Assuming you wanted to get better at playing football, what would be your preferred way of going about it? Sitting in a classroom, listening to the theory of how the game is played, and carefully analysing and memorising all the rules of the game? Or by actually playing the game itself, learning and improving as you go? Chances are, you’d probably go for the second option – and children are no different. If made to choose between play, or listening to lengthy explanations while having to memorise a series of facts, they’ll reliably opt for the former too, whether the task involves sport, or something drier and perhaps less engaging – like maths. Making studying stick Research has shown that the process of playing games and laughing can work to melt away anxieties and the resistance some children have towards learning information they might otherwise perceive as ‘boring’. For the past 10 years, I’ve been finding ways of making maths more fun and enjoyable for children and young teenagers, while ensuring that the information they’re studying really sticks. It’s incredible how a child’s confidence can be transformed once they finally crack the subject. It’s possible to instil a love of numbers in children using just a humble deck of playing cards. These five maths games that let you do just that with your Y7s – whether it’s in class or at home with their families, once they’ve been shown how the game works. Who knows – you might even be able to improve your ownmental arithmetic skills, or those of your colleagues, while having a laugh in the process... GAME 1 Adding up to 10 At primary school, students will typically receive instruction around adding up to 10 for a relatively short period of time, with little in the way of later review – yet children can often find storing the processes of adding up to 10 in their long-termmemory harder than is commonly thought. Children can resort to using their fingers to count – which, unless stopped early on, may continue even into their teenage years and greatly reduces a child’s processing speed, which can in turn impact upon their later performance in tests and exams. So give this a go... 1 Take a pack of cards and deal out 16 cards face up, in a square formation. 2 Players take it in turns to each pick up 1, 2 or 3 cards which, when their numbered ranks are combined, add up to 10 (e.g. 6+4 / 2+3+5). If a player’s cards correctly add up to 10 exactly, they get to add those cards to their personal pile. If not, the cards are returned to the table. 3 When a player adds cards to their pile, replace them in the square formation with new cards drawn from the pack. 4 Cards with a rank of 10 can be chosen on their own, without having to combine themwith other cards. 5 All face cards have a value of 12 and all aces have a value of 1. Face cards can be picked up, but only when combined with two aces or a single card valued at 2, whereupon they’ll work as subtractor cards: 12 - 2 = 10. 6 Once all the cards in the formation have been played, and there are no cards left in the deck, the person with the “The process of playinggames and laughingworks to melt awayanxieties” highest quantity of cards in their pile wins. GAME 2 Addition Snap Once you’ve established that the children can quickly and reliably add up to 10, you can attempt the following: 1 Split a deck of cards into two equal halves. Two players take one half each, and hold it in their hands. 2 On the count of three, both players place any card from their hand face up on the table in front of them. 3 The first player to add the cards together and call out the correct answer gets to add both cards to their personal pile. 4 All face cards are valued at 12; all aces are valued at 1. 5 If an adult is playing against a child, the adult has to internally count to at least 5 in their head before being allowed to call out their answer. 60 teachwire.net/secondary