Live Board Game

Live Board Game

November 2, 2012

Melissa Berrisford

As a chapter review exercise on rational numbers, I decided to have the students play a game -a live simulation of a board game.  Prior to the day of the activity, I informed the students that they would be playing a “live board game” and they would be representing the game pieces (I suggested that they could come in a costume – it was only 2 days after Halloween so I think they were “costumed-out”.  Perhaps if I had a tickle-trunk like Naryn, I would have had some takers!).  I also asked them to bring their small whiteboards and markers.  I prepared all the questions prior to the class as I planned to use the LCD projector to display the questions during the game.

Game Day

Students played the game in pairs.  The partners were selected randomly (students drew numbers).  Each team had a designated starting point and separate path to reach the common finishing spot. Teams moved around the classroom, jumping ahead one space for every correct response however we definitely could have used more room.  Only final answers were looked at so it was very important for the students to double-check their steps.  Students seemed shocked at how easily small slips in their work would affect the final answer.  No half marks were awarded in this game!  I hope the game play reinforced the importance of more practice before the chapter test next week!  At the end of the game, I distributed a paper copy of all the questions for the students to review at home to help them further prepare for the chapter test. 

Things I would do differently:

1.     Plan it on a day that I can get into the classroom prior to the class to set it up (instead of asking students to help set up it up) OR use the library where there would be more space.

2.     Make “fun” squares – similar to snakes and ladders.

3.     Allocate 10 more minutes to the game or do one less question.