Support Math Standards with Concept Games

To meaningfully implement the standards for mathematical practice, teachers need a reasonable and manageable place to begin. We suggest concept games! In this article, we’ll demonstrate ways that mathematics games link the math standards with research-based instructional strategies and conceptual understanding.

Benefits of Math Games

At any grade level and age, including math games in math education can be beneficial for several reasons. First, by their very nature, games are fun and social. Incorporating math concept games into your math routine is an engagement and motivation-boosting strategy for your classroom. Whether they invite collaboration or competition, math games will get your students talking about math in meaningful ways. They’re also a great resource to share with families to support learning at home and during school breaks.

Beyond engagement, math games require students to flex their critical thinking and problem-solving skills. As they participate in game play, players learn from their mistakes and form new strategies while developing fluency in math operations and knowledge of fundamental number concepts. Games present an opportunity to review and reinforce math concepts students have learned or are learning in the classroom.

Concept games can also drive the inclusion of research-based instructional strategies, including

• active student engagement
• instructional grouping and collaboration
• student discourse
• teacher questioning
• student thinking, reasoning, and metacognition
• student applications and knowledge transfer
• student time on task

While not a comprehensive list, the strategies identified demonstrate that successful concept games implementation opens the door to successful strategy implementation. 

How Concept Games Support Mathematical Practices

Implementation of the standards for mathematical practice relies on effective use of the same strategies that concept games drive. Here is how they align in eight key areas.

Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them

Students learn to struggle through the process of solving challenging problems by working on challenging problems. Concept games present students with various challenging problems that students are motivated to complete successfully.

Reason abstractly and quantitatively

Students must reason when engaged in the concept game and after play as teachers ask probing questions related to the game, such as

• What did you find easy about the game? Why?
• What did you find difficult about the game? Why?
• While playing, did you develop strategies to help you win? What strategies? Did they seem to work?
• Did you raise any issues about any game rules? What issues and which rules?

Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others

Each time a game is played, students need to clarify their understanding of the mathematics involved. Students are involved in defending their thinking, as well as analyzing other ideas and understandings for reasonableness and accuracy.

Model with mathematics

Students should compare and contrast various representations that are modeled in the game and in other instructional materials. Discourse during play provides opportunities for students to shift models or words into mathematical symbols, and mathematical symbols into words, pictures, or physical models.

Use appropriate tools strategically

During concept games, tools such as manipulatives or calculators should be used as directed by the game. In other situations, the concepts developed during the game are reinforced and clarified by the students working with mathematical tools.

Attend to precision

Clarity, accuracy, and logical reasoning are desired outcomes of concept games. As discourse increases, vocabulary also increases. When stating understanding, students should organize their thoughts and include correct mathematical terms.

Look for and make use of structure

When engaged in playing concept games, students are encouraged to look for patterns or structures that may emerge in various aspects of the mathematics. Identified patterns are to be explored during classroom discourse about the games.

Look for an expressed regularity in repeated reasoning

As students gain insight on concepts, they begin noticing that certain aspects of the mathematics involved continue to repeat for each turn or game. This regularity provides students opportunities to adjust their thinking in general or specific ways.

There is a definitive link between the standards for mathematical practice, research-based instructional strategies, and conceptual understanding. Concept games provide teachers with an instructional tool that makes the link obvious, provide an excellent launching point for increasing instructional strategies, and assure student buy-in and engagement in learning mathematics.