Practicing Math Can Be Fun...If You Want it to Be

These next few weeks in class, we will be presenting 20-30 minute lessons to our classmates.  Last week was grade 9; this week was grade 10.  Two of the presenters this week tackled the Pythagorean Theorem for grade 10 applied Math, and they approached it from two different ways.

The first presenter had a math doodle sheet.  It was a Pythagorean Theorem handout with blanks to fill in, places to colour, and generally looked conducive to doodling.  I thought this was very unique!  Many students love to colour and doodle and this would give them an outlet for that while letting them learn the lesson at the same time.

The second presenter had a very cool Pythagorean Theorem board game for us to play!  It was a way for students to practice using the Pythagorean Theorem without getting bored.   It looked like this:

Students would need to show their work on a separate piece of paper as they go through the game.  The only question I have is whether their completed sheet would be handed in for marks or whether it's just for practice?

The reason I ask is that I once volunteered in a grade 9 applied math class.  I was going over the geometry of angles of triangles and I had thought that they might like to do a fun worksheet to practice.  I made up this worksheet:

The thing is, after lessons were given in that class, homework was always assigned from the textbook.  I completely agree with that - I believe that students should always have assigned questions from the textbook so they can practice a variety of questions and word problems to prepare for future tests.  Also, one of the questions from the textbook was to be handed in as part of their portfolio which was to be marked later in the year.  The students did not want to do the worksheet; they wanted to work on their textbook homework.  They felt that the questions in the textbook were more important and that my worksheet was just extra work; and I can completely see where they were coming from.  So I would just worry that a board game in class may not be as well received as hoped!  The students may see it as extraneous and may just want to get to work on textbook questions.  

Now, a teacher could theoretically use the board game instead of the textbook work, but the textbook questions are always right there for reference, and the answers are in the back so the students can check later.  What I'm saying is, the textbook is nice and organized, it's a great way for students to practice questions and they can reference back to those exact questions later, whereas the board game, while super fun, may not provide that same stability.

Maybe I'm coming from more of an "old school" way of teaching math, but I can definitely say that the "old school" way of teaching is still alive and well, and not only that, students are thriving on it!  How do I know?  Because the teacher I volunteered with is an "old school" teacher and gets incredibly high student reviews.  

Having said that, I totally realize that there are many different styles of teaching and that students can thrive on all of them!  But I wonder if the board game would be best used as a review?  Perhaps after the students have done the textbook questions and feel good about them, they could use the board game in class during a review period before a test?  Then again, that's probably just my "old school" style speaking again. 😁