Kenowa Hills — Alpine Elementary teachers are making math adventurous for their students through challenging Bridges in Mathematics games and quests.
Bridges’ lessons and activities encourage collaboration by providing students opportunities to think independently and work in pairs or small groups to understand new concepts before sharing their strategies with the whole class.
During a recent math lesson taught by Melissa Gates, fourth-grader Harley Olmstead drew three number cards to make a three-digit number. Then, her classmate Aryanna Figard rearranged the three digits to make a new number and added the two together.
For the math game’s second step, the two students took both three-digit numbers, rounded them to the nearest hundred and got their sum. To determine the round’s final score, they solved for the difference of the two solutions.
Friendly competition motivated students to get the lowest overall score and win, disguising Gate’s lesson in addition, rounding, subtraction and strategy.
“I’m always so impressed by my kids,” Gates said. “We do lots of building of conceptual knowledge, and I think that good instruction and confidence in kids makes for high engagement, and that is so crucial.”
Improving Math Accessibility
During the 2018-19 school year, a committee of Kenowa Hills teachers and administrators decided to use Bridges to best meet the district’s curriculum needs. Playing math games, Gates said, helps make it accessible and enjoyable for everyone in her class.
“The games are so great, and help (students) feel successful,” she said. “Sometimes it’s nice to take a break and play games that I don’t have to make up; Bridges has it all.”
In Michael Moorehead’s fifth-grade class, basic math games evolve into concept quests, where students use their brains and skills learned in class to complete a series of challenges.
Each math unit’s quest features excursions that teach terms and concepts to solve problems, and adventures that extend students’ thinking to complete more challenging tasks or puzzles.
“The challenges take what we’re learning in class and send students on adventures, following a map of math activities,” Moorehead said. “They’re self-paced and meet everyone at their own level.”
If students are not sure how to solve equations or story problems, Moorehead said he won’t just give them the answer, but give them space to figure it out.
“There is a productive struggle that we allow our kids to have,” he said. “They’ll come to me and ask how to solve something, and I tell them I’m not going to come to their rescue. They have the tools, and they’re put in situations where there is no one right way to solve the problems.”
Fifth-grader Kennedy Jackman said when she is confused or stuck on a math problem, “Mr. Moorehead explains it a little bit, but I have to work on it myself.”
Students in Moorehead’s class agreed that working together makes learning math more enjoyable than sitting at their desks and taking notes.
“I like math because it’s really fun to work with other people and help each other learn division,” Lyla Whaley said. “I’ve learned that using multiplication makes (long division) easier, and when you solve it, it’s really fun.”
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