Developing Mathematical Reasoning Through Games

The article I choose was written by Jo Clay Olson, a 25 year teacher from pre-k to high school. She wrote about her experiences with mathematical games and the relationship to mathematical reasoning. Engaging math games encourages students to explore number combinations, place value, patterns, and many other mathematical concepts. She put the three P's in place- Plan, Play, and Please be patient. With the three P's in place it provides a framework for teachers to explore mathematical ideas and discussion. When choosing a game for your students to play you must: play it yourself to gain familiarity, discuss ideas and how they can emerge in class, determine the level of competitiveness for you class, anticipate responses and outcomes, and create a list of questions to prompt students' thinking. When you Plan you must decide how you will introduce the game to your students, how you will decide teams/partners, what materials you need, etc. When you Play you should walk around the classroom after you introduce the game and listen to the conversation with the students, take notes on strategies used, and think of discussion starters. In Please be patient it is important to provide repeated opportunities for you students to play the game, and watch as the mathematical strategies change. In this article she provide three games to use, two for primary grades and one for intermediate. Include in these games are question prompts, and answers from her students, and "cautions" she found during her experience. Games are fun and create a context for students' mathematical reasoning. Games encourage students to respond different using different strategies and enhance further mathematical reasoning.

I enjoyed this article very much. I enjoy playing games and would love to incorporate games into my classroom. Not only does this article provide several games and tips to go along with them for math lessons, it provides reasoning from an experienced teacher. I liked the three P's strategies of planning games and can see myself using several strategies I have obtained from this article. I also liked that within the different game sections in the article, she provided question prompts and tips to further enhance students' thinking. I would like to use these game ideas and strategies in my math classroom.

Olson, J. (2007). Developing mathematical reasoning through games. Teaching

Children Mathematics 13 (9), 464-471.