Motivating Students with
Math Games
Doug Adams
ALTEC
dadams@altec.org

PowerPoint
http://slideshare.net/dadams.altec

Laser Sonic Spy
Using a protractor
Reading a protractor
Estimation
Angle of reflection/
angle of approach
http://matrixgames.altec.org/

Why Games?
21st Century Skills

The Millennial Generation
• Millennials
• Generation Y
• N-Gen, Generation Next
• Digital Natives
• Oyayubizoku ( 親指族 )
“Thumb Tribe”
“Kids say e-mail is, like, sooooo dead.”
– CNET News, July 18, 2007

The Millennial Generation
“Today’s students are no
longer the people our
educational system was
designed to teach”
– Mark Prensky

Characteristics of Digital
Natives
• Active
• Multi-tasking
• Non-linear thinking
• Ubiquity
• Technical Fluency
• Feedback
• Individualization
• Risk-taking
• Collaborative

Tapping into 21st Century Learners!
Henry Jenkins James Gee
2:30-3:30

Why Games?
Brain Research
The brain developed to solve
problems related to surviving in an
unstable outdoor environment that
occur in near constant motion.
– John Medina, Brain Rules

Why Games?
Brain Research
If you wanted to create an
educational environment that
is directly opposed to what
the brain is good at doing,
you would probably design
something like the modern
classroom.
– John Medina, Brain Rules

Patterns
The human brain loves patterns. We see
patterns all around, in everyday life, in
nature, in manmade objects.
We see patterns even when they don’t exist

Emotion
• Our brains work best when there are
emotions involved
– Excitement
– Engagement
– Enthusiasm
– Exploration
– Frustration

Collaboration
Our brains want to work with others

Games…
…provide structured
patterns
…create emotional connections
…encourage
collaboration

“Better theories of learning are embedded
in the video games many children play
than in the schools they attend.”
– James Paul Gee
What Video Games Have to Teach
Us About Learning and Literacy

What kinds of theories?
• Student-centered learning
• Peer teaching
• Scaffolding
• Feedback
• Problem-solving
• Empathy, role-play
• Collaboration
• Practice
• Development of expertise

Frustration and Flow
Flow: the mental state of operation in which
the person is fully immersed in what he or she
is doing by a feeling of energized focus, full
involvement, and success in the process of
the activity. (Mihály Csíkszentmihályi)
Is good for a player when they learn that their
failure will never depend on luck, it's all because
they strived, learned and finally succeeded. And
5:20 at the end, all the fun from this type of game
comes down to the joy of learning (
Gamasutra: The Art and Business of Making Games
)

Concerns about Games
• They cause violence
• They are just for boys
• They are just for kids

Scientific American
A pernicious excitement to learn and play _____ has
spread all over the country, and numerous clubs for
playing this game have been formed in cities and
villages. Why should we regret this? It may be asked.
We answer, _____ is a mere amusement of very inferior
character, which robs the mind of valuable time that
might be devoted to nobler acquirements, while it affords
no benefit whatever to the body.
_____ has acquired a high reputation as being a means to
discipline the mind, but persons engaged in sedentary
occupations should never practice this cheerless game;
they require out-door exercises—not this sort of mental
gladiatorship.

Scientific American, July, 1859
A pernicious excitement to learn and play chess has
spread all over the country, and numerous clubs for
playing this game have been formed in cities and
villages. Why should we regret this? It may be asked.
We answer, chess is a mere amusement of very inferior
character, which robs the mind of valuable time that
might be devoted to nobler acquirements, while it affords
no benefit whatever to the body.
Chess has acquired a high reputation as being a means to
discipline the mind, but persons engaged in sedentary
occupations should never practice this cheerless game;
they require out-door exercises—not this sort of mental
gladiatorship.

Challenges for Teachers
• Time
• Alignment with Standards
• Cost
– Software
– Hardware
• Assessment
– Rubrics, participation, presentations

0
Arcademic Skill Builders
Elementary
Math & Language Arts
Single & multiplayer
http://arcademicskillbuilders.com

0
Goal:
Use emerging technology games and
digital tools in after-school programs to
improve middle school mathematics
achievement of students in urban and
rural schools not making AYP.
Ratio & Proportion
Linear Equations
Data & Statistics
http://matrixgames.altec.org

0
Plotter Penguin
Linear equations
•Coordinates
•Adding to X and Y
•Rise and run
•Slope
•Enemy boss
http://matrixgames.altec.org

0
Laser Sonic Spy
Using a protractor
Reading a protractor
Estimation
Angle of reflection/
angle of approach

0
Vocabulary Ranker
Multiplayer
Understanding
vocabulary
Finding examples
Peer review

0
Engaging Videos with Teaching Guides

0
Project-Based Learning :: MathTube
Extreme Shoebox Makeover:
http://www.youtube.com/user/matrixlearning

Math and Economics
• Planning and goal setting (Club Penguin)
• Auctioning and bidding systems
• Virtual stock exchanges
– MarketWatch
– Hollywood Stock Exchange

Economics in Virtual Worlds
• Thousands of buy and sell
transactions occur daily,
as players trade items
within the game
• Economic transactions
impact on real world
• Real economic and social
models can be explored

City of Heroes
Survey of Discussion Topics 7/15/09
• Speculative markets
• Variants on auction
strategies
• Market functions and
mechanics
• Arbitrage
• “Trading transparency”

Protea's Guide to Market Participation
“The instant resolution nature of the consignment house has an interesting effect on
steady-state properties of the market. Let’s suppose for a moment that the system is
seeded with a large number of random entries for both bids and postings:
(b1 b2 … bN) and
(p1 p2 … pN)
The subscripts here denote increasing denominations of [currency], i.e. both the bids
and postings are sorted within their own pools.
As long as any bids are higher than any postings, the system will resolve transactions
and remove those bids and postings from play. If there are any bids and postings left,
which we would expect in many instances, there are by definition two domains in the
market afterwards:
(b1 b2 … bM) ... (pM+1 pM+2 … pN)
That is, the highest remaining bid is lower than the lowest remaining posting. In other
words, these two domains – known as the bid pool and the sell pool - are disjoint.
They have in a very tangible sense become two separate markets.”

Sources
Don't Bother Me Mom--I'm Learning! by Marc Prensky – Paragon House Publishers (2006)
What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy by James Paul Gee –
Palgrave Macmillan; 2nd edition (2007)
How Computer Games Help Children Learn by David Williamson Shaffer – Palgrave
Macmillan (2008)
Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives by John Palfrey – Basic
Books (2008)
Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth About Violent Video Games and What
Parents Can Do by Lawrence Kutner – Simon & Schuster (2008)
Brain Rules by John Medina – Pear Press (2008) http://www.brainrules.net/
“Reality Bytes: Eight Myths About Video Games Debunked” by Henry Jenkins
http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/impact/myths.html
Federation of American Scientists - Summit on Educational Games (2006)
http://www.fas.org/gamesummit/
“Games, Motivation, and Learning” - White Paper (PDF)
http://caspianlearning.co.uk/Whtp_Games_Motivation_Learning.pdf
“You Play World of Warcraft? You're Hired! Why multiplayer games may be the best kind of
job training” by John Seely Brown and Douglas Thomas (Wired Magazine, April, 2006)
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.04/learn.html
Games in Education video by Mark Wagner and Michael Guerena of the Orange County
(CA) Department of Education's Educational Technology group --
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6117726917684965691

Web Sites
This Presentation – http://www.slideshare.net/dadams.altec
4Kids – http://4kids.org
Arcademic Skill Builders – http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com
Matrix Games -- http://matrixgames.altec.org/
Dimension Math (fee-based) -- http://www.dimensionm.com/
Mr. Nussbaum -- http://www.mrnussbaum.com/mathcode.htm
Oswego County School District -- http://resources.oswego.org/games/
National Library of Virtual Manipulatives – http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/vlibrary.html
Club Penguin – http://clubpenguin.com
Virtual Stock Exchange – http://vse.marketwatch.com/Game/Homepage.aspx
Hollywood Stock Exchange – http://hsx.com/
Marc Prensky’s Web site – http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/
Henry Jenkins’ blog – http://henryjenkins.org

http://altec.org
Doug Adams
dadams@altec.org