We have a school-wide initiative this year to use the Investigations curriculum. My new 3rd grade students have been struggling to comprehend and be able to apply the mathematical concepts that are based on already having the foundation of two to three years of Investigations under their belts, which they do not have. As usual, it has been a dance of one step forward, two (or more) steps back, because there is no point in continuing to try to move forward if the groundwork is not truly understood.
Investigations makes much use of games, and for the first time in my teaching of math, I am not limiting their time playing games to only a few trials (out of a need to "accomplish more.") We have been playing lots of games over and over again during classtime, and I am really amazed and pleased with the learning that has been going on during this time. It's a great way for kids to internalize the math concepts (in this case, place value, "trading up," and being able to see 120 as 12 tens, for example) while they are enjoying themselves! They are really learning concepts and beginning to be able to apply them in other mathematical settings.
Looking at the learning involved in playing games, and modifying for differentiation was the focus of the coach's training sessions, and Maggie also used games in both musters this past month, encouraging us to think how a game could be made easier/harder. I think this focus has helped me to realize how powerful games can be, and has given me permission to spend the time playing games in the classroom. And it's a lot more fun!
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I can't agree with you more! Games can be very powerful in practicing concepts. The key is in the questions you ask the students while they are playing the games as well as before and after the games.
Peg and I actually were talking about this today: game playing. Because I am not using Investigation I didn't realize that the games in the program are practice of skills, not the teaching of skills. My program, Math Expressions, has very few games and lots of paper pencil activities. There is a Remembering Sheet and a Homework sheet for every lesson taught. Each of them has a lot of practice examples and involves a lot of correcting. Peg has fewer things to correct! A few other teachers in my building who also use expressions love those sheets and have said that they are not looking forward to having to use Investigations next year. They have said that they don't like games. I am eager to showing them some of the games we worked on-and wonder if it will change their minds. This afternoon one of my fourth graders was playing an Investigations math game with their second grade learning buddy and was enthralled by the idea that the game was won by chance not skill, and the second grader won. And she was fine with that-because it was random.
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