What is this project

Hello readers!

Last week we finished the product of our latest math project. We presented our math Games to the rest of the class. This project was about exponents in math, a concept that was relatively new to this year. I found was very similar to a project we did last year about geography and tectonic plates. Let’s dive into the process of our game!

Starting off

As usual, we started off with organizing our thoughts and making a mind map. The project start mind map is a good way to start a project, and gather knowledge. Here is mine:

The project

We launched this project with some milestones on creating game concepts and rules. In small groups we made some math related game rules. Using addition, subtraction, multiplication and division we made 3 different game concepts (none of which we used btw). This was good practice for the milestones to come.

The biggest part of this project was incorporating exponents and exponent laws into our games. If we wanted these things in our games, we needed to understand what they where first. We did some worksheets and Kahoot quizzed to understand the laws that create exponents.

Throughout this project we worked on many different iterations of our game, different point systems and types of boards to play on. We play-tested our game and developed new features and rules. A few weeks later, we had our game ready for the big game day.

The Core Competencies

Applying and innovating: Contribute to care for self, others, community, and world through individual or collaborative approaches

One of the competencies I learned was “Applying and Innovating”. This project was perfect for teamwork and the different “creative challenges” that a team has to go through to get an acceptable end result. I had two great partners; Hannah and Makkena. Our group worked very well together and made a good team.

Reasoning and Analyzing: Use logic and patterns to solve puzzles and play games

This competency came a little bit harder for me, and I had to work extra hard to make sure the puzzle side of the game was working well. This project helped me learn how to incorporate these math concepts into game mechanics.

Communicating and representing: represent mathematical ideas in concrete, pictorial and symbolic forms.

This competency (in this project) has a focus on the game rules themselves. If they are clear and easy to understand, if they make sense and if they are personalized and not copied. Having a theme to base the rules off made everything so much easier and o thats what we did first. We than made the rules. Than designed the other details of the game.

Over all I’d say this project was a success and was a really cool way to learn math

Thanks for reading

-Declan