The idea is to play the game of "Twister" but with math answers. The idea of the game "Twister" is to put your hands and feet on certain colours without falling over or touching the rest of your body to the ground. It is a very fun game that I am sure most of you are you are familiar with. Below is an image of the original game.
So instead of using colours for students to put their hands and feet on, you could use numbers. Now, there are many ways you could put numbers on the ground. You could take an original "Twister" mat and write numbers in the circles. You could also tape letters on the floor or spray paint letters outside in the grass with the appropriate paint. You can get craft, spray paint at WalMart.
An example you can incorporate math with "Twister" would be to ask your students math fact questions like 2 x 3 and have them place their right foot on the answer. Next question could be something for them to put their hand on.
Activities you could practice with Twister: Math facts - adding, subtracting, multiplication, division, Probability answers etc.
This is such a great idea when dealing with probability! You could have students guess the correct sequence and see if they have predicted correctly or not!
ReplyDeleteI love how this can definitely engage kinesthetic learners in the classroom, but getting all students up, stretching, laughing and learning would be wonderful!
I think that this would work best with students still in elementary school, as it might be a bit too close for comfort for high school students. Other than that I think that this is a wonderful game for students to learn probability and practice problems. Awesome post!
I love the idea of getting up and moving in math class for many of the reasons stated above. I think it would be really cool to even take it further then the areas of math listed above. For example in Trig you could use the words Sin, Cos, Tan as well as Opposite, Adjacent, and Hypotenuses as a fun way to help students memorize Soh Cah Toa.
ReplyDeleteMy only concern was getting the whole class involved on the mat, but I think you could use this as one centre. The discussions that could result over right and wrong answers in small groups could be very powerful and helpful.
Thanks Miss Janzen.
DeleteTo get the whole class participating, or you could set up several mats in the classroom or you could create your own mats outside, spray painted in the grass with appropriate paint from Walmart or wherever.
I quite agree that this would also be a great centre activity.
I think it would work really well with Trig! Especially with trig ratios and knowing when to use each ratio. Just remember you wouldn't be able to fill the whole board up with different numbers/answers because then all students would need to put their hand on one little circle. That is probably why the game only has 4 colours so that there is selection as to what circle you place yourself on.
ReplyDeleteVery awesome idea!!!
Jeffrey,
ReplyDeleteI really like this idea. It's a great way to combine some daily physical activity into a classroom as well. Although, I do agree with "Miss Janzen" 's comment above that it could prove to be difficult for an entire classroom to play all at once, and that it would make a great activity for math centres.
What I also like about this activity is that it encourages mental strategies for calculation. I've realized in class that many students find it difficult to answer math problems by using mental strategies rather than a paper and pencil. Personally, I'll be the first to admit that mental calculation is not my strong suit either, as normally I prefer to visualize and draw out a problem in order to see it when doing math. This would be a fun way to encourage students to form, develop, practice, and familiarize themselves with quick strategies for mental calculation in regards to many different math expectations.
Thanks guys for the comments. I am a firm believer in always trying to use other learning styles and getting the students up and moving. It is difficult at times with activities like this one because it can flop with whole group participation but it can be a trial and error activity
ReplyDelete