Author: Eva Seidlova
Origin: CZECH REPUBLIC
Implemented in: France and Belgium (French and Flemish Communities)
The objective of this GP is that students revise all the mathematical terms that they have learned in previous lessons in a fun way. The lesson is based on a game called “draw and guess,” for which the class is split in two halves. One student from each group comes to the teacher’s desk and sees a mathematical term. He or she has to draw it for the group to guess which term it is. Once the group guesses the term, another student can go to the teacher to receive a new term. The group that guesses all the terms most quickly wins. The students are very motivated by this game as first of all they don’t have the feeling that they are studying, because they are having fun, and secondly the game gives them the feeling of competition, which encourages them to work extra hard. Another virtue of this game is that its duration can vary depending on how long the teacher wants the students to review terms. Furthermore, it is a good way to let students do some self assessment, as they report whether they had problems with the terms or whether they knew them all.
Success stories
The Belgian teacher (from the French Community) stated: “I could see that the pupils like this game and that they learn a lot. I really enjoyed it and I’m still enjoying it. I will use this GP in the future. Furthermore, I’m trying to motivate all my colleagues to use this game in all subjects. This GP is exactly the one that I was thinking of testing at the beginning of the project: a GP that teachers can adapt to their class and to the content that they teach.” The Belgian (Flemish Community) teacher gave similar feedback, as he also said that he liked the fact that this GP was universally useable: “Training in use of mathematical keywords, concepts and representation by playing this game is possible in different classes and at different levels.” Another point highlighted as positive was that the teacher can use the game as a longer activity in class, but it can also be easily integrated as a short 10 minute revision activity that students will enjoy.
