Learning through computer games

Kids these days love to play computer games. My favorite computer game as a middle school student was Civilization. In the game you create and develop an empire through the ages until modern times. You can wage wars, develop allies, start new cities, build railroad systems, nuclear power plants, create militia, and so much more. I never enjoyed my history classes until I started playing this amazing game. It is unbelievable how much I learned from simply playing civilization.

I believe that students can also learn mathematics by playing computer games. Listed are a few sites that you may want to try in your middle school classroom!

FunBrain Math Arcade Math arcade takes kids through a variety of math games to complete. You can choose the skill/grade level (1-8).

Alien Angles Students are given the degrees of an angle. They must use familiar angles such as 45, 90, and 180 degrees to estimate the angle.

Shape Mods Students practice reflections, translations, and rotations in this game.

Space Boy to the Rescue This game has students practice marking points on a coordinate graph.

Fractions This is a simple game where students practice making fractions.

Place Value Millionaire Students can play alone or against a partner to answer questions about the place value of numbers.

Integer Jeopardy This game of jeopardy asks students to answer questions about adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing integers.

Welcome to my new blog!

Middle school students are full of energy. One of the best ways to teach a middle school mathematics class is to get the students involved in what they are learning through interactive and hands-on activities. Throughout this blog I will be sharing some of these kinds of activities with current and prospective teachers.