Mathematical games are widely used in primary school classrooms, yet the activities that are labelled as "games" vary considerably in their structure, cognitive demands, and potential to support student reasoning. This conceptual paper offers a typology that distinguishes between pseudo-games, superficial games, gamification, and…

Mathematical games can be used to engage learners, promote fluency and deepen conceptual understanding. When considering the level of engagement of students, sometimes a small change can have a large impact. Something as simple as switching dice for cards in a game and, importantly, introducing a 'non-replacement' mechanism to the gameplay, can…

Exercise is essential for mastering mathematics, but it faces two major hurdles. First, students are often not motivated to do their homework. Second, checking traditional homework is a manual and labor-intensive process that becomes harder to support as the number of students increases. We argue that computer games could alleviate both problems.…

The increasing screen time and digital distractions in modern education have underscored the need for innovative approaches to early childhood learning that reconnect children with the natural world. This study investigates the integration of cooperative learning methods in nature within the "Mathematics and Environmental Exploration"…

Counting is foundational to success with mathematics. In this synthesis, we analyzed 17 studies about counting-focused interventions for preschool and kindergarten students with mathematics difficulty or at-risk of mathematics difficulty. All interventions addressed several components of counting, including stable order, one-to-one correspondence,…

We develop a spreadsheet-based game to illustrate fundamental statistical concepts in the first class of an undergraduate Statistics course to motivate students about the topics that they will learn in upcoming classes. This game has been implemented by Google Forms and Google Sheets and can be played in both online and in-person classes of small…

This article describes how the authors developed the activity Speaqual to enable their students to "speak" about the "equal" sign and foster communication of their reasoning. The article explains how to play Speaqual and how the students were thoroughly engaged in a friendly competition, centralizing algebraic concepts and…

Educational board games are a promising teaching method due to their low cost, playful, exploratory, and engaging nature. By drawing on analogical research, we created a game whose structure of spatial relationships mirrored the structure of rational numbers. We expected that children playing this game would improve their knowledge of fractions.…

Games are frequently used to promote math learning, yet the competitive and collaborative contexts introduced by games may exacerbate gender differences. In this study, 1st and 2nd grade children in the U.S. (ages 5-8; N = 274; 70% White, 15% Asian, 2% Black, 1% Native American, 14% mixed or other race; 17% Hispanic) played either a competitive,…

In recent years, the technological revolution has changed the way we see reality and interact with it. Inevitably, education and didactic planning have also had to deal with new technologies. Indeed, the presence of digital tools has radically changed people's lives since childhood. Many educational realities have exploited this digital…

The authors present a new classroom-tested lesson that was designed to engage students in the joy of mathematical inquiry through a card game, Frustration, while building number sense, understanding of uncertainty, statistical reasoning, and discourse skills. The purpose in developing and sharing these lessons is to highlight how games of chance…

Adopting a pretest-posttest experimental design with repeated measures, this study examined the effects of three types of game-based learning supports in the form of modeling on knowledge development that contributed to successful math problem solving and students' perceived game flow. Forty-one sixth-grade students participated in the study and…

Mathematical learning has an important role and is often prioritized in education. In K-16 education, algebra is one of the most vital mathematical content domains: it represents one of the top barriers for students pursuing a postsecondary education. Game-based learning has been effective in fostering classroom math learning environments that are…

This research arises within the scope of the Postgraduate Course of Specialization in Technologies and Robotics in Elementary School. Its aim is to analyze the impact of robotics and programming on the motivation and involvement of students in the development of computational thinking, in the learning of mathematical concepts. The study was…

This study aims to develop a didactic design using Engklek games to teach the concept of fractions in elementary schools. This study combines a cultural approach, namely Engklek games with mathematics in the concept of fractions. This study used didactical design research, with 2 research subjects, namely 20 students in grade 5 for learning…