Krittika Hazra
Here are some maths classroom resources from an amazing website called Nrich (https://nrich.maths.org/). If you have not visited this website yet, please take a look immediately! It has an enormous collection of teacher and student resources such as worksheets, live problems, activities, games, articles and interactives. While these resources are mainly for offline classroom use, the website also has a number of games and interactives which students can explore virtually. The ideal scenario is the offline version of the games when the opponent is your friend, but I was more than happy with the online versions in the virtual classroom too! These are a few games which directly relate to the curriculum and can be played by the students by themselves during the class. I have tried these in my class, and my tech-savvy students just loved them! Try it in your class by sharing the link with the students in email or in Zoom chat.
- First connect three: https://nrich.maths.org/5865
Topic: Addition and subtraction of integers
Class: 6, 7
In this game the player who first completes a row of three squares, either horizontally, vertically or diagonally is the winner.
Spin the spinners, place each number in one of the squares and decide whether you want to add or subtract to produce the total shown on the board.
2. Factors and multiples: https://nrich.maths.org/factorsandmultiples
Class: 6
This is a game for two players. The first player chooses a positive even number that is less than 50 and crosses it out on the grid. The second player chooses a number to cross out. The number must be a factor or multiple of the first number.
Players continue to take it in turns to cross out numbers, at each stage choosing a number that is a factor or multiple of the number just crossed out by the other player.
The first person unable to cross out a number loses. Though this game does not have an online version, the students can share screens in Zoom breakout rooms and annotate with two different colours to strike out the numbers.
3. Matching fractions, decimals, percentages: https://nrich.maths.org/1249
Class: 7
The aim of this game is to match pairs of cards.
Click on a card to turn it over. Then click on another one. If the two cards match, they will stay face-up. If they don’t, they will return to their original positions, face down. The game ends when all the cards have been matched in pairs. It has till level 5.
4. Mirror images
Topic: Symmetry, patterns
Class: 6,7
This activity also can be shared by the students in their respective Zoom breakout rooms and they can annotate on it to show their drawing and mirror drawing.
5. Got it! https://nrich.maths.org/1272
Topic: Enrichment (Systematic thinking, generalizing, idea of factors and multiples)
Class: 6, 7, 8
Got It is an adding game for two players. You can play against the computer or with a friend. Start with the Got It target 23. The first player chooses a whole number from 1 to 4. Players take turns to add a whole number from 1 to 4 to the running total. The player who hits the target of 23 first wins the game.
6. The Remainders Game: https://nrich.maths.org/6402
Topic: Idea of numbers and divisibility
Class: 6,7
The computer will think of a number between 1 and 100. Can you work out what it is? Choose a divisor and the computer will give you some information about the number.The fewer divisions you require, the more points you get: How soon can you reach 100 points?
The author is a mathematics educator working in The Future Foundation School, Kolkata. She specializes in middle school mathematics teaching and has been working on extending the scope and understanding of mathematical skills to improve life skills in children. She can be reached at krittika.hazra7@gmail.com.