Presents native American counting games. Argues that games involve a great deal of mathematics, so much so that play is easily one of the six "universal mathematics activities" of all cultures and mathematics is a vital aspect of culture. Concludes that students and teachers alike learn a great deal from creating and playing culturally relevant…

Describes several activities and games that provide an introduction to the concept of function. Suggests that experiences should depend more on students' experiences and understanding and less on the memorization of unmotivated conventions with abstract symbols. Includes activities for a calculator as a function machine, composite functions, and…

Presents activities found to be useful in English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) classes, including a game in which the teacher guesses the meaning of words in students' native tongues; an exercise in which students write predictions, such as weather forecasting, in English; a game in which students explain the meaning of selected idioms in their own…

Describes an activity that integrates the study of fractions, decimals, percents, rounding, Cartesian coordinates, probability, and statistics into a game using baseball statistics. (MKR)

Presents samples of game-display board activities designed for junior high science classes. Employs ideas from traditional seatwork and end-of-chapter exercises such as matching, multiple choice, word puzzles, and summary tables. Activities require a vertical magnetic white board and magnetic word and picture cards. Facilitates classroom…

Used a penny arcade game concept constructed by preschoolers as a learning tool. Found that the interests of children were clearly visible through their use of peer teaching, collaboration, problem solving, divergent thinking, and use of multiple strategies. Found children were tuned in to learning due to a sense of ownership and empowerment. (SD)

Describes a library media game for grades four and five that is centered around books and is based on the television show "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?". Procedures for the game are explained, and examples of questions from simple to more difficult, with answers, are presented. (LRW)

Discusses the need for students to become more aware of other cultures as the population becomes more diverse. Provides examples of activities that teachers and library media specialists can use to expand student's cultural awareness and explains The Diversity Game that can be adapted to community demographics. (LRW)

This article uses a classroom Civil War exercise to illustrate how teachers can use fist-person characterization to communicate social history. It describes the benefits of first-person characterization for gifted students and outlines a seven-day schedule for a unit on the Civil War. (Contains references.) (CR)

In the world of "edutainment" where multimedia is the ultimate content provider, educational electronic games are a new and fun way for young children to learn concepts and processes that have usually been delivered via books within the traditional classroom. In an effort to implement a design framework for developing educational games…

This article features energizing and surprising activities for children at group time. In the drawing activity, children are asked to give instructions on how to draw a picture using vocabulary and descriptive language. In the mailbox activity, children will be surprised to discover that they have mail at group time. Mailboxes can be used for…

The authors present a simple classroom game in which students are randomly designated as employers, purple workers, or green workers. This environment may generate "statistical" discrimination if workers of one color tend not to invest because they anticipate lower opportunities in the labor market, and these beliefs are self-confirming as…

Active spoken mastery of a foreign language all too often remains an illusive wish on the part of language learners. There is a tendency to seek the causes of non-fluency and accurate speech outside the classroom, for example, too little involvement, interest and time investment on the part of learners. In this article Manuela Macedonia asserts…

The author has developed an innovative science website resource that also shows how engineers use science. As well as addressing scientific facts and concepts, the resource also engages children in the process of scientific enquiry, using graph tools and data interpretation. Part of the resource helps children to understand that much of what they…

The interconnected world of actors and movies is a familiar, rich example for graph theory. This paper gives the history of the "Kevin Bacon Game" and makes extensive use of a Web site to analyze the underlying graph. The main content is the classroom development of the weighted average to determine the best choice of "center" for the graph. The…