Online+Games

//This page takes a look at utilizing an interactive game online to help students solve equations with variables on both sides of the the equal sign. For a look at the effectiveness of online video lessons, click here. You can also explore manipulatives by clicking here.//

[|Balancing Equations - Game!]

Here are a few instructions on how to play:







One of the benefits to allowing students to explore a game like this is it is built entirely around interactivity. Like an online video's comment section, or handling manipulatives in class, the student is actively participating in the material being covered. The exercises and actions students perform in this activity mirror what they do when solving a math problem and mirrors what is presented to them in the math textbook. A major difference, however, is the fact that the text in the book is cold, abrupt and motionless, which may not resonate with certain students.

In addition to having twenty pre-made problems for students to challenge themselves with, the game also gives students the ability to input their own into the game. While textbooks offer a limited number of examples, and while teachers are limited by time constraints to cover very many in class, students are able to open this game and investigate examples on their own. This activity exemplifies the triadic reciprocity of students' interaction with their learning environment explained by Sociocultural Theory. Sociocultural Theory also holds that students who are allowed to 'play' are given an opportunity make their own discoveries and develop a deeper connection to what they are exploring.(Ormrod, 2011). An online game like this also provides to students a chance to practice the material outside of the classroom in a forum that they are heavily interested in, the internet.