Twenty-four high-performing fifth grade students (aged 10-11 years) participated in a year-long study in which conditions alternated for six instructional units between lecture-based mathematics instruction and practice through solving additional problems in small groups versus practice through designing and playing mathematics games related to the topic. Students scored similarly on all units at the time of the posttest. Creating games allowed students to examine concepts on their own, making sense of them at a deeper level, avoiding confusion. Game-making may also have made the mathematics more personal, relevant, and interesting. The authors suggest that mathematics teachers consider adding game-making to their strategies for practicing and applying mathematical concepts.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.