Well, my first blog was going to be so impressive – packed with stunning quotations from eminent mathematicians, blinding, ground-breaking news and scintillating academic debate. Note the ‘was’ part of that statement….
Then reality hit; sadly, life is somewhat inconsiderate in that it will persist in hurtling by at its normal pace while blog composition is in process. So, instead, my first blog is going to be about a game that I have really enjoyed playing. An educational game. Yes! Amazing, eh? Hmm. Sceptical? Me too! When some of my students approached me with enthusiasm rarely seen among this species, insisting that I have a go, I suspected it may be yet another gimmick high in the entertainment stakes but low in educational value. Not so!
So what is this game, I hear you cry…. (!)
City of Zombies. Created by Matthew Tidbury to encourage and inspire his maths-phobic daughter, this game is collecting quite a number of awards, including Best Numeracy Game Gold Award 2014, and most recently has been endorsed by National Numeracy.
It’s a bit tricky to learn the rules. Well, it’s a bit tricky for ME to learn the rules. But then I find it a bit tricky to learn the rules for a new computer game. Kids don’t actually seem to have a problem.
Two things I really like about it. One is that it is able to be differentiated; the other is that it is collaborative, the competitive element is that the team is fighting against the Zombies. The catchphrase is ‘You need brains to survive!’
How do you play it and how is it educational? Basically, there is a board, some Zombie cards (and some other cards just to add confusion and interest!) and three dice. The cards all have numbers on (yes, different sets, so you can see where the first level of differentiation comes in). On throwing the dice, the aim is to use any of the four operations to make the number on one or more of the cards. Only catch is that you have to use all the dice. The Zombies that are not taken off move down the board. There is a rescue plane that also moves down the board with each move. Quite simply, your rescue plane gets to the bottom first, you win, the Zombies get there first, they win.
On the top right of each card is an icon that shows which tables the number on the card are part of, a useful ‘quick sort’ for teachers or parents looking to focus on conceptual understanding of a particular set of tables, for example. There are various ways of adapting this, some are suggested in the rules, but, once you have the idea of how to play I’m sure you, like me, will see lots of other ways to use the game, either to differentiate further, or to shorten the game – I could see it being used a mental oral starter or a quick 5 minute filler before home time, for example.
Check it out! We’ve had endless fun with it since we got it a couple of weeks ago! If you invest in a box, let me know how you get on with it.