By S. Tanna. Download free math bingo printables from http://www.mathbingo.org/
Mathematics, or more colloquially, "math", is one of the most important subjects that students learn in school. Not only do good mathematical skills form a necessary for understanding of other subjects, especially the sciences, but also, math is an important life skill. Learning math usually of course begins at young age, sometimes even at home, with learning numbers and counting. At kindergarten and then school, students then progress through arithmetic (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division), and eventually to more advanced topics such as algebra, geometry, graphs and charts, and statistics. In all these areas, but especially during the learning of arithmetic, practise and rehearsal is one of the most ways for students to improve their mastery of the topic.
When learning arithmetic, repeatedly doing sums for a long period, with little variation, can soon get boring for many students. Before long, their attention can start to wonder, and as we all know - this is not conducive to learning. Quite the opposite, students generally learn best when enjoying the subject, and as a result many math teachers have introduced a variety of math games into their classrooms - and one such game that is very popular is math bingo.
In math bingo, each student is given a bingo card (also known as a "bingo worksheet" or "bingo board") printed with numbers. These aren't necessarily the standard bingo numbers, but rather are the answers to a number of different math problems. The game is then played exactly like a normal game of bingo, with the teacher playing the part of the bingo caller, but instead of the teacher calling out the numbers printed on the cards, the teacher instead calls out math problems (the teacher may also write the problem on the blackboard). The students' task is to solve each problem, and then look for the number on their bingo card.
As you can imagine, this can be a lot of fun, and before you know it students can forget they are learning math! What is more, teachers can also easily vary the game play, for example, by using different types of math problems, or perhaps even by asking members of the class to solve each problem before moving on to the next bingo call.
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