2019 MidSchoolMath National Conference

Video game designers have discovered exactly how to encourage productive struggle. In this session, we'll explore five key design principles from video games that you can use immediately to make math irresistible. And, you'll participate in interactive activities where you will see exactly how to apply these principles to promote growth mindset, spark curiosity, and create a culture of perseverance.

The principles explored include:
1 - Agency (give students some control)
2 - Progressive challenge (start easy to engage all learners, then increase demand)
3 - Making failure an expectation (in video games, you just start over after 'failing')
4 - Provide descriptive feedback (explain exactly what the student is doing well)
5 - Don't give answers (video games never give away the answers)

You'll experience exactly how these principles can be applied to mathematics first-hand as they tackle three challenging problems in the session. We'll also spend time on how to encourage students to voluntarily participate in problem solving. I address this by sharing several proven techniques that spark student curiosity. This enables teachers to take existing problems and tweak them to promote engagement in their classrooms.