Abstract:

This study presents the first stages for the creation of a playful microproject, with “microproject” understood as an interdisciplinary teaching proposal that aims to develop skills from a constructivist perspective via activities based on signs relevant to one or more cultures. The microproject we intend to develop is referred to as playful because the relevant signs within it are games characteristic of a number of cultures involved therein. With this proposal the objective is to emphasise that concepts and skills related to mathematical and scientific thinking can be worked with through the playing of a series of traditional games, adopting an ethnomathematical perspective that takes advantage of the cultural aspects of each game to promote intercultural education.
Play and culture are concepts that go hand-in-hand, taking into account Huxley’s ideas, which conceptualise culture with three components: artefacts, mentifacts and sociofacts. In games these constructs are summarised: artefacts are the game materials, mentifacts are the abstract elements related to the use of the game (objectives and challenges), and sociofacts are the game rules. Taking this as a reference, we can find diverse classifications of games, with the ESAR classification being one of the most well-known. In previous publications we unified some of these classifications into a single one covering three perspectives: inside the game, outside it and combination of both. This system, which we refer to as a game classification model (MTJ), shall be applied in this study to classify the games that will articulate the playful microproject.
A research methodology has been implemented focused on the ethnographic nature of the project. There has not just been an attempt to analyse each game, rather, effort has also been made to extol the culture it comes from and how this can be introduced into the classroom, and thus promote intercultural education in an integrated manner with the development of mathematical and scientific thinking.
The research aimed at the development of the playful microproject comprises four stages:
Anthropological study: It involves researching the game in a purely ethnological way, that is, studiying the culture that supports the game itself, its historical origin and the social function it develops.
Analytical study: It consists of the study of the selected games, mainly focusing on their mathematical and scientific aspects, added to more specific details relating to playability and classification according to the ESAR and our own MTJ systems.
Educational study: This will involve the presentation of the programme and implementation of the playful microproject, proposing the use of activities based on the traditional games analysed.
Research study: It will show the analysis of the implementation of the microproject, with special emphasis on the occurrence of playful situations that permit working with mathematical and scientific concepts and skills.
In this work we focus on the two initial research stages, showing the main aspects of the three games selected: Canarian checkers (The dog and the goats), The Towers of the Alhambra and Mijnlieff. They are all board games that have educational relevance and cultural meaning, manifested through their putting into practice, which will enable working with scientific-mathematical concepts and skills, together with the main elements of the cultures they represent: Guanche, Nasrid and Viking, respectively.

Keywords:

Traditional games, game-based learning, microprojects, mathematical and scientific thinking, intercultural education.