Abstract:

In this article we present a didactic experience developed by the GIE (Group of Educational Innovation) “Pensamiento Matemático” of the Polytechnics University of Madrid (UPM), in order to bring Secondary students and University students closer to Mathematics. It deals about the development of a virtual board game called Mate-trivial.
The mechanics of the game is to win points by going around the board which consists of four types of squares identified by colours: “Statistics and Probability”, “Calculus and Analysis”, “Algebra and Geometry” and “Arithmetic and Theory of numbers”.
When falling on a square, a question of its category is set out: a correct answer is awarded 200 points, if wrong one loses 100 points, and not answering it causes no effect on the points, but either way, two minutes out of the 20 minutes that each game lasts are lost.
To finish the game it is necessary, before those 20 minutes run out, to reach the central square and succeed in the final task: four chained questions, one of each type, which must be all answered correctly.
It is possible to choose between two levels to play: Level 1, for Pre-university students and Level 2 for University students.
A prototype of the game is available at the website “Aula de Pensamiento Matemático” developed by the GIE: http://innovacioneducativa.upm.es/pensamientomatematico
This activity lies within a set of didactic actions which the GIE is developing in the framework of the project “Collaborative Strategies between University and Secondary School Education for the teaching and learning of Mathematics: An Application to solve problems while playing”, a transversal project financed by the UPM.

Keywords:

Mathematical Games, Educational Software, Didactics of the Mathematics, Technology in Education, Innovations in Education.