@ Card Games in Math Class are actually useful activities for studen= ts

@ Card Games in Math = Class are useful activities for students. &= nbsp; Page (1) @

Recently in= the news it was reported, two of the most w= ealthy men in the world

Bill Gates and Warren Buffet play = Bridge regularly. Warren plays 12 hrs a week.

They both a= dvocate playing any type of card game is healthy activity for the brain.

This has en= couraged me to return to my roots in Basic Math, where I had students

on a regula= r basis play a specific type of card game with a brief set of standard rules.

I would org= anize my students in groups of four with two doing w= ell in Basic Math

and two being challenged with Basic Math. This arrangement work w= ell for Team

Mates and m= any times the challenged Math students were = the better card players.

After the g= ames were played on a regular basis usually on Fridays, the challenged

students be= gan to help the non-card playing team mates do better at playing cards

which lead = them to accept help from better Math students.&nbs= p; The better card players

did not allow any help previously to playing ca= rds, but, games made it acceptable.=

In the TV n= ews report on Bill= Gates and Warren B= uffet, it was quite apparent that

playing cards was an older adult pastime, but, younger adults were starting to play.

Playing car= ds was a natural pastime in my family gatherings. Thus, I became an avid

adult playe= r with card games such as Euchre and later Bridge which I really love= d!

Two easy ca= rd games to start with since many students are not very good at games

was Hearts = and Spades. These two card games = were similar in rules but different

in the fina= l result or achievement in winning the game. &= nbsp; Hearts is a game where the

players try not to take cards from a trick (a card play= ed by all four to the middle of

the table) = while Spades was just the opposite where players tried= to grab all cards.

Hearts is a= card game where the low point player wins while Spades is a card game

where the <= st1:place w:st=3D"on">= high point player wins the game. Both games use offensive and defen= sive

playing str= ategies which really expect applying the rules and focus on playing cards.

Keep in mind, Card games are a natur= al Mathematics environment since players are

provided wi= th a set of elements and a specific set of rules and guides = lines as to how

playing the= card game would lead to solving the problem which is winning a game.

Trying not = to reinvent the wheel, the link = below is an inclusive set of rules for Hearts!

http://www.pagat.com/reve= rse/hearts.html

These rules= need to be modified and provided on a need= to know basis to my students.

Again, not = to reinvent the wheel, the link = below is an inclusive set of rules for Spades!

http://www.pagat.com/bosto= n/spades.html

These rules= need to be modified and provided on a need= to know basis to my students.

The Friday = Game day usually was done after a short, bu= t, regular quiz over the weeks

Math activi= ties which included concepts and computat= ion along with word problems.

Most of the= time, (this means quite a few times) my students wanted me to allow them

to play pok= er since they considered it an accep= table adult game, but, I told them it was

not allow t= o bet with money so playing poker would be very boring and not challenging.

@ Card Games in Math = Class are useful activities for students. &= nbsp; Page (2) @

After stude= nts became good or needing a change in their card playing activity,

I would int= roduce the two new card games with similar but different concepts.

The new gam= es were Straight Rummy and Gin Rummy which required in a game

for players= to try and get the highest number of poi= nts while the other the lowest.

These new c= ard games only provided the players with 8 playing cards at the start.

Then requir= ed them to interact with each other by drawing cards from a deck and

discarding = cards into a discard pile which allow the next player a choice of either.

Trying not = to reinvent the wheel, link below is an inclusive s= et of rules for Rummy!

http://www.pagat.com/rummy/r= ummy.html

These rules= were modified and provided on a need to= know basis to my students.

Again, not = to reinvent the wheel, link belo= w is inclusive set of rules for Gin Rummy!<= /p>

http://www.pagat.com/rumm= y/ginrummy.html

These rules= were modified and provided on a need to= know basis to my students.

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Again stude= nts become good or needing a change in their card playing activity,

I would int= roduce the two new card games with similar but different concepts.

The new gam= es were Crazy 8s regular deck and UNO invented deck both games

had similar= rules but the elements of the games were different causing a focus.

These new c= ard games only provided the players with 8 playing cards at the start.

Then requir= ed them to interact with each other by drawing cards from a deck and

discarding = cards into a discard pile which allow the next player a choice of either.

Trying not = to reinvent the wheel, link below is an inclusive s= et of rules for Crazy 8s!

http://www.pagat.com/eigh= ts/crazy8s.html

These rules= were modified and provided on a need to= know basis to my students.

Again, not = to reinvent the wheel, link belo= w is an inclusive set of rules for UNO!

http://www.noprivileg= e.com/ab/uno-howto.html

These rules= were modified and provided on a need to= know basis to my students.

###########= ################

Advanced st= udent players eventually start playing Euchre & Double Deck Euchre

but these m= ore difficult games, required muc= h more sophisticated playing strategies.

Reference: http://www.pagat.com/ & http://thehouseofcards.= com/retail/uno.html