Teaching Math through Games

Undergraduate Cody Gotchall is pursuing a degree in accounting from Chemeketa Community College in Salem, Oregon. Cody Gotchall has a long-standing love of math, sparked in part by learning the card game cribbage from his father as a child. 

Playing cards and board games are two fun, engaging ways for parents to practice basic math concepts with their children. Some ideas using popular game pieces are described below.

Blackjack - This addition game uses ordinary playing cards and can be played by two to four people. The goal is to draw cards that come the closest to adding up to 21 without going over. In this game, face cards are worth 10, while aces can symbolize 1 or 11, depending on when they are drawn.

Mastermind - Usually played in pairs, one player makes a four-piece pattern containing a combination of six possible colors. The other player attempts to recreate the pattern. After each attempt, the first player uses white and black pieces to show if any of the pieces are in the correct color, in the correct order, or both. This guessing game teaches important logic concepts such as deductive reasoning, pattern recognition, and experimentation.

Rummikub - The goal of Rummikub is to organize tiles numbered from 1-13 into sequential sets. During each player’s first turn, his or her set must add up to 30 or higher. If this isn’t possible, the player must collect tiles from the pool. The round ends when one player can place all of his or her remaining tiles into one set.

Great Organizations Serving People with Special Needs

Former Linn-Benton Community College student Cody Gotchall studies through the eLearn program at Chemeketa Community College. When he’s not busy with schoolwork, Cody Gotchall volunteers with nonprofit organizations that support people with special needs.

Several organizations provide services and programs to people with special needs. Below are a few examples:

Easterseals
A 90-year-old charity, Easter Seals provides high-quality services and resources to adults and children with special needs and disabilities. These are made available on an individualized basis and are designed to help each person overcome the obstacles they face on their way to reaching their goals.

Parents Helping Parents
Since 1976, Parents Helping Parents (PHP) has been providing community services, support groups, and crisis support to families of children with special needs. The agency works with families of children of all backgrounds and ages who require special services to due everything from illness and accidents to mental health issues and learning disabilities.

Allies, Inc.
Dedicated to giving people with special needs the same opportunities and experiences as those without, Allies, Inc. offers programs from music to farming. In addition to recreational programs available through the organization, Allies, Inc. helps members with the housing and healthcare they need to be independent.

How is Cribbage Played?

Cody Gotchall is a student at Chemeketa Community College and a former accounting student at Linn-Benton Community College. His father taught him cribbage in an effort to spark an interest in math, and since then, Cody Gotchall has enjoyed the continuity and pattern recognition needed to win a cribbage match.

Cribbage is usually played by two, using a deck of 52 cards and a cribbage board consisting of several parallel lines and holes. These holes hold different pegs and help players keep score. Individuals without a cribbage board also can keep score using a pencil and paper.

To begin a match, players each cut a shuffled deck and take turns drawing a card. The person with a lowest card is the game’s first dealer and must distribute six face-down cards to each player. Players discard two cards from their hand, sending the cards to the “crib.” This serves as an extra hand that is scored by the dealer. However, the cards in the crib are not used until the other hands have been played.

From there, an opponent lays one of their four cards face up and states the numerical value of the card. Aces count as one and all royal cards count as 10. After this, the dealer lays a card face-up and announces the total of the cards. Each player continues this until no one can place a card without the total of the pile going over 31. 

At this point, the player who placed the last card pegs one point for piles under 31 and two points for piles at 31. Additional points can be earned depending on whether the player created a specific total, such as 15, when the cards in the pile are added together. Play then continues in this way with the player who made the last move serving as the dealer for the next round.

Players move their peg one hole for each point they earn until one person scores 121 points. The player with 121 points then “pegs out,” which means they won the game.