Who Wants to be a Zero Hero?
Monday, November 19, 2007
The colourful Zero Hero game cards developed by Serangoon Secondary School.
Students aren't usually allowed to play card games in school, but Zero Heroes is the exception at Serangoon Secondary School. We designed this card game to improve our students' ability to do mental calculations - and, of course, to make learning Mathematics more interesting!
Zero Heroes uses a deck of 75 cards, each with a number from 1 to 10 on it, or a special instruction (e.g. "Double the Score", "Square Root", "Skip", "Reverse"). Students play their cards to deduct numbers from 100, perform special calculations or affect the direction of play. Their objective: to avoid hitting a result of zero during their turn, or else they'll be eliminated. And no calculators allowed!
Students seeking clarification from the teacher while in the midst of the preliminary round of the Zero Hero competition.
We came up with this game at the beginning of this year as an enrichment activity for our Sec 2 Express classes. With the support of the N4 Cluster Coyote Fund for Innovation & Enterprise projects, we worked out the game concept and rules, tested it with our colleagues in the Mathematics department, then fine-tuned it further before sending the cards to print. Besides aiming to improve our students' mental agility, we also hoped to engage their creativity with different ways of learning, in line with theories of education such as Multiple Intelligence and Habits of Mind (accuracy in calculation).
With eight sets of Zero Heroes to start with, we kicked off a competition for our Sec 2 Express students. A Sec 3 class also tried it out. Our students responded very positively to the game. As Sec 3 student Natalie Goh explained, "It benefits me as it teaches me to react and calculate faster mentally. This will prove a great help when I'm doing my worksheets."
Her classmate Mohd Akif agreed. "I enjoy the game because it's fun and at the same time educational. I've improved in my subtracting skills and 'sabotaging' skills, and am able to think faster."
The Zero Hero booth set up by Serangoon Secondary School at the Cluster Sharing Session held in SRJC.
Moreover, students could monitor each other's performance, since the players have to check the scores of the other players. This really kept them on their toes. Zero Heroes is also a constructive group activity that they can play in their own time. We have allowed students to play the game when they have completed their class work - this provides them with an incentive to finish their assignment in class!
We showcased Zero Heroes at Serangoon Junior College on 4 Sep 2007 at the Coyote Fund Project Sharing. Many schools were keen to obtain sets on the spot. The game is also flexible in that teachers can amend the rules to suit their own students' needs and abilities. Families might even be interested in acquiring a set - they can have fun with their children while "training" them mentally.
Contributed by:
Mrs K. Thiagayson & Mr Adrian Tay
Serangoon Secondary School