The Great Games - Puppy Chase

©Arcademics. 2015. Puppy Chase [online screenshot].

This week I examined a math game that students could use to practice a specific unit or skill. The first game I played was Puppy Chase. What initially drew me to trying this game was the name. For kids, puppies would be a great way to hook them into a game. This game revolves around decimal conversion. Students create a username and are assigned a puppy. Students then race against other puppies to complete the race first. The more answers they get correct in the shortest amount of time leads them to win. The game is fun, engaging and uses something that kids love to get them excited to play (i.e. puppies). 

I enjoyed playing and felt the interface was great for young students. This game targets grade 5's and along the way they can level up and achieve the power to unlock new characters. A challenge to this game is the time factor. Students are under pressure to decide on the right answer and the math is done purely in your head. For students, the time crunch could create stress and result in them choosing the wrong answer because they feel rushed. The multiple choice option allows students to make educated guesses or discover patters in the game. For example, when a student sees 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 they will start to realize they are looking for .5 as the decimal. I think this is a positive thing because conversion will become innate and they will learn to calculate simple decimals more quickly.

This game is not ideal for working through a problem or showing your work.

What it does do is allow students to get more comfortable at recognizing patterns and consistency in conversions. Educated guesses and estimation is a critical tool in mathematics and the good news is, the game tells you what answers you got wrong at the end allowing you to review your mistakes. Seeing where you went wrong is another great way to fix mistakes in the future. If students get comfortable with changing 1/2 into .5 or 1/4 into .25 they'll be more equipped when it comes time to showing their work in class. Mental math is important and the strength of this game is providing a tool for students to practice that mental math in a really fun and engaging way. I could see students playing this outside of class simply because they enjoy it and because you can play other people such as your classmates!