Math games are especially useful when teaching young kids various math concepts. Younger students may have a tendency to lose focus on new / hard subjects such as math, and so presenting new concepts using traditional methods may not always be the most productive way of doing things. Perhaps a better plan would be to describe the concept as simply as possible, but then instead of assigning repetitive homework problem sets, allow the students to play math games. These fun activities for children will keep their attention much longer than a boring text book. But as opposed to them wasting their time when they need to take a break from regular studying, they will be developing their math skills while playing these educational games. These games shouldn't replace conventional homework, but fun math games are a great way to compliment it.
Here is a sample of the most popular math games on the internet right now (courtesy of Coolmath.com, one of many game websites):
Bloxorz
Boombot
Fraction Splat
Xfactor
Duck
Concentration
(I'd recommend giving their site a visit to see if you can find a game for the subject you are studying. It's a great website for kids.)
Another benefit of playing cool math games is that these games develop focus and concentration skills in order for the student to win or succeed. Furthermore, they can help develop competition and communication between students as they try to score more points or achieve higher goals in the games. This motivates them to want to do better and so will strive to understand the concepts. Compare these benefits to the process of having to repeatedly write out math problems (boring!), or get frustrated with new concepts, possibly while studying alone and not in a social environment. From this point of view, cool math games provide many benefits over traditional written homework and studying.
Math games are increasingly becoming more popular amongst both students and teachers. While there are still many teachers who focus on the old-school teaching methods and styles that they know and themselves were taught with, many are now seeing the benefits of fun math games on the students' ability to learn new mathematics concepts. In the end, it shouldn't be about HOW the student is taught these skills, but rather it should only be a matter that they ACHIEVE these skills. Cool math games are a great way to assist in this goal.
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