McLaughlin, R. (2014). NAIS – game theory in math class. National Association of Independent Schools. https://www.nais.org/magazine/independent-teacher/fall-2014/game-theory-in-math-class/
McLaughlin is explaining how he gets his students how to talk about math in his middle school classroom by using game theory as a catalyst to drive the conversations forward. Since game theory serves as a way to discuss the process of arriving at the correct answer which is vastly more interesting than just the correct answer, and the correct answers changes based on the strategies being used by others. The core part of McLaughlin’s lesson is a game of guess 2/3 of the average of a set of numbers. The class would all chose a number between 1 and 100, and the goal was to guess as close to 2/3 of the average as possible. The game repeated over 3 rounds. After the first round of the game, students will usually shift their guesses to what ever the closest number was, meaning the best guess would be 2/3 of the previous winner.
- I had wanted to look into game theory as a way to help design better collaborative assignments. I did not consider it as a good way to talk about procedural fluency, or the process that we use to solve problems in math. With calculators or programs to solve problems everywhere, it is becoming more important to understand how to solve problems rather than just how to get the correct answer
- I really like the 2/3 average game. It is a good way to get students thinking about how game theory works. Most times that we encounter game theory we are not looking at concrete numbers as most examples are presented as but rather we are looking at complicated scenarios where the players have many different options that they can choose.
This source provides a good reason for why game theory should be included in math classes. The focus on procedural fluency is very important, and the explanation of the 2/3 average game helped to bring out the reasoning behind the strategies that students were using.
Spencer Hight 