The rules are printed right on to the game board so each group of student always have the rules in case they need to reference them throughout the game. I changed the rules a bit from the picture above. In the PDF version below the procedure changes slightly when you go around the board the second time. The first time around students practice solving the Pythagorean Theorem for the hypotenuse, while the second time around they are practicing solving for a leg.
When I did this with my students, I had them work in groups of three. We played this for the last 35 minutes of class. I had one group finish right away and I just had them play again, but for the rest of the groups it seemed to be the perfect amount of time. [If you use this as a review or your students have a good grasp of the PT, then I would have them go around the board again. Or maybe think of an extra twist of your own?]
Next time: Since I changed the rules a little, there isn't a lot that I plan on changing for next time I use this. There are a few comments I will make; 1) the purple spaces are part of the board. For some reason, I had a lot of students who thought they weren't playable spaces. 2) the pink triangles on the board are just decoration, they don't mean anything. These confused a lot of students at first, but the board just seemed too plain without them. Another change I made in the direction that I will implement next time is how students show their work. Last time I had them use a worksheet, but it didn't really work and I think just having them do something like the below picture will work just fine.
Question Cards: I really like the questions cards because they allow students to see how problems might be presented in a stressful situation (Test/Quiz). I printed out an extra copy of the sheet that has all the questions cards on it and wrote the answers on them but did not cut it up. I was walking around the class room with it just in case I needed to help my students. But I only told them if they were correct or not as a last resort. I had the other player in the group also solve the question card to make sure the player who drew the card got it correct. Most students were okay with also doing it so they could make sure the player who drew the card actually got to roll again.
What you need to use this in your classroom:
• Two Dice for each group of students
• PDF Pythagorean Board Game
I included a blank page of squares so that you can make your own questions cards if you want.
Make sure to leave a comment if you use this in your classroom. I would love to hear your thoughts and results!
