Abstract
This chapter investigates the mathematics in the gameplay of three popular games (Angry Birds, Plants vs. Zombies and The Sims) that are unlikely to be played in mathematics lessons. The three games are different but each has been observed to provide opportunity for mathematical activity in gameplay. After describing each game, and the mathematics that can arise in gameplay, the chapter explores two questions: What kind of mathematics is afforded in these games? Can these games be used in/for school mathematics? Issues considered under the first question include: the nature of mathematics and the difficulty of isolating the mathematics in non-school gameplay; players’ strategic actions as mathematical actions; and ‘truth’ and its warrants in different mathematical worlds. Issues considered under the second question include: tensions between curricular expectations and the mathematics that arise in gameplay; and possible changes in gameplay when a game is moved from a leisure to an educational setting.
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Notes
- 1.
Note that we use the word gameplay and not games in this question. This reflects an ontological assumption that mathematics, if it exists at all, does not reside in the game itself but in the gameplay.
- 2.
The interested reader should see this paper for details on the research methodology, which produced the interpretations on which we report in this chapter.
- 3.
Strategy, as we shall shortly see, is a problematic term.
- 4.
Cole (1996) can be viewed as a 350-page explication of culture; these six words do not do justice to his considerations.
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Avraamidou, A., Monaghan, J., Walker, A. (2015). Mathematics and Non-School Gameplay. In: Lowrie, T., Jorgensen (Zevenbergen), R. (eds) Digital Games and Mathematics Learning. Mathematics Education in the Digital Era, vol 4. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9517-3_2
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