Teachers and children playing with factorization: Putting prime slaughter to the test

Abstract

This study presents results from the evaluation of Prime Slaughter, a computer game aimed at supporting learning of factorization and prime numbers. The game was tested and re-conceptualized during a whole-day participatory workshop, involving two classes of pupils and their math teacher. As a result, it was possible to see that social play elicits fundamental questions about the nature of abstract concepts, in our case the operations involved in factorization and the relationship between natural numbers and primes, supporting sense making and reflections through verbal articulation. Moreover, new insights were gathered, in relation to enrich the game, taking inspiration from emergent meaning regarding the different forms of play allowed and the need to better support multi-player interaction. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.