Educational versions of bingo are growing in popularity with teachers. More and more educators are using the game as a teaching tool during their lessons. There are numerous reasons for this, but they include the facts that bingo is easy to adapt to different lesson types and subjects, that the game is very simple to learn (many students probably already know how to play), and given the financial restrictions that most teachers work under – bingo card be played using affordable materials and classroom supplies.
One of the main ways that bingo can be adapted to different subjects is by using special subject-specific bingo cards. As you probably know, traditional bingo cards simply contain a grid of squares, each square containing a different number. Educational versions of bingo use cards containing a grid of squares, however the squares contain items specific to the subject or lesson, such as the names of cities, mountains or rivers in a geography class, the names of historical figures in a history class, etc.
Bingo can be used in many different subjects, but is especially suitable for math. Teachers can prepare bingo cards containing either questions or answers, and then vary game playing accordingly. If questions are used, students must write in the answers when the question is called. If answers are used, the teacher calls out questions, and students must mark off the particular square that answers the question.
Bingo can be used in almost any math class, but is particularly popular for practice at arithmetic, and especially multiplication tables (”times tables”). Many math teachers also find the game a useful tool for practising fractions and decimals – in this case as well as solving problems, students may be required to do base conversion (when the teacher calls out “a quarter”, the student must mark off squares contain 1/4, 2/8 or 0.25).
In order to play any of these variants of bingo, you will of course need the appropriate custom bingo cards. While it is possible to order preprinted cards for many subjects, they can get kind of expensive. A better alternative is to get some bingo card maker software and make the bingo cards using your PC. Appropriate software will allow you to print bingo cards containing anything you want, and with no limit as to the quantity.
By: Sunil Tanna
Bingo is a very simple game that anybody could learn, even young children. This simplicity also means that the game can be adapted to classroom use. As a result, many elementary and other K-12 school teachers are now using specially modified versions of the game bingo as a teaching aid.
Bingo can be used in the teaching of many different subjects, including reading, English, foreign language, math, science, history and geography. Here are a few examples of how it can be integrated into lesson plans:
* When teaching reading, bingo can be played using bingo cards printed with letters or words. Students might be required to check off squares from their card when the match a word read out by the teacher (”sight word bingo”), or contain the letter that the teacher’s word begins with (”phonemic awareness bingo”).
* In English classes, bingo cards with words are again used. In this case students might be required to find the matching word for the teacher’s definition (”vocabulary bingo”), or when they contain a particular part of speech beginning with a letter chosen by the teacher (”a verb beginning with S”, etc., – “parts of speech bingo”).
* In language classes, bingo cards can be printed with French, German, Italian or Spanish words. In this case, students might be required to match these against English words read out by the teacher. You can also reverse this, and use bingo cards printed in English and have the teacher say words in the foreign language.
* In math classes, bingo cards can be printed with numbers chosen by the teacher, or even with math problems (students must mark off squares by writing in the correct answers). When using numbered cards, students must solve a math problem to find the matching square, and this math problem could be a simple addition, subtraction, multiplication or division sum, a problem involving fractions or decimals (”find the square containing one and a quarter” is called out by teacher, and students must match this to a square containing “1.25″, etc.), etc.
* Bingo can also be used in history, geography and science classes. In these cases, the bingo cards are printed with items appropriate for the subject, and the students must match them to clues given by the teacher (for example: “this is a country in Western Europe, it has coasts on the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, and its capital is Madrid”).
By: Sunil Tanna
