Math Relay Games

  Do you remember when you were little and in school, you'd participate in those math relay games?

I remember one where the class sat in rows.  Each person in the row had an equation.  The teacher called out a number for the first person in each row to use.

As they finished the problem, they'd pass the answer off to the second person who used the answer in their problem. This process would repeat until the last person finished and raised their hand to have the teacher check it.  The first row with the correct answer at the end, won.

The other night I thought I might want to use it in class with variations on it but I only know the old fashioned way with 3 x 5 cards.  These are fairly easy to prepare but I wondered if I could have students use something like snap chat to create relay games. 

I don't know much about snap chat but I do know my students love it. What if I assigned a problem to each small group of students?  The groups of students worked on the problem either on a whiteboard or paper, and when done, snap a picture of one member with the answer, they could shoot it to me via snap chat or other program.

Even better, they could work together on a collaboration program or with one of the google suite so they work together on the program and they can post the solution showing the work.  Everyone I speak to, says its important for students to learn to work together or collaborate.

The nice thing about using a digital program or device is there is always a time stamp to prove who was first.  Before, when relying on the naked eye, it was difficult to tell who finished first if two or more hands shot up first.  In addition, students would sometimes raise a hand, even when not done so they were not left out.

It would be possible to run the old fashioned relay races by having students text their answer to the next person to use in their problem.  The last person text's the answer to the teacher.  This again provides a time stamp for who got the answer in first.  The teacher does not have to announce the winner right away but could text a reply stating the answer was received.

I would love to hear from you readers about your thoughts on this idea for a relay race or for working together in groups. These are thoughts at this moment and the feedback will help me fine tune the idea.  Thank you ahead of time.