Lesson Plan
The Factor Game by Illuminations
Subject
Mathematics (NYS P-12 Common Core)
Grade Levels
Intermediate, 6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th Grade
Description
The Factor Game engages students in a friendly contest in which winning strategies involve distinguishing between numbers with many factors and numbers with few factors. Students are then guided through an analysis of game strategies and introduced to the definitions of prime and composite numbers. The Factor Game is a two-person game in which players find factors of numbers on a game board. To play, one person selects a number and colors it. The second person colors all the proper factors of the first person's number. The roles are switched and the play continues till there are no numbers remaining with uncolored factors. Each person adds up the numbers they've colored. The winner is the person with the largest total. The purpose of this investigation is twofold: to help students determine whether a given number has many or only a few factors and to show how this property of numbers is useful for problem solving. Part I, Playing the Factor Game, engages students in a friendly contest in which winning strategies involve recognizing the difference between prime numbers and composite numbers. Part II, Playing to Win the Factor Game, guides students through an analysis of Factor Game strategies and introduces the definitions of prime and composite numbers. Part III provides questions that are rich in connections to situations in which factors, multiples, divisors, products, and prime numbers are significant. This investigation is based on the Factor Game from the Prime Time unit of the Connected Mathematics Project, G. Lappan, J. Fey, W Fitzgerald, S. Friel and E. Phillips, Dale Seymour Publications, (1996) pp.1-16.
Resource
Access this resource at:
The Factor Game
Content Provider
Illuminations
Illuminations is a project designed by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) and supported by the Verizon Foundation. NCTM serves as a content partner for Thinkfinity, the Verizon Foundation's free online professional learning community, where Illuminations is the primary contributor of resources for teaching and learning mathematics for grades pre-K—12. Connect and collaborate with over 70,000 educators though Thinkfinity! Share resources, join discussions and participate in special interest groups.
