While I was surfing the web, I came across a math lesson plan which explains what the mode of a set of data is. Using that lesson and a recent posted blog as my inspiration, I decided to create this math game called, “Whack A Mode” and it is shown in the video below.
The mode is the number or thing that occurs the most in a set of data. This game highlights the concept of the mode by making obvious the number which repeats the most. The data, Numbers 1 through 5, pop up one at the time, as shown in the video. The player acknowledges a number by whacking it down, right after that number goes down a random number, from 1 through 5, will come up again. This continues to happen until the game stops (normally it lasts less than 1 minute). The player keeps track of how many times each number has come up. If the player can identify correctly the number that appears the most, he or she wins and the number identified is called the mode. In the video, the number “5” is the mode.
Other parts of the lesson that can be applied to this game are the facts that the mode can be represented by more than one number and/or that the mode may not exist in a given set of data.
I received great feedback from my friends who played the game with me. For the most part the liked the game, but wished the game was faster.