More Board Game Education by Jeffrey P. Hinebaugh

Author:Jeffrey P. Hinebaugh
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Variations

The core educational skills developed by playing Othello in the traditional way are hard to improve on, especially when it comes to math, problem-solving and reasoning. However, a few easy and fun variations to the game provide for a focus on the development of problem-solving, math, language arts, social science, and communication skills.

One of the simplest variations of Othello is to alter the starting positions of the pieces or by “handicapping” a game by giving one player all or some of the corner squares. Players will learn that by altering the starting position of the pieces, even slightly, strategies that have worked in the past are no longer effective. As such, players will need to problem-solve and think through new strategies to adapt to the new playing conditions. This variation will not only develop and enhance problem-solving skills but will also require players to think creatively about how to accomplish their goals in new environments.

A similar result can be achieved by altering the game board. Instead of an 8 by 8 board, sketch out a 4 by 4 board or even a 10 by 10 board. Again, the change in the playing environment will require players to rethink strategy and, by trial and error, will develop problem-solving skills and creativity.

While the math skills developed inherently with the play of Othello are very solid, another small tweak to discs used in Othello allow for players to focus on a variety of computation skills. Using small round labels, or even just pieces of masking tape, put a number on both sides of each disc. Before a player can flip a row of his opponent’s discs, he must add/subtract/multiply the numbers on the discs to be flipped. By putting the same negative number on the other side of the disc, computation skills using negative numbers can be taught. It is amazing how quickly students will learn to compute multiple number sets involving both positive and negative numbers; especially if it means a win!

The discs in Othello can similarly be modified to vary the game play to focus on the development of language arts skills and, specifically, grammar, spelling, and reading. One of the easier variations is to put letters on each disc and then have players look for opportunities to not only flip their opponent’s discs, but to also spell out words. A scrabble type of scoring can be maintained for words spelled out providing for two games in one.

A variation that uniquely applies to Othello takes advantage of the constant flipping of discs. By using labels on each side of the disc write out words that are opposites or antonyms. For example, one side of the disc says “hot” while the other side says “cold.” Before a player can flip a disc, they must correctly identify the antonym or opposite word on the other side. This is a great head start for acing the nasty grammar questions on the college board exams!

The Othello discs can also be used for developing early reading skills with sight words by placing simple, short sight words on the front and back of each disc.

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