Designing and Testing a Mathematics Card Game for Teaching and Learning Elementary Group Theory

Abstract

This paper explores the viability and development of the first edition of the researcher’s mathematical card game, Groups, as a learning tool for elementary group theory, a topic in abstract algebra. Groups was play-tested by six undergraduate students in late 2016 who provided feedback on Groups from both utility-centric and design-centric perspectives. This paper addresses how well undergraduates with no prior group theory experience understand the fundamentals of group theory after playing several games of Groups, and how well undergraduates with prior knowledge of group theory related the Groups game play and mechanics to the fundamentals of group theory. Based on interview and questionnaire data, players found Groups to be an engaging and effective learning tool with both strengths and weaknesses in the tested iteration.