Overview and Background

Introduction

I originally created this for a project to decide who goes first. This can be useful for that sort of purpose. You can use this for activities or as practice. Not every side may be appropriate for every grade level grade level. You may have to explain what each side means (exponents = repeated multiplication, Modulo = remainder).

Lesson Plan and Activity

Activity A

1) Post 2 numbers on the board or a place where students can see. These numbers can be decided by a pseudorandom number generator, by dice throws, or by drawing cards / sticks. For older groups, you can choose to use negative numbers.
2) Have students roll the Operations Dice to find which operation they will be doing. Some operations may need explanation.
3) Have students calculate the answer. Choose a way to manage the numbers in the case that the number has more than a manageable number of decimal places (ex. truncation, rounding, bar notation, keep as is, fractions...).

Activity B

1) Obtain a game that can be played in less than 10 minutes (ex. tic - tac - toe).
2) Have students roll 2 regular, 6 - sided dice and the Operations Dice.
3) Have students calculate based on the instructions for Activity A.
4) The person with the larger number goes first.

Materials Needed

Activity A

Operations Dice (1 per student)
Method of getting numbers

Activity B

6 sided dice (2 per group)
Operations Dice (1 per group)
Short game (1 game per group)

Mathematical Operations Dice