Rogo develops skills including number recognition, adding, counting, problem solving, geometry, route-finding and persistence, and is fun for all ages. Rogo puzzles can be adapted to teach specific number facts and there are multiple imaginative ways to use them.
Educational background of Dr Rogo and Rogowiz
Dr Rogo (Dr Nicola Ward Petty) is a qualified high school math teacher, and currently lectures at the University of Canterbury in Operations Research and Statistical Methods. She is known for her creative approaches and enthusiastic style. Her You-Tube videos about statistics receive over 300 hits a day. She was one of the first recipients of a university teaching award at the University of Canterbury in 2002.
Shane Dye (Rogowiz) is the brain behind the solution method and can give insights into the mathematics behind Rogo. He is also an accomplished teacher and conducts enrichment activities for school age pupils introducing them to some of the mathematics of Operations Research.
Success stories
- The first testing of Rogo puzzles was on a class of year 8 (age 12- 13 years )pupils from St Joseph’s School, Christchurch. They found the puzzles fun and challenging, which encouraged further development.
- A teacher from Westport bought a set of puzzle books at the Arts Centre in Christchurch, used them with her year 10 class (age 14-15), and came back the following weekend for a second set for a colleague. The students had been highly motivated to take part, thus developing number skills.
- An educational project in Rotorua, NZ, works with fathers of primary aged children in at-risk families, helping them to be engaged in their children’s education. The fathers especially responded to the Rogo puzzles as they were able to shine in them and impress the children, as their often limited literacy skills were not needed, and their problem-solving and adding skills were superior.
Tips for teaching
An early blog post gave many good ideas for using Rogo puzzles in the classroom.
Future Projects
Creative Heuristics are developing a CD of Rogo puzzles suitable for classroom use. They plan to attend the AAMT/MERGA combined conference in Alice Springs in July 2011 as a Trade Display, and run a workshop with teachers, developing more innovative ways that Rogo can help teach skills in a fun way in a math classroom.
Copying for educational purposes
Copying for personal or educational use is permitted. All other use of the Rogo ® game or format without written permission from Creative heuristics Ltd infringes copyright.
