Pokémon Go is all the rage for my upper elementary students. I am thinking I should definitely harness their energy and use it for teaching some fun math skills.
Here are some ideas I’m thinking about:
- Each student can calculate how far they walk. Maybe I can show them a map of our neighborhood and we can measure it out.
- Students can gather GPS points along the way as they find Pokémons characters. Here is an easy site they can use: http://www.gps-coordinates.net/. They can find and record the GPS coordinates here.
- Have students estimate the amount of steps they take. Can they figure out how many calories they burn?
- Have your students calculate how much time they spend playing the game. They can also make a pie chart reflecting an average day, including sleeping, going to school, eating, homework, etc.
- Calculate fractions, percents, or ratios based on how many pokémons they see on a mile walk.
- Use some basic math skills to figure out how many more they need to get to the next level.
- Have students calculate how long it takes them to walk a mile. Have them plan a route and figure out how long it would take to walk it. Can they convert the kilometers to miles? They need to figure that out to incubate eggs.
- Students can graph the dates they collect the most Pokéballs. Can they think why? They can create spreadsheets to show the number of PokéSpots, PokéBalls, and Pokémon captured.
I also created this fun math activity for students to map a route, using coordinates or scale:
