Introduction:
Damath comes from the Pinoys checker board game called “dama” and Mathematics. It blends local culture, education and digital technology that aim to make math teaching and learning child-friendly, challenging and interactive. DAMATH, a patent-pending mathematical board-game invented by five-time national awardees Jesus L. Huenda, is coined from the popular Filipino checkerboard game of dama, (or lady in Spanish) and mathematics.
It started in a Sorsogon National High School class in Sorsogon, Philippines and its popularity spread quickly and resulted in the first national DAMATH competitions held at Legaspi City in 1980. He initiated this competition with the support of the Science Foundation of the Philippines. He hopes to introduce DAMATH to secondary math teachers as part of a requirement of his work as PASMEP Fellow at Curtin University / WACAE, Western Australia.
Why DAMATH?
Because in its unique way, Damath board game ushers the Filipino school kids into the new millennium by equipping them with competitive life-long learning for understanding and ICT-fluency skills.
When school children play Damath board game they also learn to explore, firm-up, deepen, and transfer to daily tasks the concepts of real numbers and its properties and operations.
Moreover, it stimulates the children’s capability to think deeper through creative math storytelling, flowchart, concept map, tree diagram, picture riddle, haiku, cryptogram, secret code decoding, simulation, role playing, jingle or rap composing, reflection journal writing, and problem solving. This game is enjoyable and you can learn fast about computing and applying the different operations in Mathematics.
Objectives of the game “DAMATH”
i. To integrate the Filipino checkerboard game of dama into the teaching of mathematical concepts and skills. ii. To encourage the utilization of recycled materials in constructing Damath board set (for classroom use only). iii. To analyze Damath