The game's name, ³Damath comes from the popular board game ³dama and ³mathematics. It was invented by Jesus L. Huenda, a teacher in Sorsogon, who had encountered problems in teaching math using traditional teaching methods. Inspired in part by an investigatory project called ³Dama de Numero submitted by a student in 1975, Huenda overhauled the game and introduced it to his class, who enjoyed playing. ´
´
´
´
Damath grew in popularity so that by 1980, the first Damath tournament was held in Sorsogon. The next year, Huenda received a gold medallion from the late President Ferdinand Marcos for his contributions in the field of teaching mathematics. The game reached its peak popularity in the 1990s, when it made the rounds of several mathematics education conventions all over the world such as the 10th Conference of the Mathematical Association of Western Australia (MAWA), the UNESCO-ICT4E conference in Thailand, the SEAMEO RECSAM/SEAMEC conference in Malaysia, and the APEC Learning Community Builders (ALCoB) conference in Korea.
About Damath As a public high school teacher in Sorsogon, Huenda always thinks of ways to optimize his talents to help others. This describes best this ordinary teacher who was cited by no less than the President of the Republic for his out-of-the-box ³contribution in terms of innovative approaches in teaching and learning mathematics . ´
Damath is becoming a growing classroom practice in many school subjects, including mathematics, to use games to promote the understanding of concepts and skills. This practice is supported by child psychologist Piaget and Inhelder (1969) and Kohlberg (1969) who are convinced that affective, cognitive, and social development strongly influence one another and develop along parallel lines. There are data to support this statement. Thus, the use of socially interactive mathematical games in learning and t eaching mathematics is credible.
Objectives of Damath: 1. To integrate the Filipino checkerboard game of dama into the teaching of mathematical concepts and skills. 2. To encourage the utilization of recycled materials in constructing damath board set (for classroom use only). 3. To analyze damath as a possible subject of mathematical investigations. 4. To enhance wholesome interpersonal relations among learners. 5. To promote mathematical consciousness among, family members in particular and the community in general through the mathematics club¶s community outreach damath competitions. 6. To promote awareness of girls in mathematics.
According to Huenda, this is how damath works: ³I integrate some math concepts and numeracy skills in the indigenous boardgame of dama. In the 32 white squares (the other 32 alternately arranged squares are colored green) of the 8×8-square damath playing board, I put the symbols of mathematical operations like addition (+), subtraction (-), multiplication (×) and division (÷). The 12 damath chips for each player are divided into two sets (blue and red chips): those with zero, and even numbers with positive sign (+); while odd numbers have negative (-) sign. The two players try to capture chips by adapting the existing dama rules to numeracy skills which result to higher positive points, while evading those with lower negative points. When the learners play damath, they aim to get higher point over the opponent. ´
Capturing the opponent¶s dama chips is strategically planned such that a player would target a chip representing high number. The game becomes a combination of strategic higher order thinking skills and basic mathematical operations. This strategy in teaching and learning math with Understanding by Design (UbD) framework has helped students look at Mathematics as a subject not so difficult to learn. ³Unknowingly, the players are using the mathematical fundamentals when they play damath , Mr. Huenda explained. ³Those who used to dislike math is actually learning how to use math when he/she plays the boardgame and in the process learn the subject, he added. ´
´
Aside from ³damath , Mr. Huenda has also developed the ³pierdi-gana boardgame. He calls this boardgame ³scidama . This is the opposite of damath in the sense that the players¶ main target is to have their dama chips consumed by their opponent in order to win. Scidama is focused on bringing about environmental consciousness among the school children. ´
´
´
Literally, pierd i-g ana means to let go by disposing water, fuel and energy consumption that contribute to global warming and climate change. The main objective of the players in scidama is to divest themselves of extravagant consumptions that can lead to environmental degradation. Here, the scidama chips represent kilowatt hours of electricity used, cubic meters of water consumed, liters of oil consumed, and cooking gas used among others. The players strategize in such a way that they will have to reduce their consumption of these resources and in the process help in arresting global warming and climate change. ³The less you consume resources, the less you contribute to the destruction of the environment. This is what we want to instill in the minds of our learners, Huenda pointed out. ´
In the scidama, the player¶s main objective is to have his/her dama chips be captured by the opponent in order to win. The player who first has his/her chips decimated by the opponent wins the game. This means that the winner is able to divest himself/herself of these resources and does not use them unnecessarily. ³Kabaliktaran ng damath ang scidama kasi ito ay pierdi-gana o ubusan ng chips. Dapat maubos ang chips mo para manalo. In other words, I have to dispose off my expenses in water, electricity, oil and others so that I will not contribute to global warming and climate change. Kung malaki konsumo ko, I will contribute to the destruction of the environment. Gagawa ka ng plano na pagkatapos ng laro konti lang konsumo mo at ibibigay mo ang dapat mong konsumo sa kalaban mo upang hindi ka makasali sa paglubha ng kapaligiran , Huenda added. ´
Another collaborative innovation which Huenda did in cooperation with some Computer Science students is the ³eDamath which uses digital technology in playing damath against the computer itself. The damath computer game helps develop the strategic and analytical thinking skills of the students. Similarly, when two players are interconnected in their computers through the Local Area Network, they can play damath in a remote platform and the computer becomes the arbiter or scorer. ´
Playing the electronic damath is also a contest on who gets the higher positive score which entails the use of the fundamental operations in math. ³When students play the game, they tend to have deeper consciousness on the intricacies of the game. They get to consider every step that they make and how this can contribute to winning the game. In the process they develop analytical thinking skills, Huenda explained. ´
And there is no stopping Huenda from inventing edutainment games that teach students the basics in living such as entrepreneurship. Thus he came up with ³Entrepinoy damath, a business venture game. ´
Here, the fundamental operations of math and basic accounting are also used in the board game including debit and credit, simple bookkeeping, balance sheet and the like. The first set of damath chips represent rent, taxes, salaries, bonuses, discounts, cost price, and other operating expenses. The other half represents income like selling price, profit, savings, real property, building, equipment, etc.
The game is played with the damath chips properly labeled: business expenses on one hand and business income on the other hand. The game is won by the one who has captured more chips representing incomes rather than expenses. ³With this learning for understanding approach, the learners are honed on strategic business models like the efficiency of incurring less cost in order to have more income. The learners also become conscious of effectively running a business venture, Huenda explained. ´
But in business as in life, the learners still have to be trained on values and ethics. So he came up with ³Damath de honor . Here the damath pieces represent positive and negative Filipino ways including interpersonal relation, consumer protection, anti-corruption and red-tape practices. ´
³Ipapakain mo ang negative values at makakaipon ka ng positive values. Dapat walang greed na siyang dahilan ng corruption at illegal business transaction, he emphasized. ´
³Have you heard of damath on health and nutrition, People Power EDSA revolution, EnglishFilipino-Korean vocabulary-building? Or damath with three players? This is just the tip of the iceberg , Huenda shared. ´
Huenda remains a very active staff at the DepEd Central Office. Although he is a superintendenteligible, Huenda opted to focus on educational technology innovations that will make a difference in basic education. The beneficiaries, no doubt, are the young school children who never imagined that the lowly boardgame of dama would ever play a significant role in their learning of life¶s lessons.
Rules of the game y
St ar t in g the g ame
y
Each player will choose a side on the first move coin and a toss will be made. The player with the chosen side on the top of the coin will have the first move. Write ³first move on the Damath score sheet opposite the player who is granted the first move. ´
Moves - ³Touch move applies in Damath, the player should move the chip he/she has touches unless that chip cannot be moved. - All moves must be logged in the Damath score sheet. Each move types have instructions on how to log that move in the Damath score sheet. - Move Types: a. Normal move- this is the most common move, this is moving the chip forward diagonally. First moves are always like this. No score and total is made in this made. ´
Score sheet: Player
Move 9(c,4)
A: Score Sheet Score
Total
The Letter ³c is from the letter label on the bottom of the board corresponding to the square. This number ³4¶ from the number label on the left side of the board corresponding to the square. ´
b. Take chip move (normal mode)- this move is done when a player takes the opportunity to take his/her opponent¶s chip and score a point/s. An additional or minus points can be made through this move based on the score that this moves generates. Unlike the Normal move the direction of this move can either be forward or backward diagonal. If it is possible, this move can be chained. Each take chip move should be logged separately on the Damath score sheet. Score sheet: Player
Move 9(c,4) 9X6
A: Score Sheet Score 54
Total 54
The letter and the square is not logged anymore, instead the math operation that the moves makes is logged. The first number is the chip that you will move, the operation in the middle is from the operator where the chip that you moved will land to. Then, the result of the operation is logged on the score column. If there is no total before the move the result of the operation is logged on the total column. If there is, sum of the previous and the current total is logged on the total column. c. Take chip move (dama-mode)- this move is done when a player takes the opportunity to take his/her opponent¶s chip and score a point/s using a chip which is in dama-mode. How to change a chip to a Dama-mode: In each chip, there is an opposite side which bears the same number but with additional text: ³Dama-mode . A player can change his/her chips into dama-mode ´
when it has reached the home squares of the opponent, these are the squares closest to the player. Once a chip is in ³Dama-mode it can move diagonally forwards and backwards as far as it can go as long as there is no opponent chip blocking it. Every score is multiplied by 2. An additional of minus points can be made through this move based on the score that this moves generates. If it possible, this move can be chained. ´
Score sheet: Player
Move 9+3
A: Score Sheet Score 24
Total 24
The letter and the square is not logged anymore, instead the math operation that the moves makes is logged. The first number is the chip that you will move, the operation in the middle is from the operator where the chip that you moved will land to. Then, the result is of the operation, multiplied by 2, is logged on the score column. y
The game end when« A player has taken all of the chips of his/her opponents. When this happens, the player with the greater accumulated total score wins the game.
