Free Learning Games for Rwandan Students: What Each Game Teaches

Open Math Sprint, choose the S1+ level, and you may get this question: 3 + 4 × 5. There are four buttons: 23, 35, 12 and 17.

The three wrong answers are not random. 35 is what you get by working left to right (3 + 4 = 7, then 7 × 5). 12 adds all three numbers. 17 multiplies the wrong pair (3 × 4 + 5). The left-to-right answer is built into every order-of-operations question at this level, so a student who hasn't learnt "multiply before you add" meets their own mistake on the screen.

Tap 35 and the game says "The answer is 23", then shows the method: "Multiply first: 4 × 5 = 20, then add 3 → 23. (BODMAS)". The round clock stops while the explanation is up, and the game waits until you tap Next question. Reading why you were wrong costs you no points.

That is the idea behind the quiz games on Ganzaa's games page: a wrong answer should teach you something. Below is every game in the hub, which ones need an account, how to play a friend live, and how to make a few rounds count.

All 15 games at a glance

The hub lists 15 free games that run in the browser on a phone, tablet or computer. The class labels are the hub's own: a starting point, not a rule.

Some levels have their own page to bookmark: the times tables game, the order of operations game, sudoku for beginners and the Rwanda districts map.

Which games need an account?

You can play 14 of the 15 without signing in. A guest's score can still go on the leaderboard: some games save it under a made-up name such as "Witty Wolf" until you type your own, and others ask for a name when the round ends. A free account keeps your scores together.

The exceptions are the ways of playing against other people:

• Checkers needs a free account for every way of playing, even against the computer. Anyone can read the rules and the leaderboard without signing in.
• Igisoro needs no account against the computer or with a friend on the same screen. Playing online needs one.
• Quiz Duel, the live mode of the quiz games, needs one too. If you are signed out, a sign-in box opens and the duel starts once you are in.

Parents: leaderboards are public. My advice is to use a first name or a nickname there, never a full name.

How to play a friend online

Checkers, Igisoro and the quiz games can all be played live, each player on their own phone or computer.

Checkers and Igisoro

1. Open Checkers or Igisoro and sign in.
2. Under "Who do you want to play?", choose Someone online.
3. Tap Invite a friend. The next screen says "Send this code to your friend" and shows a six-character code, with buttons to send it on WhatsApp or copy the link.
4. Your friend opens the link, or types the code into the Got a code? box on the same game's page and taps Join. The game starts by itself when they join.

Or tap Find a player to be paired with someone else who is looking for a game. In Checkers, that is someone who chose the same rules. If nobody is looking, the search gives up after 2 minutes. Once a game starts, each player has 3 minutes for each move. With a friend you invited, you can type messages to each other. With a player you don't know, you can only send ready-made ones such as "Good luck!" and "Good game!".

Quiz Duel

Seven quiz games have a Duel a friend box on their page: Math Sprint, Colour Match, Flag Sprint, Capital Quest, Science Lab, Time Traveller and every Picture Words topic. Choose a level, then Find a player, Invite a friend, or type a friend's code. You both get the same 10 questions, with 15 seconds for each. A right answer scores 100 points plus up to 100 more for speed. It is a race, so nobody waits for the other between questions.

Igisoro in one paragraph

Rwanda's Ministry of Local Government calls igisoro "Rwanda's traditional board game". Ganzaa's version has four rows of eight pits, and each player starts with 32 seeds. You sow seeds round your own two rows and capture from the pits that face yours, so every move starts with counting: where will the last seed land? You can play the computer at five levels, from Beginner to Master, or a friend on the same screen, with no account. The full rules, and the version Ganzaa plays, are on the Igisoro page.

Turning a game into practice

Is a game a good use of study time? One large piece of evidence is a 2016 meta-analysis by Clark, Tanner-Smith and Killingsworth in the Review of Educational Research. It pooled studies of digital games and learning for students from kindergarten to university (K–16). Three findings matter here.

• Games helped, on average, by a modest amount. Compared with groups that learnt without a game, the authors found that "digital games significantly enhanced student learning relative to nongame conditions", with an average effect size of 0.33. That is an average over many games, not a promise about any one.
• More than one session made the difference. Games played in a single session showed almost no effect (0.08). Games played over several sessions showed a clear one (0.44). The total minutes played showed no clear link with the size of the effect.
• Teacher support helped. Competing as individuals did not. The effect was larger when a teacher gave the support than in games that only showed success, failure or points, though few studies had teacher support. Of the ways players were grouped, single players with no competition were the only group with a clear gain, though the other groups had few studies. The authors suggest that "competitive single-player structures may be least effective".

My advice, with that in mind:

1. Pick the level for your class, not the easy one. A P5 pupil should start Math Sprint at P4–P5, not P1–P3.
2. Read every explanation. The quiz games stop the clock while it is on screen, so reading is free.
3. Write down what you missed. One line each, such as "56 ÷ 7 = 8, because 7 × 8 = 56". Read the list before your next round.
4. Play short rounds on different days. Two or three rounds a day across a week, rather than one long evening.
5. Move up on stars. In the quiz games, three stars means you got at least 90% of the round's questions right. When you get three stars on two different days, try the next level.
6. Keep duels as the reward. A duel with a friend is fun after practice. For the practice itself, play the levels on your own.

Teachers: Math Sprint makes new questions every round, so a whole class can play at once without everyone getting the same sums. Given the finding on teacher support, I would start with one question on the board: ask the class why 35 is a tempting answer to 3 + 4 × 5, then let them play.

Next step

Open the games page and pick one game for your class. For maths, start Math Sprint at your level. For geography, try the Rwanda districts map. Play one round today, read every explanation, and play again tomorrow.