Students may have great difficulties in mathematics, particularly in the content of integers. Several studies demonstrate how games help in building knowledge. In this work we explore procedures used to perform the operations of counting points in a game. 34 students from the 7th and 9th years of elementary school took part of the research. They played two rounds of three games against opponents from the same grade. The data were classified into a) point-counting procedures and b) correct and incorrect counting. The results show an association between the simpler procedures with the 7th year and more complex procedures with the 9th grade. However, participants told incorrectly points in most games. Thus, despite the association between higher educational level and more complex strategies, they have not determined the correct count in the game. This reveals the difficulty in performing and understanding of the operations evaluated.
Games; mathematics education; elementary education
