STAR COMMUNITY
Blackburn maths teacher puts his best foot forward to help pupils A teacher at Tauheedul Islam Boys’ High School (TIBHS) is helping to improve pupils’ mathematical ability thanks to the power of the popular football computer game, FIFA. Sheikh Iqbal, who has worked as a maths teacher at the school since 2015, took up gaming to help him relax after a busy day at work. Iqbal’s talent for FIFA meant that he was soon offered a contract as a pro gamer for his beloved Burnley Football Club. The contract led to him competing in the FIFA ePremier League tournaments and manning the matchday GAME zone, a special area where young fans are able to play FIFA, at Burnley’s Turf Moor stadium. But for Sheikh, it’s not all just fun and games. The popular teacher from Blackburn revealed that FIFA has helped him bring maths to life in the classroom. Sheikh explained how he uses familiar concepts that pupils access through the game to teach taxes, interest rates, percentages, trends and ratios. For example, in FIFA, when you buy a player, you pay in coins, you’re taxed and you follow fluctuating trends to buy at the best price. Sheikh uses this information to ask questions such as: “If I bought this player for 50,000 coins and sold him for 60,000, reduced by 5% because of tax, how much did I make from the sale?” Or he might ask: “The digital pitch is 1,000 times smaller than a stadium one, so what size is a real pitch?’” Using something familiar means that pupils are much more likely to be engaged in their learning and readily ask and answer questions. Sheikh also described how playing the game helps make him relatable to pupils and helps to encourage pupils to pursue their own goals. Gaming, he says, can often be treated as a negative pastime by parents but, when used in a balanced way, it can be beneficial to pupils who need to wind down after an intense period of study. Pupil and staff wellbeing is of paramount importance for Star schools. Sheikh has found that encouraging pupils to find something they enjoy, like gaming, can be a great method for reducing stress and passing exams.
SUMMER 2021 ISSUE 06
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