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Bridge and the enjoyment of maths?

Students are not fooled for very long that bridge involves mental arithmetic and percentage probability. This starts almost immediately with Mini Bridge. By the third or fourth session if you ask them "Is bridge maths?", the most frequent response is "Yes, but it is fun maths!".

There was a special group of year 6 students who were performing below the level expected of them which took the introductory Mini Bridge as an advised after-school activity. All of them achieved top passes in their SATS exam. The boys appeared to change their resistance to maths as a result of the revelation that maths could be fun. The girls by and large seemed to develop confidence in their own ability when they realised, in the relaxed atmosphere of a fun activity, they could perform the required mathematical processes.