I Use Pokémon GO to Teach Math at College

Math is not everyone's favorite subject—it can be frustrating and tedious when equations seem to come from thin air and concepts lack proper context.

A great solution to this problem would be a class that could put these concepts into a context that was fun and exciting for students. Such a class was the goal of Dr. Colleen Mitchell, associate professor of mathematics at the University of Iowa.

She discovered the answer in her pocket: Pokémon GO. Dr. Mitchell had been playing the game for a long time and knew just how fun and interesting it was. She began developing PokéMath: the Mathematics of Pokémon GO.

I was in my first year as a math graduate student at the University of Iowa when I heard about Dr. Mitchell's class. It was already the second year the class was offered. Being a huge fan of Pokémon, I was extremely excited about the idea! I contacted Dr. Mitchell right away to ask about the class, and she offered me the opportunity to assist in teaching the class. And in 2023, Dr. Mitchell invited me to take over as the primary instructor.

Now in my second year as the course's instructor, I've learned a lot about how games like Pokémon GO can help us find fun and excitement in learning.

The game instantly drew worldwide attention by allowing people to catch Pokémon in the real world. Players walk around their community playing Pokémon GO to find various Pokémon, resources, and challenges based on their location.

PokéMath, the Mathematics of Pokémon GO, is now a one-semester math course at the University of Iowa, offered in spring, that covers foundational math concepts.

The course is focused on keeping students engaged with the material by offering a hands-on context in which they can apply their learning requiring only a mobile device. It is free to download and is full of great opportunities to apply to learning.

While attempting to catch various Pokémon, players find that keeping track of them all can be a huge undertaking, particularly for those who are trying to catch them all. To help with this, the class begins with an introduction to set theory.

Students learn how to combine, intersect, and exclude various characteristics to sort through hundreds of Pokémon. After learning to organize and classify large groups, the class moves on to functions, which can help students understand the statistics of a specific Pokémon, as well as how they might perform during various challenges and battles in the game.

The second unit of PokéMath focuses on probability. Anyone who has played Pokémon GO knows that the game is full of random events: when Pokémon appear, how powerful they are, whether or not a player can catch them, and, most importantly, whether or not a Pokémon is a rare variant.

PokéMath studies these probabilities and helps students benefit from the assorted bonuses the game provides. Lastly, the students learn about rates of change, specifically, how a Pokémon's health changes over the course of a battle. Battling is serious business in the Pokémon world, so students study very carefully!

The class is project-based, rather than exam-based, which helps ease anxiety and encourage students' curiosity. An entire day of the class each week is devoted to working with partners on various problems and puzzles involving Pokémon GO, which students said helped them make friends, ask questions, recognize their mistakes, and build community.

When the course first appeared on the University's catalog in Spring 2021, many students could not believe it. "When my advisor first told me about the class, I did a double take, as I wasn't sure if he was joking or not. Once I realized it was real I immediately wanted to sign up for the class, it just sounded fun," said Ben Neighbor, a University of Iowa student, when asked about his reaction to the class.

Most math classes do not advertise context over content, and even fewer are based on a mobile game that students are already familiar with. The course enrollment filled quickly, and it was so popular a large waitlist formed for students hoping to get in despite full enrollment.

Students reported that after learning how to dig into the math of Pokémon GO, they were able to go out into the world and appreciate the math in other areas of their life. Elana Walters said, "Everything we do has some mathematical concept and it's been fun to see how I can apply those ideas through playing a game." All in all, I couldn't be happier about the effect that PokéMath has had on my students' lives.

What started as an idea to make math more approachable has quickly become a unique experience that helps students learn and grow. My hope is that PokéMath can continue to offer a safe space for students to explore math, be curious, and make mistakes. For the students who have taken or will take PokéMath, I want what every teacher wants: for them to walk out of class knowing that with careful study, and hard work they can be their very best.

Kitrick Fynaardt is a University of Iowa instructor teaching PokéMath: the Mathematics of Pokémon GO. He is also a graduate student in the University's Math department, and a part-time teaching assistant. His research focuses on delay differential equations and on modeling physical processes. Kitrick can be contacted at kitrick-fynaardt@uiowa.edu.

All views expressed in this article are the authors' own.

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