Tristan Arrington, sixth-grade math teacher at Three Lakes Middle School, helps students work through a problem Friday.

A Three Lakes Middle School math classroom was transformed into a hospital operating room Friday — complete with students wearing surgical hats and gloves — as a way to help them apply what they’ve learned.

Tristan Arrington, a sixth-grade math teacher at the Tyler school, said her students just learned the order of operations. She took a play on words and transformed her room into an operating space for the hands-on lesson.

Students had to solve numerous problems, beginning with easier ones and increasingly becoming more difficult, Arrington said. Each time they got an answer right, they got to play one round of the game Operation.

Each problem solved represented a different surgery or injury, she said.

Students Khloe Jester and Addi Sizemore, both 11, said they were excited to walk into their classroom and see it transformed.

Addi said math is one of her favorite subjects, and added that getting to do activities with it makes it even better.

Both girls said applying math methods in fun ways helps them learn better. One of their favorite parts of the lesson was getting to play a round of Operation each time they got an answer correct.

“I like working out problems and really just finding the answers to things, and I want to be a doctor whenever I grow up, so this is really fun,” Khloe said.

Arrington said the first time she transformed her classroom into an operating room was with a partner teacher when she taught fifth grade at Jack Elementary School. She said she wanted to bring the idea with her to middle school and “liven it up a little bit.”

When it comes to learning new concepts and retaining information, Arrington said she believes it is important to add some fun into it. This allows students to get a better grasp on the mathematical concept and enjoy doing it.

“If kids have buy-in … they’re going to be more willing to learn from you and realize that learning can be difficult, but you can have fun with it, and you can still grow as a student,” she said.

Arrington said three classes got to participate in the special activity.