Device: iPad Grade Levels: Elementary through Middle School Cost: $3.99 A recent math app release that caught my eye for younger students trying to understand the number line and place value is Motion Math Zoom. This app is simple in its design but works on a lot of levels. The premise is simple enough to begin. You start with a number that has a frog sitting at each whole number location on the line.
Device: iPad Cost: $3.99 (but free until Oct. 31, 2011) Grades: 3rd-College From the maker of Geometer’s Sketchpad, Key Curriculum Press, comes a new geometry app, Sketchpad Explorer. If you’ve ever used Geometer’s Sketchpad, you’ll feel right at home on Sketchpad Explorer. To completely oversimplify, Geometer’s Sketchpad is a piece of software that allows you to do geometric constructions. Create a rectangle by defining four right angles, the drag the corner with the mouse, and you can see an infinite number of examples of rectangles.
Virtual Nerd is holding what they’re calling a boot camp, to help kids start of the school year right. The idea is that kids may have lost some of their math skills over the summer and by exercising those brains, students will get back into shape. It’s a five week program that starts with an assessment quiz to determine where the student’s current strengths and weakness are. You then get a 5 week program designed to help you improve your skills, complete with their Dynamic Whiteboard, videos, and practice problems.
In honor of the arrival of my iPad 2, Labor Day will mark the start of iPad App week here at Tech Powered Math. I’ll be reviewing a different math/education app each day for the week of September 5, so be sure to check in each day. If you haven’t subscribed yet, you can do so through the Facebook, Twitter, or RSS icons at the top of the screen. I’m going to try to get a mix of different levels from elementary school through high school, so I hope there will be something for everyone.
UPDATE: (9/1/11) I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t tough waiting for confirmation on this story. When I originally reported it all the ay back on April 17, I assumed I’d barely beat the rush of posts on other blogs and message boards. Instead, for the first couple of months, I was out there by myself, as there was no news whatsoever. Today, however, I’m pleased to say official confirmation has finally come from HP, pretty much exactly as I originally reported it, other than a delay on the timeline.
Casio is sending students back to school with a couple of cool contests on Facebook that offer the opportunity to win cool prizes, including the Casio Prizm graphing calculator. The first is the Casio Prizm Sweepstakes. Simply like this page on Facebook, and you’ll be entered to win. The winner gets a graphing calculator kit autographed by Mythbusters Kari Byron and Grant Imahara, most likely signed during their special appearance on behalf of the Prizm at the NCTM meeting in Indianapolis.
I know there are a lot of people doing their back to school shopping right now, and for many of you that includes a new computer. I just came across this deal that I wanted to pass along, which the best one I’ve seen so far this school year. The Microsoft Store is offering the Dell Inspire N4030 for $399. No word on how long this one will last, just that it’s a “limited time offer.
Buy Speak and Math on Ebay. After my look at Texas Instruments Little Professor a couple of weeks ago, I wanted to also give a shout out to another educational toy from my childhood, TI’s Speak and Math and Speak and Spell games. These games came a long a few years after the Little Professor, so they are a little more advanced, as you might expect. The most noteworthy differences between these games and the Little Professor are that they are much bigger and, as the name suggests, they speak to you.
Please buy your Nintendo 3DS on Amazon and get free shipping! Video games have been a popular way for parents to encourage kids to learn math for a couple of decades now. It’s easy to see why. Today’s kids don’t remember a time before even portable game systems, and it’s often hard to pry those systems out of their hands. The Nintendo DS seems to especially have especially caught on as a system for educational games.
While a number of news outlets have reported on Beau, the dog who can do math, the Missoulian is one of the few to have a complete story and video up (which is at the bottom of this article). The owner of Beau claims to have taught him how to do simple addition and subtraction as well as a few story problems and even scoring for some games. Beau just indicates his answers with barks.
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