Math is one of those subjects that is poorly understood and the most boring subject for kids.
Many kids struggle with math, but to some it’s extremely difficult. These may be otherwise bright students who have a keen sense of logic and reasoning but still underperform on homework, tests, and quizzes; which may lead to demotivation and a belief that he or she is not “intelligent” or simply cannot be good at math.
But, what leads to these learning issues? Is it low motivation caused by math anxiety? Poor understanding of how to apply and perform mathematical operations? A learning difference or a motor skills difficulty like dyscalculia, dyslexia, dysgraphia? Or lack of basic foundational skills?
Having basic math skills is of outmost important, regardless of the career an individual chooses to pursue. Therefore, both the parents and the teachers, from a student’s early age, need to work on them and identify the key issues.
However, at present, dealing with their learning and understanding has become easier as compared to the time when students themselves didn’t know what’s making them lag behind nor were teachers aware of several teaching techniques, strategies and technologies. Today, they are here; also there are a number of applications that students in this digital era can have easy access to. MathTango – one of them.
MathTango
MathTango developed by Originator is a groundbreaking app that makes learning addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division truly fun and easy for kids aged 5-10!
The app makes it easy for kids to learn more and more rapidly with a unique, classroom-tested combination of math puzzles (incorporating modern techniques that make math easier and more intuitive) and classic “world-building” activities found in games. Math Tango is structured around two worlds (Island and Star base). Each one of them involves an ever growing number of missions that must be completed to earn unique characters and dozens of in-game items to customize the worlds. And the app works in offline mode too.
Compatible Platform:
This tool is compatible with: iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad.
Walk through:
To learn while playing with MathTango, at first, kids need to sign up to get their account created. The second step is getting a lesson plan i.e. set in accordance to the kids learning level. The app also offer customized lesson plans according to the learner’s need. (Image Below)
When you start your very first lesson, the app introduces you with an introductory audio from "long lost Uncle Fibonacci," and then tap on the gems to get their monster character. The app has monster character to make the learning motivating, interesting and fun. (Img)
Moving on, to collect more gems after the first, they have to complete math-based puzzles. Continue to follow the audio- and visual-based instructions to complete the puzzles, which require some basic addition and subtraction skills. (Img below)
As players complete more puzzles, they earn "doubloon" and "health" bonuses. Then through the earned monster they can buy things to enhance the island. Tap on items to purchase them, and tap and hold monsters to move them; watch the cute monster jump on the trampoline and do other activities. When mission is accomplished, they can move on to their next mission with another monster and so on. Through gamification, they can have great fun and learn in the real-time.
Video Support:
Pricing structure:
Free seven-day trial version, then charges $5.99/month, $39.99/year. The app grants access to multiple user profiles on a single device.
Usability:
Math Tango gives access to 500+ addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division puzzles covering 40+ math levels and reviews, followed by a free play mode with more math puzzles for lesson reinforcement and advanced play. The addition and subtraction lessons comprise 9 unique puzzle types that cover: numbers and counting, adding single digit numbers; adding doubles; adding near doubles; making 10 to add 9; subtracting single digit numbers, and subtracting single digit numbers from double digit numbers. The multiplication and division lessons consist of 7 different puzzle types that cover multiplying with factors of 0 through 10 and dividing by 1 through 10. And the best thing about the app is that it works offline too.
In our opinion, MathTango is an ideal combination of straightforward math practice with straight-up cuteness and fun. There are possibilities when kids may often become bored with multiple math drills, but MathTango turns repetitive practice into a challenge as kids work to get more monsters, decorate an island or star base, and level up. The higher they go, more challenging it becomes! On the flipside, at some levels kids may take a longer time than usual to complete that can be frustrating or boring. And the limited mechanics of moving the blocks might also add to their frustration; it would be great to have more freedom of placement. Also, not all kids can have an IOS device to get access to this wonderful app.
