Over the last ten months since I launched iPadApps4School.com I have reviewed a lot of mathematics apps that are appropriate for elementary school students. These are the ten that have been the most popular over the last ten months (based on total clicks and shares through social media).
Teaching math to elementary students is critical for establishing a foundation of success in mathematics. There is a need for some basic memorization of facts, because students who do not memorize arithmetic functions struggle in upper grades.
However, math must be fun and interesting, along with making connections with real-world applications.
Abstract: "This study examined the benefits and challenges associated with implementing
RtI [Response to Intervention] in the area of math
ematics in an elementary and a middle school in a rural
district in the northeastern United States. We sought to document the ways in
which two schools approached implementation of RtI and to explore the issues
they encountered with respect to instruction
, intervention, and assessment. Five
themes were identified that described implementation of the RtI framework:
Shifting roles and changing structures, increasing opportunities for collaboration
and communication, inc
reasing
instruction
al
an
d assessment su
pport for
students
who struggle in math, increasing knowledge of
support strategies for
learners who
struggle with math, and "spreading the word" and enhancing the use of the model.
The results of this study suggest that the RtI model has potential to impr
ove how
math instruction is approached in elementary and middle schools. "
"A research team led by Carnegie Mellon University's Robert Siegler has identified a major source of the gap -- U. S. students' inadequate knowledge of fractions and division. Although fractions and division are taught in elementary school, even many college students have poor knowledge of them. The research team found that fifth graders' understanding of fractions and division predicted high school students' knowledge of algebra and overall math achievement, even after statistically controlling for parents' education and income and for the children's own age, gender, I.Q., reading comprehension, working memory, and knowledge of whole number addition, subtraction and multiplication. Published in Psychological Science, the findings demonstrate an immediate need to improve teaching and learning of fractions and division."
Abstract:
This research paper has been designed to develop an online tutoring system for pre
-
K to middle
school Math students. The research methodology applied in this study has used both qualitative and
quantitative research methods in terms of external and internal Web or software metrics to obtain the
usable parameters to design an effective tutoring system to learn Math.
Today online hypermedia
applications are increasingly becoming more feature rich,
important and also the most popular means for
communication among school students for e
-
learning. This paper is divided into four parts: part 'I' presents
the introduction of
Kumon
based after school education; part 'II'
describes the
research
proposal
to
identify measures, model, and methodology to develop the Web
-
based online learning system for Pre
-
K to
middle school math students
; part 'III' elaborates the role of using static analysis, dynamic, and
comparative analysis
that can be applied to check the
characteristics and authenticity of data obtained for
each student separately; and finally part 'IV' investigates the
behaviour of online tutoring system
to find the
failure points and to calculate reliability aspects using
Web page trace algorithms and We
b page
replacement policies.
In this paper, an attempt has been made to systematically explain the state of the art
and their practices to design, analyze, and
test the functionality of
online learning systems for pre
-
K to
middle school Math students
Welcome to Math Playground, an action-packed site for elementary and middle school students. Practice your math skills, play a logic game and have some fun!
Math has always been easy for me but it wasn't until I started taking classes to get my teaching certificate that I came to truly love math. Both my mom and dad loved to play card and board games. They taught my sister and I many mathematical concepts while playing these games without even realizing it. Puzzles and patterns, statistics and probability were daily conversations.
Then came school. Math was nothing but numbers written on paper. Easy to do but very boring and seemingly unrelated to life. Breezing through each worksheet, page of math problem and even finishing the 7th grade math book mid-year, math became a hated subject to be put aside as quickly as possible.
I vowed that the day I graduated from high school would be the last day I ever took a math class. I succeeded in that goal all through college but when I wanted to get my Elementary Teaching Certificate the state of Vermont had other ideas. So I signed up for a summer class in teaching math.
"For the first time, scientists have identified the brain pathway that links a positive attitude toward maths to achievement in the subject.
In a study of elementary school students, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine found that having a positive attitude about maths was connected to the better function of the hippocampus, an important memory centre in the brain, during the performance of arithmetic problems.
The findings will be published online Jan. 24 in Psychological Science."
"An assistant professor at the University of California, Riverside Graduate School of Education has shown that a reading comprehension technique helps non-native English speakers in elementary school learn math."
From the abstract: "Studies on creative mathematics conducted in the past decades revealed that the importance of
creation of learning and teaching environment favourable to the identification and nurturing
creativity in mathematics. Based on psychological, methodological and didactical models created
by Krutetskii (2006), Shchedrovtiskii (2008), Brousseau (2007) and Sierpinska (2004), we have
developed our challenging situation approach. During 5 years of field study in the elementary
grade VII classroom, we collected sufficient amount of data that demonstrate how these
challenging situations help to discover and to boost mathematical creativity in very young
children, keeping and increasing their interest towards more advanced mathematics curriculum.
This article is an humble attempt to present our model and illustrate how it works in the mixedability
classroom. We will also discuss different roles that teachers and students might play in
this kind of environment and how each side could benefit from it."
Abstract: "Shoot x Shoot is the first game for EduTurtle. It's a 6th grade Math game that combines topics like "Multiples", "Cartesian Plane", "International and English measurement systems", "Percentages and fractions". Through a pre game test we obtain a score of the students on the subjects then is a game time and before this time we measure again with a similar test the score of the students in order to measure an influence of the game on the students about this subjects. The online platform EduTurlte offers educational games for elementary schools children. In a near future at http://www.eduturtle.com girls and boys may come to play (and at the same time learn and reinforce their knowledge) by keeping track of their progress in games on various topics at different grades. It is also a way to reinforce the lessons learned in the classroom and/or books through games that capture their attention over entertainment. "
"The article reports the main insights gained from a study that implemented a
game-enhanced learning environment for the training of pre-service
elementary school teachers. Teachers taking an undergraduate mathematics
methods course experienced some of the ways in which online educational
games could help students internalize key mathematical concepts across the
school curriculum while at the same time improving their attitudes towards the
subject. The course also familiarized teachers with the design principles for
constructivist gaming environments. Findings indicate a positive impact on
teachers' competence in selecting, evaluating, and productively using online
games as an instructional tool."
Abstract only online, full text requires subscription or purchase. Results of one study of 10-12 year old children in eight classrooms in three Australian primary schools leads researchers to suggest "educators should carefully consider the application and appropriateness of games before employing them as a vehicle for introducing mathematical concepts. "
Discusses theory of motivational learning in educational games and presents a research study involving 115 elementary school students in math class using digital game-based learning
"Our studio was created to help parents who want to give their children a better education than is provided by the majority of schools.....Our program is based on more than 30 years of teaching experience during which time we have synthesized the best of Russian, American, and European logical and thinking developmental programs."