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Touched: Getting started with maths apps April 24, 2010

Posted by loislindemann in : e-learning , trackback

ipod touchThe maths department at Birley recently purchased 12 iPod touches for use in lessons. I’ve been getting them set up and trying them out. They have caused great excitement in my lessons – in fact, just seeing the iPods was enough to drive some of my students into a frenzy of excitement!

Anyway, this is very much a voyage of discovery for me: I’d never owned an iPod or an iPhone, so there’s been a bit of a learning curve – helped enormously by recommendations from some of the fantastic people I follow on Twitter.

Let’s start with ten apps that have worked well for me in the classroom:

1. Arithmetick This is a free app (recommended by @colport – thank you!)
As the name suggests, it’s great for practising basic arithmetic. Choose from add, subtract, multiply, divide – or a combination of these, pick a level and get started. I’ve used this with students in Y6 working at level 3/4 and with a foundation group in Y9. A few of them couldn’t keep up with the timer and opted for a practice session rather than the game, but most students opted for the game, got really competitive and tried to get high scores.
Verdict: Great for practising multiplication tables, in multiplication and division form. Also good for number bonds.

2. TwentyFour Lite This is a free app, there’s also a paid version.
I used the 24 game as an intro to BODMAS/BIDMAS with Y7 students working at level level 5/6 . We played this as a starter activity. They loved it, several of them went home and downloaded this onto their own devices.
Verdict: Nice version of the game, shows working step by step (which was ideal for me). The free version is fine for classroom use, but any serious 24 addicts would probably run out of games and need to upgrade.

3. World Maths Day 2010 This is a free app (recommended by @misterel – thank you!)
I used this with some of my Y10 form group, they really enjoyed it.
Verdict: Nice app, wide range of levels available, but it does require an age range setting – which is reset via the settings screen, not from within the app itself. Not a big problem, but will need re-setting if I use this with younger students.

4. Guess My Age This is a free app
I downloaded this one (it’s an app version of an old trick – maths teachers will recognise it!), but didn’t ask students to try it. A lot of them tried it anyway – and are amazed by it.
Verdict: The students love this and want to know how it works – but I’m not telling! I’m sure they’ll work it out sooner or later.

5. Dynamic dice This is a paid app (currently 59p)
We use assorted dice for probability work. This is nice for students, they like shaking the iPod to roll the dice.
Verdict: The students like this, but it does present a distraction when we are supposed to working on other things, so I think I’ll save this for the next round of probability. It’s intended for use when playing games, so it doesn’t record the scores, which we would need to do in a maths lesson.

6. Coin toss and Heads Tails Both are free
Two coin flipping apps, which I was trying out for probability work.
Verdict: Heads Tails is the better of the two for maths, because it records numbers and percentages of heads and tails. Good for gathering data rapidly, without the need for students to record anything.

7. Algebra Level 1 This is a paid app (currently 59p)
Solve simple equations, selecting an answer from a list.
Verdict: Worked well as part of a revision session with Y7. I didn’t want to restrict myself to using multiple choice questions, so we started with this and then moved onto Mathmaster Algebra.

8. Mathmaster Algebra This is a paid app (currently 59p)
Solve simple equations, but this time the answer must be typed in using a keypad. The students competed to get a high score.
Verdict: Worked well as a revision activity, following on from Algebra Level 1. It got a fantastic response from the students – they were really engrossed.

9. Falling Algebra 1 This is a paid app (currently 59p)
Solve simple equations, but this time the answer is selected from a cloud of falling numbers.
Verdict: This drove me mad – but Y10 loved it, so it’s a keeper.

Some more nice maths apps are listed here and here (via @IaninSheffield, who has bookmarked lots of useful sites that I’m working my way through – thanks Ian!)

Photo: iPod touch 1.1.3 (main screen) by chrisdejabet. Used under Creative Commons Licence.

{Post originally published on my learning (b)log]

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