Online math games

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Permalink Reply by Tom Jenkins on January 12, 2010 at 1:35pm

Here's a cool site that is used by teachers in our district that has great content. That being said, the kids aren't going to mistake it for their PS3 anytime soon ;)

If you are looking for something a little more "gamey," then I would recommend this site. You can also open this through the browser on your Wii and play the games with the remote. Pretty Cool!

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Permalink Reply by Kim Lightle on January 13, 2010 at 1:23pm

Here are a couple of blog posts from the MSP2 Exemplary Middle School Math and Science Resources blog that highlight math games - Games in Math Class and Math Games - Part II.

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Permalink Reply by Judy Spicer on January 14, 2010 at 11:03am

Hi Ella,
From mangahigh.com, I noted that it was launched within the last year and the site does not include research data about student achievement with the software. Red flags include presentation and content stressing the goal of improving test results. To quote the site: "Score better at exams: Mangahigh complies with UK National Curriculum standards and offers exam-oriented revision and training in order to achieve measurable performance improvement."

In contrast, the site recommended by Tom and Kim have been around for a while, include research data, and reference US mathematics standards.

Enjoy the free trial with your students if the topics you are teaching are on mangahigh in a way that supports students mathematics understanding. Your school should be wary of the costs involved, lack of standards alignment, and the undocumented promise of student learning.

There are many excellent mathematics learning tools online including NCTM's Calculation Nation gaming site (http://calculationnation.nctm.org/) and the lessons and activities found on the Illuminations site.

A difference between sites that are free and sites that cost is that the sites that cost also promise student success on tests. In reality, no one can promise that students will be successful and we all know that what students need is quality time engaging in mathematics.

Gaming sites do engage students—now they have to document that they improve students’ mathematics learning.

Good luck!
Judy

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Permalink Reply by Mary Henton on January 19, 2010 at 9:11am

Thanks for the advice, Judy. Your cautions about available research data and promises without data are good points to remember in evaluating any program or software, as is the comment that students need quality, sustained time engaging with math (or any content!) in order to develop deep understanding.

Judy Spicer said:

Hi Ella,
From mangahigh.com, I noted that it was launched within the last year and the site does not include research data about student achievement with the software. Red flags include presentation and content stressing the goal of improving test results. To quote the site: "Score better at exams: Mangahigh complies with UK National Curriculum standards and offers exam-oriented revision and training in order to achieve measurable performance improvement."

In contrast, the site recommended by Tom and Kim have been around for a while, include research data, and reference US mathematics standards.

Enjoy the free trial with your students if the topics you are teaching are on mangahigh in a way that supports students mathematics understanding. Your school should be wary of the costs involved, lack of standards alignment, and the undocumented promise of student learning.

There are many excellent mathematics learning tools online including NCTM's Calculation Nation gaming site (http://calculationnation.nctm.org/) and the lessons and activities found on the Illuminations site.

A difference between sites that are free and sites that cost is that the sites that cost also promise student success on tests. In reality, no one can promise that students will be successful and we all know that what students need is quality time engaging in mathematics.

Gaming sites do engage students—now they have to document that they improve students’ mathematics learning.

Good luck!
Judy

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Permalink Reply by Daniel G. Bauer on February 3, 2010 at 9:52am

Ella, thank you for the post. I am Daniel Bauer, part of the Managhigh.com team. I am a former Mathematics Educator at both the Junior and Senior High School levels. Please allow me to address some of the issues that you and some of the other responders raised. We appreciate the feedback.

- In terms of lesson plan ideas, we have a growing library of lesson plans on our web site:

http://www.mangahigh.com/en_us/resources/

- Our company is indeed new! We believe we have found a unique approach to our browser-based games that are both fun for children and can be tailored to your curriculum. Our company is based in the UK and has started with the UK-math standards. We are currently doing state-by-state curriculum alignments. It may be a small coincidence, but our US headquarters in is Henderson, NV, in your state.

- We have a number of long- and short-term studies underway to show the efficacy of Mangahigh.com in students' test scores. These will be published periodically as they are completed.

- To be clear about our cost-structure, we have both a free and a subscription offering. Our free offering includes our games, our Prodigi quiz engine with 17,000 lesson sets, and membership into our math league. You and your students will enjoy our games for free with no limitations. Our subscription offering includes real time data, analytic tools, class competition and homework assignment features, and many more functions. You can trial this part of our service free of charge for 30 days, but this is the part for which we sell six-month and one-year subscriptions.

If you want any help using Mangahigh with your class, we are happy to set up a complimentary consultation with our math education experts.

Please don't hesitate to contact me directly if you have any questions or if I can be of help.

Best Regards,
Daniel Bauer

--
Daniel Bauer
www.Mangahigh.com
Direct: 917-449-2563
Skype: daniel.bauer.mangahigh
Fax: 877-MANGAHIGH

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Permalink Reply by Rosanna Luzarraga on May 9, 2010 at 9:04pm

Hi Ella,

I have been using mangahigh for 2 weeks now. I -
1) use a lesson activity as a 5-minute review (beginning of the period)/ warm-up
2) assign lessons to refresh prior knowledge before starting a new unit
3) assign lessons to acquire mastery of certain math skills
4) for student self-assessment (bronze - meets expectation, silver - above expectation, gold - mastery)
5) serve as students' tools for review for a written summative assessment

I'm still struggling to encourage some of my students but for most of them, they already find it useful. I hope this information helps you, Ella.

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Permalink Reply by Crystal Hayden on May 18, 2010 at 3:35am

Have you seen Dreambox - http://www.dreambox.com/ ?

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Permalink Reply by Tom Jenkins on May 23, 2010 at 8:57pm

It looks pretty good. I really like the fact that you get a 30 day free trial. Even if your school cant afford it year around, it would be a nice warm up prior to standardized testing. Thanks for the link.

Crystal Hayden said:

Have you seen Dreambox - http://www.dreambox.com/ ?

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Permalink Reply by Daniel G. Bauer on March 25, 2011 at 9:31am

I am excited to share with you, that mangahigh.com is no longer charging US validated K12 Schools for the premium services.  Mangahigh.com is now completely FREE. Be sure to tell your colleagues about this incredible news - again exclusive to US schools only.

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