Math Sprint apps help students to develop mental math fluency in a fun way. This app was developed together with my 6-year old son Adam for first graders.
The storyI am a homeschooling dad following the Singapore Math curriculum. Our family is sailing around the world and is currently in French Polynesia, South Pacific, where the Internet connectivity is often very poor. This limits access to online homeschooling tools. Therefore, we created this app and the learning results are very good. Developing this app was also part of introductory programming lessons for my son and it was a lot of fun to do it together. The user interface, background pattern, colors, and icons are created or chosen by Adam.
The app is to be used in conjunction with a Singapore Math curriculum or similar. It is advised to use it before each math lesson as a warm-up or anytime as a support besides regular classes.
In a Math Sprint, the student answers as many problems as possible within a specified time and then repeats trying to beat the earlier score by answering a greater number of problems. Each math sprint starts with 60 seconds. Every correct answer extends the elapsed time by one second. The student gets immediate feedback if the answer was correct or not. If not, the student can chose a different answer until correct.
The first 8 problems are easy addition facts within 5 and some easier addition facts such as + 1. This is to give the student confidence in the beginning. It was tested and proven that the student then is more motivated to tackle the more difficult problems and this in turn leads to a better learning result.
The scores should only be used to measure individual progress and not to compare to scores of other students.
Math Sprint is compliant with the Montessori education theory. Notice that this app takes into consideration that some first graders are still working on fine-motor skills. Therefore, it is designed the way that they can answer the questions without stress or having to write the numbers on their own.
Please send any feedback to herbert.bay@gmail.com
Have fun teaching and learning like we do.
Herbert & Adam