BRAINtastic! Maths
© 2006 EdAlive
Made in Australia, this three-part ($70 each level, for ages 6-8, 8-10 and 10-12) CD-based classroom-friendly math drill program has a powerful student management system that makes it easy to prescribe content and track progress. You start by entering a student list, and then choose the subjects and level for each child. Topics include addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions & decimals, patterns, geometry, and measurement. After logging in, children are given a set of questions and are then rewarded with two minutes of an arcade-like game. There are six games to choose from, such as Ultimate Math Invaders (shoot at answers) and Numbers Up (fly a ship around with the arrow keys and collect jewels). Students can earn more time in the game by answering more math questions. This "games for work" approach succeeds in getting children to do math homework. Drawbacks include some rather clunky menus that require reading, and some content that was not localized in the USA correctly. For example, when entering a fraction answer (1/2), the program marked a reduced form incorrect, instead wanting 2/4. This caused some confusion with our seven- and eight-year-old testers. Still, the program kept the children engaged, enthusiastic and learning math -- not an easy task. Note that the installation of one of the CDs takes 130 MB of hard drive space, and takes a few minutes to load. Created in Macromedia Director by the Southbank Institute for EdAlive.
$70, Windows XP, Windows 98, Mac OSX
Teaches: math facts: addition, subtraction, division, measurement, grids and more
CTR Rating: 86%