CapJaxMathFax and UberSmart Math Facts programs

I had the chance to look into two math facts practice programs, titled CapJaxMathFax and UberSmart Math Facts. Both programs drill math facts and keep track of your progress.


My testing "girl" liked them both just fine. Her focus definitely was on getting the percentages on the progress chart to go up (in both programs)!

CapJaxMathFax

Here's a screen of CapJaxMathFax showing a math problem to solve. It alternates the dot and cross symbols for multiplication. It also alternates showing the problems vertically or horizontally. The vertical line is my cursor blinking in the empty space.



If you answer correctly and in less than 3 seconds, it shows you the word "SUPER". Then you get the next fact by pressing "ENTER."

Personally I would have liked a little clearer workspace, but all these colors, buttons, text, etc. on the screen seemingly didn't bother my daughter.






Here is where you select what operation you want to practice, how long, etc. The "word problems" aren't really word problems, but just math facts with words instead of with symbols.




In CapJaxMathFax, you can either practice, or build your ratings. Ratings can be built when you can get "SUPER" answers—those where you answer in 3 seconds or less.

You start off with ratings of 0 in each math type. Your ratings climb as you work through each building level in the math skill types (+, -, x, ÷).

Here are my ratings after playing for a little while:





And this is the general progress chart:




The software has a free evaluation version that you can download here. Website: www.CapJax.com. The price for the software is $59.96.

UberSmart Math Facts

UberSmart Math Facts had a cleaner interface that I liked better, but it has less options. The math facts were shown as flash cards. You get a progress chart, but there aren't any "ratings" as in CapJaxMathFax.

There are three ways to practice. The first one is to View Flash Cards. The second one is to View Flash Cards and check the Beat the Clock checkbox. The third one is to take a Test. The first, "View Flash Cards" option, simply shows you the flash card and you just think the answer in your mind, and you can have the program show you the answer.

"Beat the Clock" is the main way to practice (this won't affect your progress chart). When you check this box, the flash cards become interactive and you must enter an answer before the computer answers it for you. If you enter the wrong answer, or the computer answers before you do, the correct answer is shown and that fact is moved to the end of the set, so you need to answer it again. The facts you didn't get are repeated in the set until you get them correct.



Once you think you're ready, you can take a "test". The results from tests will be shown in your progress chart. This is how you set up the practicing using the "test" option:



Here, I would like to see an option to select several tables for a test, such as 4s, 8s, and 9s. Currently it has an option for choosing one table at a time, or all of them.

This is how the flashcards look like in the test.



If you miss some facts in a test, the program will tell you what you missed after the test, and show you the correct answers.

After missing or answering slowly some facts in a particular test, such as in the 4s for multiplication, if you go to the "View Flash Cards" for that same kind of practice, you have the option of doing a "focused" viewing of flash cards. This makes the program only show you flash cards of the problems you missed or were slow in answering in the "test".

And lastly, here's the progress chart. Your goal is to get to 100%, and if you are not only 100% correct but also fast enough, it shows a neat star in the chart!

My "guinea pig" daughter was plenty motivated by trying to get the progress chart go up to 100%! (And that's how it should be, by the way... that the student would be internally motivated to learn something for the learning's sake.)






You can download a free 30-day trial of UberSmart Math Facts here.

The main website is Mathfacts.ubersmartsoftware.com/mathfacts.php. The software costs $24.95.

---

The main feature I'd like to see in these two programs is being more adaptive so that the program would drill those facts much more (not just one extra time) that the child has trouble with. I've seen how Math Rider does that (which I have also reviewed).


I would definitely recommend using something computerized to help children master their math facts. My children have enjoyed trying out many different programs and systems, and I feel it has been quite helpful. BUT not at first--only AFTER they have understood the concepts and the patterns in them!

I also recommend you use the free trials to check and see what program  your child likes best.

Tux Math - review

You may have never heard of Tux Math, but among Linux users it's a fairly well-known children's arcade game for math facts practice.

My girls remembered about it just lately  and have had somewhat of a frenzy of practice sessions with it. It's simple, free, yet fun. So I decided to give you, my readers, a quick review of it.

You "shoot" meteorites that are falling down by answering math problems (type the problem's answer and press Enter/Return). If you can't answer one, the meteorite does some damage to one of the penguin's igloo. Then after enough damage, the penguin in that igloo leaves (walks away).

But, once you answer a red "fiery" question that falls down real quick, you can get a cloud that comes and fixes the igloo. Then your penguin comes back! I think that's so cute!! You can only lose if all your penguins go away.


The background is always an image from space.

The options include any of the four operations, or have them mixed. You can practice specific times tables for example, which is good for my younger daughter at this time. As you go along in a game, then the questions start coming down quicker. At first they come down quite slow.

There's a training section, and there's a section where it gives you random questions. In that one, you play as long as you want, and when you stop, it'll tell you if you are in the top ten highest scores for you. If so, then you go in the "hall of fame."

Once you finish any particular type of problems (for ex. addition 0-5 or multiplication by 4), the star for that turns glowing yellow, and that's what my kids are after--they want to turn all those stars yellow. That's only in the training part, though. In the training part you have to answer a certain amount of questions.

You can make as many new "accounts" as you want and fill the "hall of fame" with you and your various nicknames.

It's just simple free game for math practice; there are no special features such as reports or training the facts you answer wrong.

Tux Math, or Tux of Math Command is software that is available as a free download for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Download it here.

Review of Math Rider software

If your children like horses, they might fall in love with Math Rider game!

Math Rider is a "math facts" software game; that is, it specifically trains and practices the basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts.

Some special features include:

• Each player has their own "account" in the game, and Math Rider is adaptive in that it trains those facts more that the child misses. I feel this is a great and important feature. More on that below...
  
  
• I also really liked the statistics. You can see a color-coded chart that shows what facts the child has mastered, what s/he has some trouble with, and what s/he has lots of trouble with. Also, after each ride, the game shows you a bar chart with a bar for each fact in that ride. The taller the bar, the longer the child took to solve the fact.

Here is the home screen. Click to enlarge.



The gameplay is centered around "quests". The player sets up a "quest" by choosing which operation to practice, and on which level. From there, the game first shows a storyline for a few screens.

Then starts the practice, in which a horse jumps a hurdle every time you solve a math fact correctly. If you answer wrong, the horse doesn't whinny but snorts, and you might have time to correct your answer. If you don't, or if you can't answer a problem at all, the horse stops at the hurdle and tells you the answer, and walks through the hurdle instead of jumping it.

The program adapts the problems as you go. The problems you miss or are slow at keep appearing more often than others. The speed adapts, too. If you are fast in answering, the problems appear faster and the horse rides faster, and vice versa.



These rides are 30 problems "long." After a ride of 30 problems, you can check your progress on the "quest" on a map. The backgrounds and hurdles on these rides vary as you proceed and travel through different landscapes. Completing the quest takes several of these 30-fact rides. Once you complete the quest, you are shown several more screens of the storyline to learn how it ends, and you get a special reward item.

The storylines include for example a sick mother, for whom you need to find a special flower, or you find a magical gem that a wizard tells you keeps darkness away, and you have to deliver the gem to the elven city. On the advanced level, you get to rescue a princess.

Personally I didn't care for the wizard/magic story, but you can easily fast forward through these short stories

You can read more about the game play on the Math Rider site.

The motivational reward items include points you get from riding, and the animated items you get from completing quests (flowers, flags, a castle, etc.). Additionally, the program tracks the "mastery" level of each operation and shows that in the animated items.

This is how the statistics looks like:


Both of my girls liked the game really well. They played and played and had to be dragged away from the computer!

My 5th grader already knows the basic facts pretty well, so for her the game was mostly fun with a little bit of review. She liked the changing backgrounds and the music. I really liked the music too (you can turn it off if you don't).

My 2nd grader just did addition and subtraction, and I feel the game did some good in helping her get speedier with her facts. They both liked best the different animated reward items you get when you finish the quests, such as flowers and flags.

It could be improved by adding more storylines. Right now, there is one story for any of the "easy" levels, no matter what the operation, and similarly for the other levels.


Also, I personally feel that children would benefit a lot from practicing the addition and multiplication facts using missing addends and factors (practicing "in reverse"). For example, in multiplication, the game could use 5 x ___ = 25, and in addition, it could use 6 + ___ = 13 types of problems.

I feel the game is well done and serves very well the purpose of practicing math facts and getting "up to speed" with them.  The adaptive features work well and really help the mastery to come to pass.

Of course there are so many different games and ways to practice math facts that it's hard to choose! I hope my review helps you in deciding if this game would be for you. I can definitely recommend it for what it does.

Website: MathRider.com Price: $37.


Disclosure: I was given a copy of Math Rider software for free but did not receive any other compensation.

Math Mammoth news

I've made a partnership with Scott from Softbasics to offer additional bonus software for those who buy any Math Mammoth CD product or the Blue Series download.

In essence, by buying any of the CDs, or the Blue Series download, you will also get a bundle of 7 software products (math, L&A, testing):

The Soft-Pak contains:

• Math Maker - printable worksheets/activities with answer keys.


• Math Master - same activities as Math Maker, but on-screen.


• Math User - on-screen program for solving the 900 multi-level word problems (also printable in Math Maker) with a built-in calculator.


• True/False Math Challenger - on-screen program for answering math questions that are either True or False using motivational activities. Includes math "facts" that are either true or false.


• Language Arts Master - covers spelling and reading (over 4000 words included) plus usage, writing mechanics, reading speed and recall, and a non-threatening grammar section: parts of speech, subjects and predicates, phrases and clauses, and sentence structure. Printable activities with answer keys.



• Test Maker - used to CREATE personal word lists for use in LA Master spelling and reading. Also used to create True/False and Multiple Choice activities for use in Test Master.


• Test Master - on-screen program for answering the True/False and Multiple Choice questions created in Test Maker. Any subject (geography, history, science, foreign language etc may be addressed). Printable activities as well.

See more info and screenshots.

Otherwise I've been busy preparing the complete curriculum for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade that will be sold at Winterpromise. It going slower than I thought... Well, that probably happens to many people who start new projects. You never quite anticipate all the hurdles and how much time this or that takes.

It took me a long time making the measuring / geometry section for 2nd grade. I was trying hard to think what kind of lessons would get kids familiar with inches, kilograms, pounds, milliliters, etc.

You know, I don't think you get a good feel of measuring if you don't go do it and measure! Just doing paper and pencil problems won't get you there. So I tried to think up little measuring projects and things that mothers and children can do at home, and that help the children learn about various measuring units.

Right now I'm writing something way easier, which is early multiplication lessons. In comparison, it's a breeze.

Also, I am overseeing all this translating work that's happening all around me (it seems). One person is translating the books to Spanish, another to French, and a third one is checking and fixing the layout after all those looonnng Spanish and French words are in there. You know, they don't always fit into my 'boxes', pages flow over etc.

So I'm keeping busy. Anticipate several new products in June!