An Invitation to test TabletMathWhiz

This is an invitation to shape the future of TabletMathWhiz and the math education of kids everywhere.

If you are a math teacher or have kids in grades 2 – 5 this is something you might want to try. You need access to a tablet pc to participate in the review process of TabletMathWhiz, the pen-based, self-scoring program to help kids learn their math facts.

We will be selecting a limited number of testers who may be invited to join as project advisers in the future. This is a fun program, even if you are not a math teacher. In fact, if you are a tablet enthusiast, you may find yourself inspired to use a similar idea in your own discipline.

You will be working directly with CMU personnel on this project. It is expected that you will spend a few hours exploring the software on your own, and a few hours of web meetings during the month of July.

If you are interested in this opportunity, please email tablettutor@sbcglobal.net

TabletMathWhiz is extremely novel because it is based on pen input:

1) Handwriting reduces the cognitive overload,

2) Handwriting enables the tracking of the problem solving process,

3) Handwriting enables the analysis of handwritten work and detection

Although the program has improved a great deal since 2009, to read the original description of it, click the link below:

http://tablettutor.blogspot.com/2009/03/tablet-pc-math-makes-math-facts-fun.html

I’ve been blogging about Tablet PC Math for several years now, and I am thrilled to report this news. I would not be surprised if TabletMathWhiz quickly becomes ubiquitous.

I became interested in effective ways of teaching kids the math facts when, as a mother of young twins, I tried to drill them at home. Not getting much cooperation with traditional flash cards, I attempted to write a button-based program in Flash, but I soon realized that the act of actually writing the digits was more effective than clicking buttons or hitting keys. I had been using a tablet PC for work so I was able to try the CMU program. My kids loved it. They got immediate feedback and sloppy work was not accepted. With the current popularity of ipads, androids and other tablet devices, Tablet PC Math, now renamed TabletMathWhiz, is going to make teachers’ and parent’s jobs so much easier.

And here’s something I learned along the way. A popular philosophy in teaching math involves focusing on teaching math sense and understanding. Advanced concepts may be introduced in early grades – algebra, logarithms, geometry, quadratic equations, Cartesian coordinate systems, etc. This can be a great experience. But, in spite of modern calculators, if the kids do not have their basic math facts down cold, they won’t be able to use the advanced concepts at all later on. The math facts are the foundation for everything in math.