Tuesday, August 10, 2010

MathTappers Find Sums – a free app designed to help kids master basic addition and subtraction facts.





Victoria, British Columbia, Canada - HeavyLifters Network Ltd. is pleased to announce the availability of MathTappers: Find Sums. Mathematics educators Tim Pelton and Leslee Francis-Pelton from the University of Victoria have designed this free app to help students master their basic addition and subtraction facts.


MathTappers: Find Sums is a unique app that combines a simple game with helpful models that support children as they make sense of the math that they are learning. “Find Sums isn’t a flashy, whiz-bang game, nor is it a dull series of flashcards, rather it is a pleasant low-stress game that encourages students to continually challenge themselves until they become proficient.” says Tim Pelton.


The designers have used tools that teachers often use in the classroom to help children visualize relationships between numbers (e.g., ten-frames & hundred-frames) and master their fact families (practicing groups of facts together). “Addition and subtraction are fundamentally linked – but unless you use models like these to support children in seeing the connections directly, they may struggle to learn their basic facts or to develop effective mental math skills”, says Leslee Francis Pelton. 



Teachers might use MathTappers: Find Sums first to support class discussions on important concepts and effective strategies and then to provide opportunities for individualized learning and remediation activities. “Even a single shared iPod Touch can be enough to make this type of tool useful in the classroom.”

This App is not magic – it is a simple tool that can be used in the classroom, at home or even standing in line for a movie. "We encourage parents to download and explore this program with their children.  Take a minute or two each day to ask them to explain their thinking and challenge them to look for new strategies as they play the game.  This kind of interaction will help children make sense of the math they are learning and set them up for success!” says Tim Pelton.

Doug Pelton, CEO at HeavyLifters said, “We have sponsored the development of these MathTapper apps because we want to support education and help kids to succeed in math.  We encourage parents and teachers to download each of our MathTapper apps and give them a try.”
Minimun Requirements:
iPhone or iPod touch OS 3.0 or later


Pricing and Availability: Free -  Available worldwide exclusively through the App Store.  


Links:

HeavyLifters: http://www.heavylifters.com/
Website: www.mathtappers.com

HeavyLifters creates leading-edge, interactive applications for Apple's iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Copyright (C) 2010 HeavyLifters. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iTunes, iPhone and iPod are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.



Tim Pelton
Associate Professor,
Faculty of Education,
University of Victoria
Canada
tpelton@uvic.ca


Doug Pelton, CEO
HeavyLifters Network Ltd.
doug@dougpelton.com

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Our Presentation at ISTE 2010 in Denver































































Monday, June 28, 2010

MathTappers at ISTE 2010 in Denver

We've had a great day at the games and simulations SIG playground. For those of you who visited us today and were following the link on the wristband welcome!

We will be adding a bunch more details shortly, but until then, we encourage you to check out our Apps on the iTunes App store. To find our collection of Apps just search for "MathTappers"! They are Free!

Thursday, April 22, 2010

A recent paper authored by the designers of MathTappers

Creating Handheld Applications to Support the Development of Conceptual Mastery

Pelton, T. & Francis Pelton, L. (2010). Creating Handheld Applications to Support the Development of Conceptual Mastery. In C. Crawford et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2010 (pp. 2029-2034). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.

This paper can be found at:
http://www.editlib.org/?fuseaction=Reader.PreviewAbstract&paper_id=33660&

Abstract: 
Handheld devices like the iPod Touch have great potential to support mathematics learning in unique ways: the form factor allows for anytime-anywhere micro-tutoring; the usability and low cost reduce the threshold and encourage adoption; and the touch-interface provides for authentic quasi-concrete opportunities for students to interact with models, manipulatives, games and activities.   However, it seems that most app developers are ignorant of these potentials – choosing instead to employ basic flash-card techniques. To improve the situation, designers and developers need to attend to the educational value of 2D manipulatives (i.e., interactive, on-screen devices) and effective visual models (i.e. representations for understanding) in supporting students as they master concepts and skills and then develop fluency. In support of this goal we reflect on the design and application of a small set of math learning apps that we have created – ClockMaster, Find Sums and Estimate Fractions.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Help your child learn to tell time - MathTappers: ClockMaster 2.0 Product Release

Victoria, British Columbia, Canada - HeavyLifters Network is pleased to announce a major upgrade to MathTappers: ClockMaster. Math educators Tim Pelton and Leslee Francis-Pelton from the University of Victoria have designed this app to help children make sense of analog clocks and time.

MathTappers: ClockMaster presents two accurate clock models (both analog and digital) in one smooth intuitive interface. “Our designers and programmers have done a fantastic job of creating a clean and intuitive game that I’m proud to take home to my child”, says Doug Pelton, CEO at HeavyLifters.

Designers Tim Pelton and Leslee Francis-Pelton wanted to create a game to give children opportunities to play with, and explore clocks – “While the best geared learning-clocks only allow children to directly manipulate the minute hand, MathTappers: ClockMaster is an advanced 2D manipulative that allows children to adjust hours or minutes on either clock and see the effects reflected on each clock face instantly.” This interactive learning tool can be used both in a group situation with an iPad connected to a data projector or in a 1:1 tutoring situation with an iPod Touch or iPhone.”

MathTappers: ClockMaster is just one of a series of apps that we are developing to support learning in mathematics”, said Pelton. “Our goal is to help children to first make sense of and master mathematical ideas and then build fluency.”

A ‘broken clock’ mode allows players to explore the behavior of a traditional clock with the minute hand broken off. “By dragging the hour hand around the clock and observing the effect on the digital clock children are able to build a solid understanding of how the hour hand works”, said Francis-Pelton.

MathTappers: ClockMaster also has a ‘word clock’ mode to help children and English language learners to master common English word phrases for telling time.

Until September 30, 2010 – ClockMaster is being distributed as a free app on Apple’s iTunes Store. “We’re just getting started with MathTappers and we want to help parents and educators have opportunities to see the potential of these types of anytime, anywhere micro-tutoring apps”, said Pelton.

Minimum Requirements:
iPhone or iPod touch OS 3.0 or later



Pricing and Availability:
 $0.99- Available worldwide exclusively through the App Store.
Limited Time Introductory offer – Free until September 30th.

Link: http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/mathtappers-clockmaster-math/id336932114?mt=8

HeavyLifters creates leading-edge, interactive applications for Apple's iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Copyright (C) 2010 HeavyLifters. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iTunes, iPhone and iPod are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.