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