Tic Tac Toe Math [iPhone]

Math doesn't have to be boring. Tic Tac Toe Math takes the classic game and injects basic math skills ranging from simple edition to times tables to word problems. Instead of automatically getting an X in a square, kids are challenged to answer a math question within a certain amount of time. And when the robot AI tries to place an O, the child can defend their square by answering a question.

Tic Tac Toe Math keeps track of the statistics for the last set of games, so you can check on how well your kid did during the session.

** GREAT FOR KIDS WITH DYSCALCULIA OR WHO GET ANXIOUS WITH MATH **

This app was developed both for kids just learning math and children who get anxious dealing with math problems such as those with dyscalculia.

Dyscalculia is a learning condition that makes memorizing math facts more difficult, similar to how some people putting names to faces difficult. The ability to speed up the timer allows parents with kids struggling with dyscalculia to introduce new math facts with a more generous timer and slowly move the timer up as the child gets less anxious solving the problems.

** TIC TAC TOE MATH IS FULLY CUSTOMIZABLE! **

Perhaps the best thing about this educational math game is the amount of settings that can be tweaked. The addition, subtraction, multiplication and division settings each have four "levels" of problems or can be turned off completely. This allows you, the parent, to tailor the experience for your kids.

Are you working with a kindergartner or Pre-K? Turn Addition on level 1 and turn off all other math for a good arithmetic workout. Want to work on your 3rd or 4th grade student's memorization of times tables? Turn on Multiplication to the appropriate level and then dial the timer down to 4 or 6 seconds.

The timer can be set to as low as 2 seconds or turned off completely. When mixing multiplication and division with addition and subtraction, the timer automatically adjusts, giving slightly more time for the harder questions.

** TIC TAC TOE MATH HAS WORD PROBLEMS **

I found that while my daughter faced down arithmetic like a champion, she had problems with word problems, which is why I transformed my old Tic Tac Toe Times Tables app into a full-scale math app and included word problems.

The randomly-generated word problems offer a fair amount of variety and can help teach fundamental skills for working on word problems. The word problems can be turned on to show up alongside normal math questions (with an extended timer to give kids time to read the problem), or you can turn on 'just' word problems.

** CONCENTRATE ON THE OPERATOR! **

Word problems also have a setting that skips the arithmetic and allows the student to answer with the operator (plus. minus, times, division). This allows parent and child to work on the fundamental skill of determining what the question is asking without bothering with the math.

THE WORD PROBLEM FORMULA:

What helped with my daughter was to take the following steps through the word problem:

1) Read the question
2) Imagine what is happening
3) Are there groups?
4) Do we know the largest number?

If there are groups ("puts 7 bananas in a box". etc.) and we don't know the largest number, it is multiplication. If we do know the largest number, it is division. If there are no groups and we don't know the largest number, it is addition. If we do know the largest number, it is subtraction.

This method was derived from working with number bonds in Singapore math, but can be adapted to other math curriculum.