CONTENTS
What is Memorize Math?
What are the advantages of Memorize Math?
How much does Memorize Math cost?
Where can I find Memorize Math?
Who can use Memorize Math?
Tips for using Memorize Math
Help & Feedback
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What is Memorize Math?
Memorize Math is an app for Android devices designed to help students memorize all the basic math facts - addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
Students (multiple users are possible) do a set of daily problems, where the emphasis is on working with just a few facts at a time for better memorization. When the student finishes a set accurately and quickly enough, they automatically move on to a new set of facts to work with, and the old ones are moved to the review section.
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What are the advantages of Memorize Math?
A. a serious learning tool
Most math apps currently on the market are designed to be fun games that a parent might buy to amuse their child in an educational way or perhaps as a supplement to the math their child is already taught in school. Memorize Math, on the other hand, is designed to be a serious learning tool, something a teacher might use in a classroom. This is why the design focuses on a simple, very user-friendly presentation instead of using flashy elements that can be fun, but distracting (especially to kids with ADD tendencies).
B. see if you know it by heart, learn it if you don't
The app has a unique double-approach to entering answers. The student first enters the answer on a keypad, to test whether the student really knows the answer by heart. (Multiple choice, by contrast, only tells you whether they can recognize it, not whether they can remember it spontaneously.) Then, if the student answers wrong, the display changes, now offering four multiple-choice answers. Each of the wrong multiple choice answers will disappear if touched, forcing the student to find the right answer before moving on to the next problem. In this way, the student learns the answers to the problems they do not know.
C. only memorize a few at a time
Research into human memory shows that adults can hold about 7 facts in their short-term memory at a time. For younger children, this is closer to 4. Through a certain amount of trial and error, I found that my kids advanced in memorization faster when they worked with only about four math facts at a time, repeated over and over for reinforcement, instead of a whole times table at once. So Memorize Math divides each addition and multiplication table up into groups of four problems each, automatically advancing students from one group to the next when they have memorized each one.
D. work on complementary problems together
(8 - 3 = 5) is the same thing, in reverse, as (5 + 3 = 8). By working on the forward and backward versions of a problem together, students learn the connections between the operations and reinforce their memorization of the facts.
E. don't forget what you've learned
Each day's problem set ends with review problems that are randomly generated from all the math fact groups that come earlier in the sequence. This gives added reinforcement over time that makes sure students don't forget problems they have previously memorized.
F. do all the work for the teacher/parent
Memorize Math requires very little work from the teacher or parent. You don't need to decide when the student should be advanced to new problems. You don't need to enter information each day about which problems should be worked on. You don't need to sit and monitor your student while they do the problems to verify that they completed them; a convenient green check appears next to the student's name to tell you if they finished that day's problem set, and you can check on how they did in the Report Card feature. The app is designed to be as easy on teachers or parents as I could make it.
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How much does Memorize Math cost?
Currently the price is set at $0.99.
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Where can I find Memorize Math?
You can find it in the Google Play store here, and I may put it on Amazon for the Kindle Fire sometime.
Currently, the app is not available for iPhone or iPad. If I earn enough money from the Android version, I may invest the time to learn Objective C and pay the $100 Apple developer fee necessary to put the app up on iTunes.
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Who can use Memorize Math?
Anyone old enough to push buttons on a smartphone. Memorize Math begins with the very easiest problems: (1 + 0), (2 + 0), (3 + 0), and (4 + 0), so that even preschoolers can begin learning their math facts. On the other end of the spectrum, the simple presentation devoid of kid-geared elements (like talking frogs or balloons) may appeal to those older students or adults who would like to brush up on their math facts in a more decorous manner.
I hope very much that this app will appeal to teachers for use in the classroom. Parents who have students who are struggling to memorize their math facts may also find this a welcome tool to aid their child's learning. And of course homeschoolers may also benefit from this app; I wrote this app as a homeschooling mom, for my own kids.
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Tips
A. if you want to target a specific operation
You can target specific operations by adjusting the settings. So if, for example, you wanted a student to work only on division problems, you would go to that student's settings page, set "JumpTo" to "Multiply by 2", change the Number of Main to zero, and set the Number of Complementary to however many division problems you want your student to do each day. This will advance the student through only the division half of the multiply/divide tables. The review problems will still include addition, subtraction, and any multiplication or division problems that come previous to wherever the student is at in the progression.
B. set an easy PIN
If you lock access to the settings with a PIN, you do not have to use the traditional four-digit PIN. Unless your student is likely to sit there and poke at numbers until finding the right one, I recommend setting something easy to remember, like a one-digit PIN.
C. if the student is bored
The app should be advancing your student to new problems before they have time to get seriously bored with problems they already know, but if your student is consistently bored, try lowering the number of main and complementary problems, and doing more review problems instead. This offers a little more variety in the daily problem set.
D. if you don't start at the beginning
If you want your student to start somewhere other than at the beginning - if, for example, you use the JumpTo feature to skip over addition/subtraction and move them straight to multiplication/division - then you should be aware that the review problems are included when deciding whether the student "passes".
What this meant for my older kids who started in on multiplication was that they sometimes had trouble passing to the next multiplication set, even though they knew the set they were working on, because they weren't as fast and accurate with the addition and subtraction review problems. If this happens, you have these options: (a) Have them go back and practice the addition and subtraction more until they have it down. (b) Reduce the number of review problems so that it does not contribute as much to whether they pass or not. (c) Change the passing criteria to make it easier to pass, so that the student continues to advance through the multiply/divide progression despite missing some review problems. (d) Ignore the issue; they might not pass a particular group as soon as they otherwise would, but they still eventually pass when their speed and accuracy on the primary set makes up for any difficulty with the review problems.
E. if you're in a hurry
Here's a tip for if you have some sort of deadline by which you want your child to have memorized their math facts, and there's more number groups to get through then there are days left to finish them in. (There's 33 multiplication/division groups, if you start at multiplying by 2, and 156 groups if you never use the JumpTo to skip any of them.) The app evaluates whether the student passes from one group to the next after each time they finish a complete daily problem set. But there is no rule that they can only do one problem set per day. If you are in a hurry, set each test to have fewer problems and have your student do more than one problem set per day. This gives them more opportunities each day to advance through the progression. Just be aware that there are limits to how fast students can really learn something and retain it, so that even with this tip, it may not be possible for your child to memorize everything as fast as you'd like.
F. if you just want to review all addition and subtraction
If you would like a student to review all the addition and subtraction problems without moving on yet to the multiplication and division problems, set the JumpTo feature (on that student's Settings page) to "Add by 12". Then set the number of Main problems and the number of Complementary problems both to zero. Set however many Review problems you want your child to do. This will give them an entire test full of random addition and subtraction problems. If they succeed in passing the test, the app will continue to advance them through the three add-by-twelve groups; once they have passed it four times, the app will include some multiply-by-zero problems as review problems. You can then either let them continue or else use JumpTo to set them back to "Add by 12" to begin the process all over, if you want them to keep doing addition and subtraction problems.
If you want your child to just review all the math facts, including multiplication and division, JumpTo "multiply by 12" and set the number of Main & Complementary to 0. If they advance and finish the last of the multiply-by-twelve groups, the app will automatically have them keep reviewing all facts anyway.
G. just in case you're wondering (don't divide by zero)
When the student finishes the addition/subtraction sets, the app moves them on to multiplication, beginning with multiplying by zero. Since you can't divide by zero, during the part of the daily set where the student would normally be doing "complementary" division problems, the app instead generates more review problems in those slots.
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Help & Feedback
If you have questions, comments, or suggestions, my email is LittleReasoning@gmail.com.
If your question has not been answered here, you may also want to check out the in-app help (the question-mark icon on the main page.) If you are having technical difficulties with the Memorize Math app, I would definitely like to know, with as much detail as you can provide.
One area of feedback that I am particularly interested in is whether the settings have options that work for you. For instance, if you have disabled students, could you find passing criteria that fit their needs?
And, of course, if you like the app, I would appreciate it if you rated it on the Google Play store.
