With This Math Games App, Growth Mindset is Possible
How does this math games app uncover a student's positive growth mindset? Read more to find out Julia's journey with Elephant Learning!
Christina has a lot on her plate. A stay-at-home mom of 9 kids, her life revolves around her children. Between her eldest kids who are out of the house, and her youngest children who are a newborn, a preschooler and a toddler, lies her middle children; Persehyas and Elaina, who she’s been struggling teaching math to.
Persehyas and Elaina had always struggled with math, but both had very different personalities and dispositions about it.
Persehyas was the older, 13-year-old boy, but many who met him said he had a soul much older than his age. He looks at life from every angle, and is always open to opportunities, even if they’re new and a bit difficult.
Elaina is 10, and looks up to Persehyas as if he were the oldest child. He’s always the positive, motivating one -- a figure she’d like to be for her youngest siblings when they start getting into grade school. But her self-confidence often gets in the way of her ability to be a leader to others.
For Persehyas, it became tougher and tougher to get by difficult assignments without concepts building upon each other. Nonetheless, he was always determined to improve. He wanted to be a scientist when he was older, and knew that he needed to master concepts now so he could have a strong foundation in high school where he’d take physics.
Math has also always been difficult for Elaina. But when she was down, she didn’t want to get up like her brother. Each time her teacher handed her back a failed test grade, she’d believe that her overall intelligence was to blame. Not understanding math means not smart, right? Wrong. But Elaina needed a tool to find that out on her own.
Christina, their mom, also had a unique struggle she had to deal with on top of all of this; severe scoliosis.
She’d suffered from scoliosis ever since she was a kid, but within the past few years, it had gotten so bad that most of her husband’s paycheck was going into savings for a spinal rehab program so she could avoid going through spine surgery. With 9 kids, that wasn’t an option, but it meant sticking to an extremely tight budget.
Persehyas’ reason for wanting to become a scientist was mostly about wanting to help people like his mom with scoliosis. He saw how much she was limited to the more severe it got, and his drive for improving in math was tied to his mom’s wellbeing. He secretly knew that if he found a good program, Elaina would follow along, especially if she knew that she’d be able to get better math grades from it.
Christina didn’t have much time to do research, balancing 9 kids and her scoliosis. But what she did have was many virtual resources for busy moms, like Youtube resources, Facebook groups, and WhatsApp chats.
Doing a simple search in one of her parenting support groups, she inquired about a math app that could work for both a ten-year-old and a thirteen-year-old, and what she found was Elephant Learning’s math academy.
After doing some research, she found out that Elephant Learning wasn’t just in her budget, but it could help teach her kids at least a year’s worth of math in 3 months, by her kids using the system for just 10 minutes a day for 3 days a week.
When she compared this to her other options, she’d often see tutoring programs or online programs requiring hours of after-school time, perhaps yielding the same results that she could have gotten for something that’s less time.
Though she’d introduced Persehyas and Elaina to other math learning games in the past, nothing ever seemed to stick. They either got bored because it was too easy or frustrated because it was too difficult.
Either way, she knew that their struggles were stopping them not only from getting the grades they wanted in math, but from gaining the confidence in themselves to continue learning more complex topics as they started getting ready for high school and leaning into subjects that they might want to explore as a career.
Just like her need for a spinal rehab program, this math program couldn’t just be a temporary fix -- it had to last long term.
Related: Kenesha’s Adversity Didn’t Stop Her From Helping Her Daughter in Math
Persehyas was always ready to try something new, especially if it was going to help him excel as a future scientist. He knew his mom worked hard to help him, his sister, and his 7 other siblings to thrive in school, and because of that, was determined to see if this would work for him… even though past ones hadn’t been successful.
So, he started with the Initial Exam-- which tested his understanding on math so far. Persehyas is 13 years old, but tested at an 8.14 Elephant Age. Though it was a bit upsetting, he knew even more after recognizing his growth areas that he had to get moving.
So, he dedicated three days a week after school for 10 minutes to practice math on Elephant Learning. Eventually though, he had so much fun with the game, that he started trying to make his time frame longer-- 15, 20 minutes for 4 or 5 days.
Elaina was hesitant to start a new program. With past programs that she’d tried, it made her feel even more behind, diminishing her confidence with every wrong answer.
She’d been tired of seeing her teacher’s red marks on her paper, and didn’t feel motivated to try something else just to fail again.
So, she looked to Persehyas, who was working hard in improving his Elephant Age. After lots of internal debate, she decided to take the Initial Exam, which was probably the most nerve-wracking part yet. But once she was on it, she realized for the first time that math could actually be fun!
One thing that Christina noticed was that Elephant Learning’s math academy didn’t subtract points like teachers did in school. All that Elaina was seeing was where she was growing, while also getting practice with the concepts that she didn’t understand without losing “years.” Christina saw a noticeable difference in the way Elaina was learning, with more confidence and energy in math than ever before.
Christina wasn’t surprised that Persehyas was motivated to practice on Elephant Learning; what she was surprised about was that he was actually learning math quicker… him and Elaina both.
With email reports sent directly to her inbox, Christina had tracked her kids’ progress without them feeling hovered over during practice time.
She learned from Elephant Learning’s coaching videos on how to be the best support system she could be for her kids, especially for Elaina who often sees mistakes as failures. But the more Elaina learned from Persehyas, the more Christina knew that investing in the platform was the right decision.
As she continued creating a space for Persehyas and Elaina to work on their math skills, she made sure to continue celebrating their wins with them.
After a little over a month, Persehyas had learned over 3 years of math, bringing his Elephant Age up from 8.14 to 11.29.
After a little over a month, Elaina had learned over 2.8 years of math, bringing her Elephant Age up from a 7.78 to a 10.6.
---
Christina found a solution that worked long-term for her two kids. She knew the investment, though small, was worth her kids having both the skills and the confidence to excel in math. Now, she could get the care she needed, with one less problem to worry about.
Related: Amidst Unemployment, Elephant Learning Math Still Saved Ana and Her Son
To learn more about Elephant Learning’s math academy and how it can help your kid, click below to get started now!
Districts or Teachers that enroll in our pilot program can try the program for free in their classrooms.
Here is a collection of publications created by both third-party and our in house team of scientists to examine the progress of students, classrooms, and schools within our system.
